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The artwork I have chosen to create is inspired by Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel “The Handmaid’s Tale”. The artwork captures the essence of the protagonist in the novel Offred, in a manner that encompasses her true internal conflicts and character development. The central theme of the artwork revolves around the impact of the theocratic, authoritarian society, Gilead, on Offred’s identity and the transformation of her life. In this image, Offred wearing a handmaid’s attire gazes into a shattered mirror that symbolizes the contrast between her life before and after Gilead’s rise as a society. The right half of the broken mirror represents Offred’s life before Gilead. This side has warm, vibrant colors, a significant contrast to the bleak, muted tones of the left half of the mirror. This half depicts her as a free woman, surrounded by her own reflection in various roles as a mother and an individual with a sense of self worth. The reflection of her daughter is very significant as it represents a major connection to her maternal identity and that contrasts the physical, enforced separation Gilead has bought. The left half of the mirror shows Offred as a handmaid staring emotionless into a faded photograph of her daughter. This side of the mirror reflects the profound impact of Gilead on Offred’s life. Her identity has been reduced to a role of a fertility vessel for the ruling class. She has been stripped of all individuality and personal agency. The choice to wear the red robe and white bonnet further illustrates the systematic suppression of identity and character. I chose to include a shattered mirror as it serves as a metaphor for the brokenness of Offred’s life and her fractured sense of identity. Gilead’s authoritarian rule has shattered the essence of her existence and has left her feeling trapped between two alternate worlds. The readers often witness her emotional journey and internal conflict when reflecting upon her past and present. The broken mirror also hints at a possible reconciliation between her past life and her present situation. The crack is noticeable and suggests that despite the harsh reality of Gilead, fragments of Offred’s past life will always linger. The faint image of her daughter in the photograph is a beacon of resilience and hope. It ultimately represents the determination and desire to reunite with her child. I tried to capture the essence of Offred’s character and the detrimental transformation she experienced in Gilead. This artwork has the potential to convey the physical and emotional trauma inflicted upon Offred but also highlights the theme of resilience and determination in individuals in the face of adversity and oppression.

In chapter 11, Offred visits the hospital for her monthly check up. She is told that her time to have a child is beginning to run out. This is obviously because she is getting older and they believe she will soon no longer be able to have children. As the doctor is doing her check up, he comes close to the sheet over her face and whispers “I could help you”. This confuses Offred as she doesn’t know what he means. He mentions he has done it before and begins sliding his hand up her leg. This is a very uncomfortable chapter to read. Offred is very scared and doesn’t know what she is supposed to do. She declines his creepy offer and leaves the hospital feeling fear and confusion. The chapter ends with the line “It’s the choice that terrifies me. A way out, a salvation”.

I believe that this chapter, though short, connects to a much larger theme in the story. Later, the Commander and Offred have a debate about what love is. Offred questions why men did what they do, asserting power over women. The only purpose for women in Gilead is to have children and to be more traditional. The Commander tells her that men essentially just got bored of women and needed something else. They needed to be more powerful over women and show their masculinity.

The connection between these two is that love is an entirely lost concept for these men. There are no more slow burn relationships. There is no more time for these people to get to know each other, go out, or find out what kind of person they are with. The Commander believes that it is better this way as men were bored with doing that and needed to just get it over with. There is no happiness nor pleasure anymore in this society. The concept of consent is something that has been entirely erased. Women no longer have a choice on what happens to their bodies.

The ceremonies are times where the Commanders have sex with the handmaid’s to see if they bear children. Offred mentions that sex is no longer something that has meaning or any pleasure at all. It is a job now, one that she has no power or choice in. She says,”It has nothing to do with passion or love or romance or any of those other notions we used to titillate ourselves with”. She also says that orgasms are not thought necessary anymore. It is a completely pleasureless act for the women and does a lot of harm to them, both physically and mentally. She is not allowed to even look at the Commander. She is forced to have sex with him so that he gets a promotion from a kid she doesn’t get to keep nor name. Another part of the ceremony is that the Commander’s wife must be in the room while he is having sex with Offred. She is forced to hold Offred in her legs as her “husband” has sex with another woman so that she may have a child. When that child is born, it goes to the Commander’s wife, the handmaid has no control over this.

Consent, choice, and love are three major things that have been taken away from these women. The men essentially laugh in their faces about it, or are too numb to it to understand why there is an issue. The doctor offering his “services” to Offred and the ceremony with the Commander are the exact same thing. In both of these cases, she mentions having a choice. That idea of choice is a form of brainwashing put on these women. There really is no choice, regardless of what she feels. No matter what, she is going to be forced to have a baby with a man she does not love in a way that does not give her pleasure. On page 94, she says “Nor does rape cover it: nothing is going on here that I haven’t signed up for”. There was no way for her to sign up for this, this was going to happen regardless. The entire ceremony leads up to this, and the ceremonies are required. There was no choice nor a form of consent. Towards the end of chapter 39, the Commander begins to do the same thing as the doctor. He rubs his hand over her leg and she feels very scared about it. He starts taking their clothes off. She says, “I lie there like a dead bird”. The chapter ends with her reminding herself to fake the pleasure, as there will be none involved.

In conclusion, the men in Gilead have no care for these women. They don’t care about consent or what the women are actually feeling. They only care about themselves, their promotions, and the pleasures they feel. The women are left with nothing but pain and the faint hope that they have control over what happens to them.

