The Tale Of Some Tunes

Even though there is no music mentioned in the book Handmaid Tale, certain songs resonate with many characters, themes, and moments throughout the book. Even though these songs aren’t mentioned in the story, they fit in perfectly with the songs resonating with themes of freedom, relationships, love, and loss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FV9dXEFP-Hk

To start it off, one of the first songs I think would fit into the book is the song ¨The World Isn’t Far ¨ by Randy Newman. This late 1990s song talks a lot about how the world is really unequal, and how people in power still continue to benefit while the people who look at them as leaders get left behind. I believe that theme matches perfectly with the society in ¨The Handmaid’s Tale¨ where women are forced out of their control into strict roles and have no freedom to their own, just like the song. Newman’s lyrics in the song were a bit sarcastic and ironic, especially for the time, which was talking about how some people reflect how systems of power are built to keep certain people on top. Gilead does the same thing, only it hides injustice behind religion and “morals.” As Offred says, “We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of the print. It gave us more freedom. We lived in the gaps between the stories.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYB1rbL8EHo

Another song I believe connects to the novel is “You Don’t Own Me” by Lesley Gore. Written in the 60´s, this song boldly declares a woman’s independence and refusal to be controlled by a man. In the story ¨The Handmaid’s Tale¨, women are not treated with care and freedom, with no rights over their bodies or their futures. Offering internal struggles and quiet acts of defiance mirror the song’s demand for autonomy. As she admits, ¨I avoid looking down at my body, not so much because it’s shameful or immodest but because I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely.¨ This moment shows how Offred has been reduced to nothing more than her body, something she no longer feels ownership over. Gore’s song becomes an anthem of resistance in this context, capturing the longing for self-determination that runs throughout the novel

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

“Runaway Train” by Soul Asylumn reflects Offred’s sense of helplessness early in the novel. The line says, “wrong way on a one-way track,” mirrors her life in Gilead, where every escape feels impossible. She longs for freedom, admitting, “I want to steal something, want to feel something, even if it’s only the sound of breaking” (89). The imagery of missing children in the song also connects to her grief over losing her daughter, stolen by the state. Throughout the chapters we have been reading, the main protagonist, Offred, circles back and reminisces to memories of her child, describing her as both painfully close and impossibly out of reach. Like the train in the song, her life has gone off course, her family ripped away, her choices gone. The haunting mood of Soul Asylum’s track captures the despair of being stuck in motion but never moving toward freedom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfpgpf6QVnI

This heavy metal song ¨ Symphony of Destruction ¨ by Megadeth, is a good example of how Gilead manipulates his people. The lyrics describe leaders pulling strings while citizens act “like puppets.” This parallels the Commanders, as Offred notices how easily power can twist human behavior: “Nothing changes instantaneously: in a gradually heating bathtub you’d be boiled to death before you knew it” (56). Just like the song’s warning, Gilead reshaped society step by step until people were trapped without realizing it. The Aunts orchestrate obedience with chants and violence, creating a system where cruelty feels normal. Gilead disguises destruction as stability, conducting society like a “symphony,” where women are reduced to instruments with no voices of their own. Megadeth’s intensity reflects the hidden violence beneath the calm rituals, reminding us that order can be its own kind of chaos when power goes unchecked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-Khe7DInxo

Phoebe Bridgers’s quiet, melancholic song ” Scott Street¨ fits Offred’s reflective moments. The lyrics about memory and emptiness echo her flashbacks to life with Luke and her daughter. Offred recalls: “We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of the print. It gave us more freedom” (57). Like the narrator, she looks back on ordinary moments with bittersweet longing. Even something as simple as walking on a city street or chatting with a friend now feels like another lifetime. Bridger’s kind of quiet or muted voice mirrors Offred’s tone as she remembers laughter, intimacy, and freedom that are gone. The sadness of the song contrasts with her present silence, telling us that memory itself becomes a kind of act for survival. Her longing is not only grief, it’s a quiet rebellion against forgetting.