The Memories of Music

Creating this playlist is so powerful, it’s imaging the sound of resistance in a world built on silence. Music represents freedom, individuality, and memory, all things that women like Offred are denied. The five songs I chose capture moments of longing, rebellion, and survival that echo through the novel.

Running with The Wolves by AURORA

When Offred says, “We were the people who were not oin the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edge of print. It gvave us more freedom”(Pg. 57), it reminds me of the wild, defiant spirit in this song. AURORA’s lyrics “Running with the wolves tonight” feels like Offred’s secret self, the part of her that refuses to be fully tamed by Gilead. Even through her body is controlled, her thought still run free. The wolves represent a natural freedom that Gilead has tried to erase. The rhythm of the song builds like the pulse of Offred’s quiet rebellion a reminder that even within “the blank white spaces” there’s life, emotion, and resistance trying to break through.

Caged Bird by Alicia Keys

Offred reflects that “We lived in the gaps between the stories” (pg. 57 ), and that perfectly connects to Caged Bird. Keys sings, “Right now I feel like a bird, caged without a song,” which mirrors the trapped lived of the Handmaids. Their stories don’t get told, they exist in those “gaps,” between what’s written and what’s allowed to be said. Just like the song, Offred can’t sing or speak freely, she’s constantly watched and silenced. But even in her cage, she dreams of flight: “But I know I’ll fly away someday.” That dream of freedom keeps her alive. In Gilead, hope is dangerous, but its also necessary. This song feels like the sound of Offred’s inner voice, quiet but unbroken.

Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears

When the Commander tells Offred, “Better never means better for everyone…. It always means worse for some” (pg. 211), he’s practically describing this song’s entire meaning. The lyrics, “Welcome to your life, there’s no turning back,”sound like what the citizens of Gilead might be told when the regime takes over. The Commanders created a system that benefits themselves under the excuse of mortality, and everyone elsepays the price. The line ¨Helpy me mae the most of freedom and of pleasure”connects to the Commader’s hypocrisy when he sneas Offred to Jezebel’s he’s enjoying ”freedom” while she risks everything. This song exposes the truth behind Gilead’s fake righteousness, that control, not faith, runs the world.

Control by Halsey

Offred finds the Latin message scratched into her closet “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum,” (pg. 146) and it becomes a secret anthem of strength. Halsey’s “Control” feels like that message turned into music. She sings, “Im bigger than my body, I’m colder than this home,” which echoes Offreds’s feeling of being trapped inside a body that isn’t hers anymore. The line between sanity and rebellion blurs for her as she tries to maintain control in a place where she has none. Like Halsey battling the monster inside, Offred’s fight is both mental and emotional. She can’t shout her anger, but it simmers under every quiet thought. The Latin phrase Isn’t just graffi, its the voice of every women in Gilead saying, “We’re still here.”

The Night We Met by Lord Huron

Offred admits, “I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not.”( Pg. 97) That longing connects deeply with The Night We Met.” The song’s lyrics, “I had all and then most of you, some and now none of you,” sound like her memories of Luke and their lost life together. The slow, haunting melody feels like remembering lovethrought fog, its there but fading. The song also reflects her complicated relationship with Nic, where love ans survival blur. In Gilead, love is rebellion, it means clamin something human in a place designed to erase humanity. When Offred reaches for those memories, she’s not just missing Luke, she’s reaching for the part of herself that Gilead can’t take. This song captures that ache perfectly.

Each of these songs I choose gives sound to the emotions Margret Atwoods leaves unspoken fear, love, rage, and hope. The Commanders may erase women’s voices, but they can’t erase rhythm or memory. When Offred remembers the past, it’s like a song playing in her head, something that connects her to who she used to be.

Running with the wolves

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06ht9MyJLT4&list=RD06ht9MyJLT4&start_radio=1

Caged Bird

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9_9XbUvfrA&list=RDj9_9XbUvfrA&start_radio=1

Everybody Wants to Rule the World by Tears for Fears

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGCdLKXNF3w&list=RDaGCdLKXNF3w&start_radio=1

Control

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so8V5dAli-Q&list=RDso8V5dAli-Q&start_radio=1

The night we met

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtlgYxa6BMU