The Republic of Gilead from The Handmaid’s Tale is an incredibly religious state based on a Christian theocracy. Christianity, being the largest religion that has ever existed, has had a massive influence on artistic media since its dawn. Christian themes appear in ancient both and modern literature, it has inspired great painted works such as the Sistine Chapel Ceiling, The Last Supper, or Raphael’s Transfiguration, and it is hard to escape the ever prevalent grasp of Christian music. However, possibly the most foundational form of the religion’s art is the churches themselves. In olden times and even today, such buildings were always the tallest and most impressive structures in every town. For my piece of art, I have created a stained glass window, a prominent feature in many churches across the world. Often, stained glass windows depict a message or story, which made them the most interesting things to look at in the more boring churches I attended in my childhood. And this is actually the point of these windows, they are meant to educate people on the holy scriptures, even if they can’t read. That is why symbolism is very important for this form of art. Symbolism is also prominent in The Handmaid’s Tale, the most important example being the ever watchful eye of God. This is the highlight of my window, a winged eye looking down upon the rest of the piece, shrouded in brilliant light and encircled by a halo. A common greeting in Gilead is “Under His Eye” and heaven, where God resides, is most often pictured above us. This made the placement for the eye at the top of the window very obvious. The smaller ones’ placement are more of a personal choice. They are the Eyes of God, or just the Eyes for short. The reason I placed them above the cloud layer that separates the Heaven portion and the Earth portion of the window is because the official term in the book reminded me of Seraphs, the highest order of angels and thus the closest to God. Seraphs are most easily recognized by their numerous wings and eyes, while the symbol for the Eyes is a winged eye. Their alien nature, both the Seraphs and the Eyes, is very prevalent as the closer an angel is to God, the less human they look and the Eyes are simply inhumane in the most literal sense. This is why I pictured them in Heaven. Down on Earth however, you can see two wives and a newborn child. The scene being depicted is the Birth Day, in which a Handmaid gives birth to an infant that is claimed by her commanding wife. The child is surrounded by a radiance, similar to the one pictured around God, a good time to mention how important light is in Christian culture and why these windows are so symbolic. The similar lights here show the connection between the child and God, the child a gift from God. The infant is at the center due to the importance of its birth as fertility rates have plummeted in the Gileadean Era. Because fertility is so important, below it is a circular chapel window design, but depicting a uterus. The uterus is an important symbol in The Handmaid’s Tale since that’s the reason why there’s handmaids at all: fertility. Offred talks about the organ throughout the book, imagining herself as flesh packed around it. The Aunts cannot stress how important it is while also diminishing the women they belong to, setting a single piece of them as the core of their beings. All that remains is that procreative fragment. Around the Uterus is a variety of colors. Colors are a very important piece of symbolism in cathedral windows as well as The Handmaid’s Tale. For example, red represents fertility and so I feature it extensively throughout the window. There’s God’s eye, the cloth the infant is wrapped in, and of course the Uterus. The colors around the uterus represent the different classes of Gileadean society. Black for the Commanders and Angels who wear black and represent strength, blue for their wives as it is shown they can command the classes below them, green for Guardians and Marthas who both wear green uniforms, and the handmaids at the bottom. They are red because they are the most important, and the lowest because they possess the least power. In my window too, the handmaids are at the lowest point. Hidden by a dark curtain, they stand and kneel silently. They are not the focus. The child and God are. The red child stands out among the blue wives. It is not theirs. But the one it belongs to is not important enough.

Chapter 9 (page 51): Waterfalls (1) by James Quinn

“I was nervous. How was I to know he loved me? It might be just an affair. Why did we ever say just?… The knock would come at the door; I’d open, with relief, desire. He was so momentary, so condensed. And yet there seemed no end to him. We would lie in those afternoon beds, afterwards, hands on each other, talking it over. Possible, impossible. What could be done? We thought we had such problems. How were we to know we were happy?” In this portion of the book, Offred was reciting a memory she had with Luke, a memory about their love and relationship. Offred would typically reminisce about the past since that was all she had and something that couldn’t be taken from her. I would believe that she’s lonely and has this emptiness within her because of how little affection is shown in Gilead. In the song, “Waterfalls” by James Quinn, he captures this sort of sorrowful feeling in the notes he plays. But also captures the feeling of happy, nostalgic moments in life. The beginning of the song really captures when Offred says, “I was nervous. How was I to know he loved me? It might be just an affair. Why did we ever say just?… The knock would come at the door; I’d open, with relief, desire.” Just the fast-paced intro shows the number of thoughts spilling thoughts throughout Offred’s mind, contemplating her relationship with Luke, seeing if their relationship even meant anything to Luke. But as you continue to listen to the song, there comes a time when it quickens but slows down right after, representing the many ups and downs of Offred and Luke’s relationship. But also at the end of the quote, “We would lie in those afternoon beds, afterwards, hands on each other, talking it over. Possible, impossible. What could be done? We thought we had such problems. How were we to know we were happy?”

Chapter 12 (pages 63-64): Mia and Sebastian’s theme song (2) by Justin Hurwitz

“I step into the water, lie down, let it hold me. The water is soft as hands. I close my eyes, and she’s there with me, suddenly, without warning, it must be the smell of the soap. I put my face against the soft hair at the back of her neck and breathe her in, baby powder and child’s washed flesh and shampoo, with an undertone, the faint scent of urine. This is the age she is when I’m in the bath. She comes back to me at different ages. This is how I know she’s not really a ghost. If she were a ghost she would be the same age always… She fades, I can’t keep her here with me, she’s gone now. Maybe I do think of her as a ghost, the ghost of a dead girl, a little girl who died when she was five.” In this portion of the book, Offred is bathing herself. But as she bathes herself, she reveals to the readers that the smell of the soap reminds her of her daughter. Saying the little details that she remembered she had with her daughter, before being taken away from her. In the song “Mia and Sebastian’s Theme Song” by Justin Hurwitz, the song starts off slow and calming, this being the moment where Offred recognizes the smell. But as the song progresses, it becomes more aggressive and hard hitting, representing how much she thinks about her daughter, always coming back “at different ages” each time. Ending the song, it ends quite abruptly, like how Offred shamelessly adds that maybe her daughter is a ghost, the ghost of a dead girl, a little girl who died when she was five.”

Chapter 13 (pages 74-75): Jacob and the Stone (3) by Emile Mosseri

“I’m running, with her, holding her hand, pulling, dragging her through the bracken, she’s only half awake because of the pill I gave her, so she wouldn’t cry or say anything that would give us away, she doesn’t know where she is… I can hear the bells even, sleigh bells from the radio, old music, but through this window I can see, small but very clear, I can see her, going away from me, through the trees which are already turning, red and yellow, holding out her arms to me being carried away.” In this portion of the book, Offred is remembering when everything changed in her life––she gets separated from Luke, and her daughter gets stripped away from her. At this point Offred’s life was gonna change forever, all the pieces of her past life were ripped away from her. She was now just a normal woman in other people’s view, not a mother, not a wife, but just a handmaid. In the song, “Jacob and the Stone” by Emile Mosseri, it’s very angelic-like. It sounds as if you would enter heaven and the choir of angels starts playing for you as you walk through the gates. This dramatic piece just makes me imagine how this scene would play out; the music comes in, as Offred’s daughter is “holding out her arms to me being carried away.” I imagine that this scene is gonna be in slow motion to really capture the last moments she had with her daughter. Also, the little moments where Offred captures these hypersensitivities to the colors of the leaves and sounds around her, make me believe how tired she was from running, and how her paranoia made her imagine “sleigh bells from the radio, old music [playing]…”

Chapter 17 (page 98): Love (4) by Keyshia Cole

“He steps towards me. Nick. ‘What are you doing here in here?’ I don’t answer. He too is illegal, here, with me, he can’t give me away. Nor I him; for the moment we’re mirrors. He puts his hand on my arms, pulls me against him, his mouth on mine, what else comes from such denial? Without a word. Both of us shaking, how I’d like to…My hand goes down, how about that, I could unbutton, and then. But it’s too dangerous, he knows it, we push each other away not far. Too much trust, too much risk, too much already.” In this portion of the book, Offred wanted to press a flower under her mattress for another handmaid to possibly find, like how she found the Latin etching in her closet, “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.” So she went into the sitting room to find a flower but felt another presence with her, which was Nick. Sensing the tension between Nick and Offred, Nick makes the first move and kisses her on the lips, and they stay there for a bit. Before pushing “each other away not far. Too much trust, too much risk, too much already.” It seems a spark had been lit between two dead flames. In the song, “Love” by Keyshia Cole, the lyrics, “Love, Never knew what I was missin’, But I knew once we start kissin’, I found, found you, Now you’re gone, what am I gonna do?” I feel that those lyrics just interpreted what happened in that sensual scene. “Love, Never knew what I was missin’,” made me think that Offred felt this sense of rebellion kissing someone that wasn’t Luke and just going against Gilead’s system. “But I knew once we start kissin’, I found, found you, Now you’re gone, what am I gonna do?” Since this kiss, there has always been this awkward tension between Offred and Nick when they cross paths, a tension of desire to continue what they stopped.

