The Sounds of Gilead- Lit Log #2

Silver Springs - Fleetwood Mac: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDwi-8n054s This song is meant to reflect the idea of never getting over someone after breaking up. I think this idea of never being able to move on connects with Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. It is demonstrated mostly through Offred’s references to a time before Gilead and her relationship with Luke. When exploring her new room she makes multiple references to how she longs for her past. Initially, she connects her and Luke’s hotel visits by stating that, “Before we were married [Luke and Offred] and I solidified, I would always get there first, check in. It wasn’t many times, but it now seems like a decade, an era; I can remember what I wore, each blouse, each scarf.” (50) This shows not only how Offred continues to tie her current experiences to her past, but also the way that even the details of these precious events weigh on her mind. Additionally, she states that, “I looked up at the blind plaster eye in the ceiling. I wanted to feel Luke lying beside me. I have them, these attacks of the past, like a fairness, a wave sweeping over my head.” (52) This quote is one of the best examples of Offred herself explaining the ways in which her past contact haunts her current situation.

Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=cNd4eocq2K0 Despite being a song titled Personal Jesus, the song itself references religion as a means to fulfill personal whims and the reflection of religious power onto others. These are ideas that, while not as extreme, referenced in the song apply to the religious foundation of how Gilead, and their propaganda, operate. Specifically, in the novel we see the Aunts use their twisted sense of religion to indoctrinate the Handmaids in the Red Center. One such example is given right before the ceremony where we are given an anecdote about the Bible reading the Commander gives before the event. Offred explains, “It’s the usual story, the usual stories. God to Adam, God to Noah. Lie fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. Then comes the moldy old Rachel and Leah stuff we had drummed into us at the Center. Give me children, or else I die. Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Behold my maid Bilhah. She shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. And so on and so forth.” (88) This is an example of how religion in Gilead is often used for a Personal benefit/excuse of action, which directly connects to how religion can be used for personal fulfilment as mentioned in the song.

American Wedding- Frank Ocean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrin3JE4HhU This song is meant as an analogy of how America views Eastern culture and women’s lives in other countries. I think that this song is a good allegory for the way that the perception of modesty and the condition other women live under are perceived by outside groups. In The Handmaid’s Tale, we get to see Offred interact with some Japanese tourists. In that interaction Offret comments that, “Their heads are uncovered and their hair too is exposed, in all its sexuality and darkness.” (28) This is a really interesting parallel to the song as it references hijabs and the perception of women being forced into modesty, whereas in Offred’s comment we get to see the reverse of a perceived modesty. Additionally, it could serve as a viewpoint of how people outside of Gilead view the wills imposed on the women there, which we get to see a little of in that small interaction where the Handmaids are asked to smile and asked about their practices/culture.

Girls on Film- Duran Duran: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7cpevw_6-E Although Girls on Film is an arguably more upbeat song than anything mentioned in The Handmaid’s Tale, I think it offers a good reflection of the way in which the past is shown and how women’s lives were pre-Gilead. This is particularly true with the way the reader is shown Offred’s mother or the Films of the Red Center. Specifically, the film is described, “First comes the title and some names, blacked out on the film with a crayon so we can’t read them, and then I see my mother. My young mother, younger than I remember her, as young as she must have been when I was born. She’s wearing the kind of outfit Aunt Lydia told us was typical of Unwomen in those days, overall jeans with a green and mauve plaid shirt underneath,… She’s in a group of other women, dressed in the same fashion; she’s holding a stick, no, it’s part of a banner, the handle. The camera pans up and we see the writing, in paint, on what must be a bead sheet: TAKE THE NIGHT BACK.” (119) While the song itself is a commentary on exploitation of girls in the fashion/film industry. I think that the lyrics can also be applied to how film is used as both a tool of control through the violent film they show, but also as a means to see pre-Gilead women’s freedom and how to film through the lens of preservation and propaganda.

Army Dreamers- Kate Bush: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOZDKlpybZE The song Army Dreamers by Kate Bush is about a mother grieving the loss of her son who died in war and how his life was too short. While we are told about the ongoing war in Gilead and the Angel soldiers who fight in it, I think this song can also be seen as a reflection of the women affected by this war, not just the Handmaids, but even women in ‘”higher” ranking positions. One such example is during the group wedding where it notes, “The twenty Angles enter, newly returned from the fronts, newly decorated, accompanied by their honor guard, marching one-two, one-two into the central open space. And now the twenty veiled daughters, in white, come shyly forward, their mothers holding their elbows, not the fathers, who give away daughters these days with the help of arrangement of marriages.” (219) I feel this connects to Army Dreamers because in the song the mother is not only mourning the loss of her son, but also how his early death prevented him from so many other things. This is reflected in the young brides, despite not being engaged in the military formally, it is controlling their lives, and in doing so, preventing them from following their dreams.