Chapter 24 (pages 146-147): Asleep among Endives (5) by Ichiko Aoba

“I stifle it in the folds of the hanging cloak, clench my eyes, from which tears are squeezing. Try to compose myself. After a while it passes, like an epileptic fit. Here I am in the closet. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. I can’t see in the dark but I trace the tiny scratched writing with the ends of my fingers, as if it’s a code in Braille. It sounds in my head now less like a prayer, more like a command; but to do what? Useless to me in any case, an ancient hieroglyph to which the key’s been lost. Why did she write it, why did she bother? There’s no way out of here. I lie on the floor, breathing too fast, then slower, evening out my breathing, as in Exercises, for giving birth. All I can hear now is the sound of my own heart, opening and closing, opening and closing, opening.” In this portion of the book, Offred is exhausted from helping with the process of a handmaid, Janine, giving birth. So she goes back to her room to “… compose myself.” In the song, “Asleep among Endives” by Ichiko Aoba, the lyrics, “At the edge of the world, listen to the galaxy, A gentle breeze, a gentian shining on my ankles.” As Offred, lay “on the floor, breathing too fast, then slower, evening out my breathing…” makes me think that she is just trying to calm after the amount of adrenaline that was coursing through her. She lays on the floor as this calming song fits with the mood she’s feeling.

Music: (1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=io8w2qusfXw

(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3ovuBdbUqk

(3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbm3Llu2114

(4) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZaotY2V3gY

(5) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aED02XuLwo

Falling By Harry Styles

The lines “What am I now? What am I now?” and “I get the feeling that you’ll never need me again” connect to the way Offred feels as a handmaid: useless. She isn’t needed for anything other than her womb, and if she can’t have a baby she’ll never be needed for anything. “I want to be valued in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable. I repeat my former name, remind myself of what I once could do, how others saw me.” (pg 97) She feels like her new name doesn’t represent who she truly is, and associates her former one with freedom and possibility. As someone who isn’t valued in Gilead, Offred feels invisible, but often mentions the people who truly aren’t talked about: the Unwomen. When they are sent off to the colonies, nobody speaks of them again. This idea relates to the line “What if I’m someone you won’t talk about?” She doesn’t want to end up in the Colonies because it means she’ll be forgotten.

Mind Over Matter By Young the Giant

This song makes me think of sitting in your room staring at a wall contemplating life, which is how Offred spends most of her time. On page 105 she asks, “Does he know I’m here, alive, that I’m thinking about him? I believe so.” She knows that she must have hope in order to make it through the situation she’s in. As the song says, “Mind over matter, does it matter to any of us?” Offred focuses on staying alive and holding onto hope, even though the odds of having a happy ending are not in her favor. She stays alive partially because she can’t kill herself and partially because she believes that Luke may come back into her life someday, somehow. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t think that way, she’d be more logical, but by putting mind over matter she pushes logic to the side in order to stay sane.

Out of my League By Fitz and The Tantrums

This song’s upbeat melody and quick tempo make it a good representation of the before times described by Offred, the times she had with Luke. The lyrics “Cause you were out of my league, all the things I believed, you were just the right kind, yeah you were more than just a dream” are similar to Offred’s thoughts about Luke. On page 121, she explains the dynamic he had with her mom, whose way of speaking often got on her nerves. “He didn’t mind, he teased her by pretending to be macho, he’d tell her women were incapable of abstract thought and she’d have another drink and grin at him.” Luke’s ability to handle- even entertain- Offred’s mother showed her that he was a keeper. Another line from Out of my League reads “If I die, don’t wake me ‘cause you are more than just a dream.” Not wanting to live without Luke is one of the major things Offred struggles with in the book.

Night Changes By One Direction

While listening to this song, I noticed the line “Going out tonight, changes into something red. Her mother doesn’t like that kind of dress, reminds her of the missing piece of innocence she lost.” It directly voices Offred’s thoughts about her daughter and coincidentally talks about wearing a red dress, which is what the handmaids are forced to wear. Offred, as a mother, doesn’t like the dress and constantly talks about it being too hot or restricting. She also lost her innocence to the system attached to the red dress, as she was pretty young when she was taken to the Center. The song says, “We’re only getting older, baby. And I’ve been thinking about it lately, does it ever drive you crazy just how fast the night changes?” This connects to the way her daughter is growing up without her, and time is passing more quickly than she can believe. On page 228, Offred finally gets to see a picture of her daughter. “My treasure. So tall and changed… Time has not stood still. It has washed over me, washed me away.”

Set Fire to the Rain By Adele

“My hands, they were strong, but my knees were far too weak to stand in your arms without falling to your feet. But there’s a side to you that I never knew, never knew.” This portion of the song made me think of the way Offred views the Commander. She doesn’t quite know how to deal with him, whether she’s manipulating him or whether he’s manipulating her, but at the end of the day he has power over her. After she’d visited him several times in his office, she started to see another side of him, the “silly” side. “His face is a little flushed. I try to estimate how many he’s had… Behind this act of his I sense embarrassment.” (pg 229) When the Commander drinks, it becomes even more obvious that he’s kind of just a regular guy. Even though he’s in a position of power, he isn’t all-knowing, particularly wise, or anything of the sort.

The paragraph I wanted to focus on comes from Chapter 34. On page 219 in the middle, it opens with “We’ve given them more than we’ve taken away, ” said the Commander, “Think of the trouble they had before. Don’t you remember the singles bars, the indignity of the high school blind dates? The meat market. Don’t you remember the terrible gap between the ones who could get a man easily and the ones who couldn’t? Some of them were desperate, they starved themselves thin or pumped their breasts full of silicone, and had their noses cut off. Think of the human Misery.”

There’s a lot to take in from just that small little paragraph, but I think some really key things are “ We’ve given them more than we’ve taken away”. “Some of them we desperate, they starved themselves thin or pumped them full of silicone.” The first line makes me think about all the different real-world aspects like taking natural resources or destroying the climate that we have taken from society. I think these ideas come from the Commander because he feels the need to use his authority to oppress women and be in power. I see these ideas paralleled in our society today through things like plastic surgery and eating disorders. The use of imagery on social media has also influenced it in a huge way as well. To a further extent, the Commander sees it as an opportunity to be a doctor or surgeon in the story, and the women and their bodies are his patients that he can make “perfect” in his vision.

Additionally, another way I specifically said this line was, “Don’t you remember the single bars, the indignity of the high school blind dates”. It makes me think back to “simpler times” or “life before covid” in a way. These ideas come from the Gileadian concept of a patriarchal society and familial structure. The Commander’s role and behaviors have clear parallels to today’s retrenchment of women’s health rights and control of their bodies. Ironically, the same evangelical forces that we see guiding Commander are present today in the positions of many politicians. When I read the entry “We’ve given them more than we’ve taken away”, in the context of the children of Ham and being a person of color this particular passage resonated with me because of the current rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives across this country. I find them problematic because I find the character Offred to be nothing more than an indentured concubine. Atwood wrote it this way I believe, because she envisioned how theology would mix and then overtake democratic institutions. This environment is found the perfect breeding ground for many of the ideas that foster the creation of Gilead.

Additionally, I think Atwood writes the text in the way she does to address the issues in society in her own unique way. As we know the author uses the commanders as a symbol of power in the book, and, specifically, how those in power are often able to break the rules they set without repercussions. The character of the Commander also demonstrates how appearances are deceptive: those who advocate for and benefit from the oppression of others are often unassuming. We see many examples in the real world of individuals or groups that act just like the Commanders. We can take politicians and wealthy people. Donald Trump for example who has had 4 indictments has been able to avoid the repercussions of the law. He was directly responsible for what happened on January 6th and had received no offenses from the law. These ideas had the power to create Gilead because I think Atwood either envisioned or already thought something like Gilead become true. Gilead is an authoritarian state that limits freedom, suppresses opposition, and maintains control over information. This reflects how authoritarian regimes have utilized propaganda, censorship, and repression to maintain power throughout history. narrative includes elements of historical oppression and women’s treatment throughout history. It makes references to the Salem witch trials, in which women were systematically demonised, informed on, and violently punished for being ‘different’ to puritanical norms. the suffrage movement, and the status of women in diverse societies. reflection on how historical circumstances can inform and affect current situations. which is another reason I believe Atwood writes her texts the way she does. To close out I found that from this chapter in general was very interesting in terms of the ways that Offred talks about her relationships and how she deals with love. The comparisons we can draw between the book and gender roles, hierarchy, etc are none less.

Don’t Stop Believin’ - Journey
While this song has a level of positivity to it that Offred’s situation doesn’t, its name, which is repeated multiple times throughout the song, connects so well to Offred’s situation that I chose to include it. In many aspects of her life, Offred has continued to believe, and that belief seems to be what keeps her motivated. An example of this is Offred’s hope that Luke is still alive. On page 166, when she passes The Wall with Ofglen she says “When I can see the bodies, the actual bodies, when I can guess from the sizes and shapes that none of them is Luke, I can believe also that he is still alive.” Without this belief that her loved ones are somehow okay, Offred might very well lose her will to live given how horrible her situation is. For this reason, “Don’t stop believin” is a phrase that describes a crucial aspect of Offred’s life in Gilead. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k8craCGpgs

Here - Alessia Cara
I chose this song because it has strong similarities to Offred’s experience at Jezebel’s. The song is about someone who is at a party, but doesn’t want to be, and includes lines such as “I’m sorry if I seem uninterested / Or I’m not listenin’ or I’m indifferent / Truly, I ain’t got no business here,” and “But really I would rather be at home all by myself not in this room / With people who don’t even care about my well being” These lines seem to relate to Offred’s sense of being out of place at Jezebel’s. For example on page 240, Offred describes her attempt to meet Moira in the bathroom saying, “ I get up, wobble across the room. I lurch a little, near the fountain, almost fall. It’s the heels… Several of the men look at me, with surprise. I think rather than lust. I feel like a fool.” This quote shows how different Jezebel’s is to Offred’s typical environment and I think her feeling of discomfort in this moment relates to the emotions expressed in “Here.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKp2CrfmVfw

Cold - Maroon 5
I chose this song because I saw a strong connection between it and the Commander and Serena Joy’s relationship. The song describes a relationship in which the singer Adam Levine, and the subject of the song have drifted apart. Adam Levine sings that he feels that the subject of the song is “cold” towards him. While Margaret Atwood hasn’t revealed the details of the Commander and Serena Joy’s relationship before Gilead, coldness has certainly become a central theme in their relationship at the time in which the book is written. One example of this is at the beginning of the Ceremony when Offred says, “The Commander knocks at the door. The knock is prescribed: the sitting room is supposed to be Serena Joy’s territory, he’s supposed to ask permission to enter it. She likes to keep him waiting. It’s a little thing, but in this household little things mean a lot.” (86) Petty displays of power, such as Serena Joy’s behavior in this quote, do not indicate a happy relationship, which is why “Cold” is a fitting song to describe their marriage. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XatXy6ZhKZw

Somebody to Love - Basstrologe
I chose this song because it repeats the lines “Don’t you want somebody to love?; Don’t you need somebody to love?; Wouldn’t you love somebody to love?; You better find somebody to love.” This relates to The Handmaid’s Tale, because one of the biggest things missing from everyone’s lives seems to be loving relationships. For example, when the Commander secretly meets with Offred to play Scrabble for the first time and asks her to kiss him, she does so, but then he says, “Not like that. As if you mean it.” (140) To me this shows the Commander wants to convince himself that there is some real connection between himself and Offred, when in reality, that is impossible given the fact that she is essentially his slave. I think that this is a reflection of the loneliness that all of the characters feel due to the lack of real relationships in Gilead. Despite all the power the Commander has, all of his relationships seem to be defined by the rules of Gilead: none of them are natural or based on emotion. I think that this is Margaret Atwood’s way of making a point very similar to the idea that “Don’t you need somebody to love.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRLRymTR_rA

How Long - Charlie Puth
While “Cold” relates to Serena Joy’s relationship with the Commander in general, I think that “How Long” connects to the impact that the Commander’s secret meetings with handmaid’s has on Serena Joy. This is a song about cheating in a relationship. In the song, Charlie Puth sings, “How long has this been goin’ on? / You’ve been creepin’ ‘round on me / While you’re callin’ me ‘Baby.’” Atwood doesn’t tell the reader exactly how Serena Joy reacted when she found out that the last handmaid was secretly meeting the Commander. However, when the Commander is telling Offred what happened to the handmaid on page 187, Atwood does write, “‘She hanged herself,’ he says; thoughtfully not sadly… ‘Serena found out,’ he says, as if this explains it. And it does.” This quote at the very least implies that Serena Joy had a strong reaction when she discovered the meetings, which may have driven the handmaid to kill herself. This relates to “How Long” because while the Commander might not have been cheating on Serena Joy in the traditional sense, he was “creepin’ ‘round” on her. Gilead has already stripped away most of the meaning from the Commander and Serena Joy’s marriage, and then the Commander lied to her and broke rules that seem to matter to her. This means that it wouldn’t have been unreasonable for her to have felt as much pain as one would feel from being cheated on in the way that Puth describes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwfoyVa980U

Lit log #2:

The Way Things Go- Beabadobee

This song describes Luke and Offred’s marriage during the start of Gilead in many ways. For example, names are very important in The Handmaid’s Tale. Throughout the story, we learn about many small things from Offred’s life before Gilead, that she took for granted, such as her name. The readers do not know her real name yet, but Luke’s name is known. Something that can be viewed as insignificant, like your name, is being taken away from women in this society, but lots of men have not lost this privilege. This song also relates a lot to Offred’s flashbacks, like the lyric “There’s too much on my mind.” The narrator’s mind wanders a lot, and this is how she tells her story, on her own terms. The lyric “There’s so much left to say” relates to her feelings towards Luke, because they didn’t choose to end their relationship, yet it ended so abruptly, and she didn’t get to say everything that she wanted to say to him. She sometimes catches herself referring to him in past tense, and corrects herself, because to her, he is still real, and such a large part of her life. For example, after her moment with Nick, she thinks to herself that Luke would understand, because he is still constantly on her mind. Throughout this song, the artist Beabadoobee sings about toxic relationships she has had, where when she was in them, she thought this was the norm. During her flashback to when Luke tries to reassure her when she was fired and lost her economic freedom, he says to her on page 179, “You know I’ll always take care of you.” This moment connects to the lyric and common phrase “I guess that’s just the way things go,” because he implies this, because he can’t change it, but he can say what he thinks he is supposed to say to comfort her.

Lyric Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAzq1kS7Euc

Space Song- Beach House

When Luke and Offred are trying to escape with their daughter, they are driving toward their new life. The slow, calming nature of this song fits this moment perfectly, because it is what the two of them need. The anxiety is so high because they don’t know what’s going to happen, but they have left their entire life behind. This song focuses on the connection that two people feel. The lyrics “You held on tight// I’m on your side,” are perfect for this moment, because they know at this moment they only have each other, because they can’t trust others. Even with all of this uncertainty, they both choose to escape together. They don’t truly understand Gilead yet, because it is so new, which reminded me of the lyric “What makes this fragile world go round.” Throughout this entire story, there is so much confusion, and that forces the reader to ask themselves, why is Gilead like this? And what are the similarities with our current society?

Lyric Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDv_oMJXZow

Spring- Antonio Vivaldi

While this classical song doesn’t have any lyrics, the title, and the high paced mood connects to the motif of gardens, which I think represents motherhood. Tending and maintaining the garden consistently can be interpreted as watching out for your child and always being there for them. However, this choice has been taken away from Offred. During her flashback on page 12 of her own garden after she first witnessed Serena Joy’s, she describes “Time could pass more swiftly that way.”: Is she really talking about the garden? Having a garden used to be so normal, she can’t have anything that’s hers. Her garden used to be hers, just like her daughter, but her daughter doesn’t even remember her anymore. This is shown when Serena Joy secretly gave her a picture, she says, “It (time) has washed over me, washed me away, as if I’m nothing more than a woman of sand…Still, I can’t bear it, to have been erased like that.” (page 228) Finally, the fact that this song is not performed by one instrument, but by an orchestra, relates to her strong relationship with her daughter, and how before it was not one-sided.

Link to Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3nSvIiBNFo

Think Fast: Dominic Fike (ft. Weezer)

Throughout the novel, there is a recurring theme of indoctrination, and you don’t know if it’s always Offred talking or it’s Gilead’s ideals that have creeped into her own personal thoughts. In this song, Dominic Fike is trying to find meaning in a confusing world. The lyrics, “She talks and nothing makes sense to me.”//“If it’s not a puzzle, it must be nonsense,” are also related to indoctrination. When she is learning how to become a handmaid and live in this new society, she is extremely overwhelmed, and some of the things the aunts were saying were mixing around in her head, which is shown when sometimes a thought is prefaced by “Aunt Lydia says,” letting us know that it might not really be Offred talking, and all of those opinions are the same category in her head. This indoctrination shows us performative religion, such as doing everything for power rather than faith. An example of this would be the Soul Scrolls, which really just show your wealth and status, not your commitment to the religion. The part of the song where Dominic Fike sings, “Had clues to dead ends, I’d lose them lost faith,” I think is a good representation of how Offred feels, because we do see her praying prior to Gilead on page 225, “It’s going to be all right, I said, prayed in my head.” However, now because she doesn’t pray on her own accord, she makes small changes to feel rebellious, like when she was praying The Lord’s Prayer.

Lyric Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upadCWGCbF0

Happy Now- Kali Uchis This song is Kali Uchis reflecting on a past relationship of hers, which is exactly what Offred is doing when she tells us her and Luke’s story. Many times, Offred admits that she is doing something wrong, but she is always trying to justify it. Her relationship with Luke and her relationship with The Commander are similar in many ways. She is “the other woman” in both. Going to hotels, only together behind closed doors. On page 193 she says, “You have to create an it, where none was before.” That section is her talking about how you have to make yourself believe something is real so that it becomes real, in her case justifying her poor actions. In the song “Happy Now”, the lyrics “It was never their business anyway. Let’s, you and me, start over today, be happy,” for me, describing Offred’s perspective on her relationship with Luke prior to marriage. When he was cheating on his wife with her, because Luke’s wife didn’t matter to her, only the relationship she had with him. Finally, “I’ve gotta free my mind. Don’t wanna think about the pain or the heartaches. Just wanna remember all the good things,” can show how Offred only wants to remember Luke as this amazing man, he was her husband, doesn’t know what happened to him, creating an image of him in her head because she only wants to think positively. She constantly gives us reasons to make us believe that they are good people, because she doesn’t believe it herself.

Lyric Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eixxLxVrh_o

I drew a picture of the Polaroid of Offred’s daughter, that Serena Joy shows her. I chose to write this because I think when Offred saw this picture it was a turning point in the story. When Offred sees this picture she can tell her daughter has forgotten her, “A shadow of a shadow, as dead mothers become. You can see it in her eyes: I am not there.” (Pg. 228) Before this point Offred has often lived in her memories, of herself and her daughter, her mother, Luke, and Moira. She was given no closure, and has no idea what happened to her family so she is able to create different realities in her head and live inside of those memories. When Offred sees this photo of her daughter, and realizes that she has been forgotten, in her mind she has nothing more to live for. The tone of her narration changes after this moment. She seems like a shell of herself, and begins to take risks she wouldn’t have previously done. The way she tells her story is like she’s removed herself from it. Removed her emotions, memories, and care. Before this moment Offred had little bits of hope. She dreamed of the day when she might reunite with Luke and her daughter. Or lived in the past when they were still with her. When she loses this hope, like many people, she loses her sense of self. Within the drawing I used primarily red paint, and left Offred’s daughter’s face blank. Throughout the story a main theme I noticed the author using was the mention of the color red. In more obvious cases this is the color of the handmaid’s clothes. But the author includes smaller references to the color throughout. Like how Offred describes the summer heat as “red radiation.” I think the author includes this term to show how the color red signifies the discomfort and danger, ever so present around the handmaids. I used mostly the color red in my drawing to represent similar feelings, and to show how prevalent the color is throughout the book. I left Offred’s daughter’s face blank because although Offred often recounts memories of her daughter, she never describes what she looks like. I think this is because it would be too painful for Offred to really think about what she lost, so she keeps these feelings of mystery around her daughter to shield herself from pain. Serena Joy shows Offred this picture as a part of a bribe to get Offred to conceive a child with Nick instead of the Commander. As I was reading I wondered if Serena Joy knew that when Offred saw this picture she would be driven to take more risks, as the thing she was living for, her daughter, had moved on without her. I also wondered if Serena Joy knew the pain she caused Offred by showing her this picture. And by extension, if she did this on purpose because of the disdain she seemed to hold for handmaids throughout the entire story. I think that showing Offred the picture did more harm than good, and served as a major turning point in this story.

One thing that resonates with me a lot from The Handmaid’s Tale is the societal treatment of women. It resembles my mom’s culture a lot and reminds me of my family’s experience that has become normalized to them. My mom is from a republic of Russia that’s called Chechnya, which is entirely muslim. The way the entire culture works is that men work, while women: stay home, have a bunch of children, and cook and clean all day. Chechen women’s value is based on being a servant; an object. It’s also very common for Chechens to have arranged marriages, and more crudely, men can ‘claim’ a woman on the street just by touching them.

Chapter 34 really hit home with me because of the Prayvaganza’s similarities to my culture’s idea of marriage. Chechen culture isn’t quite as extreme as a mass marriage ceremony but there are still arranged marriages for practically children. Offred refers to Gilead’s philosophy on marrying off 14 year olds “Start them soon is the policy, there’s not a moment to be lost” (pg. 219). Most of my relatives were married by age 16-19, including my mom in her first marriage. ‘There is not a moment to be lost’ because they want them to be the most physically viable for pregnancy; their worth is based on how useful they are to their husbands. Just like how Offred describes the Prayvaganza’s matches, it’s also extremely common for young girls to get married off to grown men in Chechnya. It’s the same in both Gilead and Chechnya. This chapter especially resonated with me because I witnessed how this affected my cousin, whose father married her off when she was 18 to a man she’d never met before. This was a really hard time for her and everyone else in my family. Even though it was her life, my cousin had no say in the matter, and no one else in my family could do anything because that’s how the patriarchy in Chechnya works. “they’ll always have been silent” (219) Those girls getting married in the Prayvaganza knew they were powerless in that situation, resulting in their silence, similarly to my cousin. Women in both societies often don’t get a choice in their future.

My cousin thankfully was able to get divorced after a few months of being trapped in a loveless marriage, which angered her father. My cousin’s punishment for her decision to get divorced was her father never speaking to her again, which was 6 years ago now. Which reminds me of page 220 “Love, said Aunt Lydia with distaste. Don’t let me catch you at it. No mooning and June-ing around here, girls. Wagging her finger at us. Love is not the point.” I guess that was my uncle’s mentality - ‘love’ just doesn’t matter. But just like in Gilead where people are trapped in loveless marriages, the same thing happens to many women in my culture.

Another thing about Gilead’s objectification of women that reminds me of Chechen culture is their requirements about women’s clothing. Just like the different roles for women in Gilead, all Chechen women are forced to not only cover up, but they can only wear skirts/dresses. Only in the past few years when I have gone to visit my mom’s side of the family for the summer I’ve been subjected to this rule. It feels really dehumanizing, having to dress and act a certain way just to not get judged by my own family. Six weeks out of the year I live how a Chechen woman does, which means most of the days I’m taking care of children, constantly cleaning, and rarely get a chance to just sit down. Frankly, I love my family, but it’s incredibly exhausting. And having to wear a skirt through a full day of non-stop physical labor I really relate to how Offred feels having to wear a warm dress in hot weather. Honestly it has ruined skirts/dresses for me. Often I feel like I physically cannot dress similarly to how I would during the summer, I just get a reminder of being treated like a servant. Chechens are taught that women who wear pants draw more unwanted attention to their body from men. Essentially, taught the same as how Offred and other girls in the Red Center are taught about dressing modestly. “The spectacles women used to make of themselves. Oiling themselves like roast meat on a spit, and bare backs and shoulders, on the street, in public, and legs, not even stockings on them, no wonder those things used to happen.”(pg. 55) When one of my cousins first explained to me how pants were forbidden because they drew attention from men, I heard all the same things. Two cultures that believe in victim blaming. Just like the Red Center brainwashing Handmaids, it really feels like my relatives are completely brainwashed.

To many Americans, The Handmaid’s Tale is just a dystopian novel. However, in my experience with my own culture, there are women all around the world who can relate to a lot of how Gilead treats women.

I get intrigued when the author speaks about intimacy and sex. I think there is a lot to say about how our society deals with sex and intimacy versus the Republic of Gilead.

The Republic of Gilead tends to denounce sex and intimacy. “That was a part of it, the sex was too easy. Anyone could just buy it. There was nothing to work for. Nothing to fight for” [page 210]. I somewhat agree with this. I wonder if sex is meant to be sacred. I think this idea could be influenced by religious belief that once ruled the US. Personally, I think sex is whatever you make of it. I don’t like to say it is easy to have sex, I think sex is more accessible because more people are willing to talk about it now. It is less taboo now due to our generation. The age of sex seems to go lower and lower because of media influence. It used to be upwards of 20 and now it can be ranging from 15+. I don’t have a problem with it though, it is just interesting to notice what caused the age of interest. As long as it is consensual and legal, I am indifferent about age or age gap during sex.

Throughout the whole book, there is a bad connotation about sex. There are no feelings involved but in a bad way. People agree with friends with benefits and that is a destructive relationship people choose to put themselves in. In Gilead, it is not an agreement. There is no choice. There are no feelings attached to your decision on sex. “But this is wrong, nobody dies from lack of sex. It’s lack of love we die from. There’s nobody here I can love, all the people I could love are dead or elsewhere”[page103]. Love is a connection. I think love can be interpreted in different ways since there are many ways to show someone you love them. I think connection is something humans crave so I can understand why Offred is going insane. Especially since she was torn from her relationship with Luke. She definitely longs for feeling. The feeling to be needed and being something to someone. I would probably go insane as well. As an introvert, I need a lot of validation from myself and people I really care about. The reassurance aspect of a relationship knowing someone is present in your life gives your stability. Offred does not have stability in her life. I believe that is why she thinks about Moria and Luke often. She is holding on to the stability she used to have.

I was gasping while reading this section. In. Literal. Shock. It was so casual before and then boom. “Women kneeling, sucking penises or guns, women tied up or chained or with dog collars around their necks, women hanging from trees, or upside-down, naked, with their legs held apart, women being raped, beaten up, killed.”[page 118]. How is this even allowed?! I think porn is unrealistic and especially the example Aunt Lydia gives. The extremities of certain topics instill fear. It is true but unrealistic on a general scale. I do understand how porn creates unrealistic standards for couples. Porn makes sex more difficult with fake scenes and noises. It is overly dramatized and if you don’t fit a certain way of doing sex, then you’re bad at sex. I also think hookup culture could be one of the reasons why Gilead exists. People frown upon sex workers and easy sex. The way how sex can be for many things such as imitancy, fun, and reproduction. Gilead only views sex for reproduction purposes. There should be no pleasure in sex as it is a human duty to reproduce. I do not agree with this idea. Sex should feel comfortable and pleasurable. Breeding is a human duty but it should be consensual for both parties. The Republic of Gilead wants to strip the connection built in sex and have breeding done in its most natural form. It is not enjoyable for all parties as shown during the Ceremony. It feels like a simulation of life. It may be simple to follow but it is unethical in ways. It reminds me of forceful dog breeders. People should be able to build connections and be intimate with each other in ways they may not do with others. Sex is sacred in a sense that individuals share it by their own decision. Choice is what they need. Sex is a choice. Intimate sex is what humans deserve.

The core structure of Gilead’s corruption comes from the government’s absurd obsession with religion, and even though I haven’t dealt with the same severity, this is something I can relate to. In Gilead, everything the citizens live by is following the bible, even though the majority of people aren’t even allowed to read it. From the constant prayers they have to do, to the gender roles being mostly divided to give a male preference. When I was younger, my household was mostly religious so it’s easier to find connections between my life, Gilead, and Gilead’s connection to the bible. Even though it was implied from the beginning, the part that jumped out at me the most was when Offred sees 2 guardians hung on the wall, “The two others have purple placards hung around their necks: Gender Treachery. Their bodies still wear the Guardian uniforms. Caught together, they must have been, but where? A barracks, a shower? It’s hard to say.” (Page 43) Firstly because up to this point we’ve seen a lot of power from the Guardians, this was before we ever met the Commander so other than a few other roles that we were less certain of at the time, the Guardians seemed more safe than the others. And the other reason is they died because they were caught in love, which aligns with traditional religious values that a man can only love a woman but it also resonates with me in particular because my mother is with another woman.

Around 2018, my mother and father divorced and then not long after a year later, my mom went into another relationship with my step-mom. The problem with that is we went to a Christian church at the time and no matter how much my mothers wanted to get married there, they were forbidden from doing so. This is definitely a lot less extreme than being hung and strung up over a wall but it was still a stupid religious belief that hindered my mothers freedom and happiness. After a while we decided we were going to leave the church, even though it is where my brother, sister and I got baptized, to move to a more accepting church that would also wed them. This was a church that we’ve been going to before I was even born so this was a life changing decision to make, but in the end we decided to prioritize our love over a traditional belief. The new church which was accepting of all people, no matter their religion, gender, race or sexuality and sort of is the real life parallel of the world outside of Gilead in the book.

Another part of the book that relates to the story between my mothers and religion is when we first find out about Moiras’ escape. Although this is also a more loose connection, when I was reading it it also made me think of my family and where we would be if we were in the world of Gilead. Moira was oppressed by the Gilead government as she is lesbian, and her solution was to escape from the red center and arrive somewhere where she is more free. Even though she was less successful than we were, the ideas were similar and overlapped in several ways. Although it wasn’t a direct connection to my family, her escape I think does its job in showing the reader that there still is hope if the characters are careful enough. It made me think of me or one of my mothers in her position and how we would try to escape. Moiras’ character as a whole reminds me of my stepmother with her attitude being more carefree and almost feeling younger at times. So not knowing whether she was able to escape or was caught at the end of her story almost made me sick to my stomach.

This is what makes The Handmaid’s Tale so impactful to the reader, it’s easy to put yourself into the characters shoes. Especially Offred with the entire book just being her thought process instead of her story, it makes you feel like you are there with her. But when I read The Handmaid’s Tale, I see my stepmother in Moira and my mother in Offred. Since they were friends back in the before times it is also easier to relate them, but their attitudes also align. I previously discussed Moira’s connection to my stepmother but Offred and my mom are very alike as they’re both calm and metaphorically powerful, Even if it is out of my control, doing this makes me root for the characters and feel their emotions more than characters not as well made as Atwoods.

My artwork is about the scene with Offred and her doctor in chapter 11. This drawing is from the perspective of Offred when she is lying down on the examining table. The title “Pressed” is referring to how Offred is being physically pressured, with him literally pressing her body with his hand, and the eyes mentally putting pressure onto Offred. I used three references for my drawing. The first reference is for the first person perspective. It was from a photo of a patient point of view lying on a medical bed. The patient in the picture was wearing pants with stripes and I had originally drawn the picture with the stripes on Offred’s pants. I later on removed the stripes and pants because Offred was completely naked in this scene. The bottom of the artwork is black because she is naked and I can’t draw anything. I also had to remove the sleeve the patient had in the photo. The second reference I used was of a doctor with a mask. The picture worked really well as a reference because of how similar the characteristics of the doctor in the photo and the doctor in “The Handmaid’s Tale” were. The doctors both had a white mask on and had brown hair. Although I didn’t use color in my drawing, it was still easier for me to draw because of this. I didn’t use color in my drawing for any particular reason. The third reference I used was a frame from a scene of “Demon Slayer”. The hand was of a demon and it was the shot I felt was what would come across as creepy. The hand of a demon was also supposed to have it represent how the doctor’s actions are inhumane. The doctor is pretending to come across as friendly but is also doing this purely for his own pleasure. The demon from the show is narcissistic in the same way as the doctor. I wasn’t able to have the hand turn out exactly as I wanted but I still think it comes across as a creepy grasp. I didn’t draw anything past a small part of the doctor’s chest because I didn’t have any more room but I still think that the floating hand of the doctor comes across as intended. The eyes all around are representing Offred’s feeling of worry. Offred worries about if someone can see them. On page 61, Offred says “What are the odds, is the room bugged, who’s waiting just outside the door?” The fear of being caught by people who are eyes is also meant to be shown through the eyes around the room. Offred in this scene is the one who is being violated and yet she is in a situation in which she would be punished if someone saw. She is the victim but there is no help. A person with higher power is taking advantage of her situation for his own personal pleasure. The feeling of being pressured and helpless. The feeling of no one being on your side. The feeling of wrongfully being in the wrong as the victim. These feelings that Offred had to endure are what I wanted to express through this drawing. The terrifying perspective of a woman in Gilead and to remember how people feel this way in our world today.

Song #1: Keep Moving: Jungle

In chapter 18 of The Handmaid’s Tale Offred, the main character begins describing a series of events that she believes happened to her former husband, Luke. She specifically explains, “The message will say that I must have patience: sooner or later he will get me out…It’s this message, that may never arrive, that keeps me alive. I believe in this message”(Atwood 106). Offred describes this message as her own form of hope and motivation. Which almost directly connects with the song, “Keep Moving” by Jungle. In “Keep Moving” Jungle talks about their motivation to continue on as well, “I’ll be running with you, If I can’t understand it, I’ll find another way, Keep moving, keep moving… thanks for making me stronger” (Jungle). Both pieces mention what it means to have an outsider motivator, someone giving you that boost to “Keep Moving” in even those most difficult situations. Offred uses Luke as a motivator until she is able to escape this totalitarian regime.

Song #2: Free room: Ravyn Lenae(Appleby)

In chapter 9, of Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, readers are given flashbacks to the main character, Offred’s past life. Atwood tells us about her former family and what it was like growing up for Offred in the past world. “My name isn’t Offred, I have another name… I tell myself it doesn’t matter, your name is like your telephone number, useful only to others; but what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter”(Atwood 84). Similarly, the song “Free Room” by Ravyn Lenae and Appleby talks about not knowing someone you once knew very well. Her chorus being, “You don’t know me anymore, the eyes, you’d think you’d shake your thighs, In a room full of fallen hope and tainted skies…The things in me you thought you knew, I don’t know you, There’s zero judgment, There’s a free room”(Ravyn Lenae & Appleby). As the text switches between the present day and Offred’s past readers realize how much Offred has changed and been conditioned to think, behave, and act a specific way. So much so that she doesn’t even recongnize herself after being indoctrinated into this society, so she holds onto the small memories she has like her real name and memories of her mother and daughter.

Song #3: Broken: Little Simz

In chapter 22 of The Handmaid’s Tale, it is revealed to readers the truth of Moira’s disappearance. Moira stopped one of the Aunts and used her clothing to escape from the center they were all being held in. Moira became a sense of hope for Offred and all the other girls, even if it was one they were terrified of. “Moira had power now, she’d been set loose, she’d set herself loose. She was now a loose woman. I think we found this frightening” (Atwood 133). Moira was someone who had escaped, she was meant to be freed from this unjust, horrible society. In the song “Broken” by Little Simz she talks about what it means to feel broken without any way to fix yourself and her healing journey. She says, “You exist, you alive you are deservin’ of life, you are a beacon of light, you are determined to fly, you have a journal inside, you have the power to write…” (Little Simz). The impact of her escape on the other girls in the center is definitely downplayed throughout this chapter. Moira put that idea of freedom, true escape, and reminded the other girls what could be if they all stood up against this imprisonment disguised as a better way of life.

Song #4: I want you: Marvin Gaye

In Chapter 23, readers see an awkward, illegal interaction between the commander and Offred. They meet secretly in his office for a game of Scrabble. After exchanging words with one another the commander says, “I want you [Offred] to kiss me” (Atwood 139). After kissing the Commander he says to Offred, “Not like that… As if you meant it” (Atwood 140). The commander is showing his vulnerability to Offred. He wants something intimate, something real. In Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” he says, “I want you… the right way… I want you to want me… just like I want you…”(Marvin Gaye). Both Marvin and the Commander are expressing their need for true intimacy, for a real moment between two people. In this dystopian society as well as in the current Times, the want for a genuine connection with someone.

Song #5: Little Things: Jorja Smith

In chapter 17 of “The Handmaid’s Tale” Margret Atwood describes a vital moment that Offred has with her truth and desires. Offred after contemplating what power she holds in her own life, explains that she wants to steal something, a way of gaining that control back. While Offred leaves her room to steal she ends up sharing an extremely intimate moment with Nick, the commander’s driver. In the song, “Little Things” by Jorja Smith she says, “Can I get close, Even for one second, It’s the little things that get me high, won’t you come with me and spend the night”(Jorja Smith). Both Atwood and Smith explain the need and want for small points of power. The feeling of being “High” from spending time with someone, in Offred’s case, Nick. These small moments give Offred a greater sense of control in her uncontrollable life.

Dirty Hairy - ”Demon Days”, Gorillaz
In “The Handmaid’s Tale” is a reflection on how a group or person can be affected by large changing norms. Offred the main character is subject to these and typically has conflict with her cognition which makes her see. One major part is her relationship with the Commander of the Handmaid’s. A song that can relate to this is called Dirty Hairy which is about war and the effects of it. The reason I’m connecting it to a part is when the feature of Bootie Brown which he says “Maybe to him, I’m just a pawn, So he can advance, All I want to do is dance.” This is one of the easier parallels. Offred feels like a pawn in a big chess game being a force Handmaid to the Commander. I think this can also be seen as something a little bigger. Maybe we can say that the commander is also a chess piece in this game.

All Alone - “Demon Days”, Gorillaz
We all have the feeling of being by ourselves, in “The Handmaid’s Tale” this is more apparent. For example, Offred describes to the reader how in this “new world” that there is no one she can really turn to. A job with no emotion or an environment with no feeling. In this “All Alone” This is brought up to the listener with the repeated saying of “All Alone” and the end when Martina Topley-Bird says “Close your eyes and see, When there ain’t no light, All you’ll ever be, Come on save the night, Because I don’t believe, When the morning comes, It doesn’t seem to say, An awful lot to me”. I think this can be related to Offred because both pieces tell the individual on how a character doesn’t change for the next day. They instead reflect on how the world views them as the same without help or change.

November Has Come - “Demon Days”, Gorillaz
“November Has Come” is a track that is talking about not losing your train of thought because you will forget if you’re not focused. Many Moments of Offred journey’s depict the chores which Damon Albern sings “Something Has started Today, Where did it go, Want you want it to be, Well you know November has come, When its gone away”. From other moments of the story we don’t get to see Offred experience the joy of speaking her thoughts to others in the book but only to the readers. Most of the connection we get can be confusing but, when we see stuff that caters to her past then we get deep moments. Sadly, like the lyrics in “NHC” see loses them or tends to not reflect on that same event as it never is mentioned to another character or thing in the book but us. Then she forgets and makes the reader wonder “Where did it go?”

Don’t Get Lost In Heaven - “Demon Days”, Gorillaz
I feel like for this song its name is more fitting to the Christian vibe that is set in Gilead. The song is the telling of someone ascending to the Gates of heaven and there is a choir that repeats the chat “Don’t get lost in heaven” and “You’ll make a big mistake if you fall over the edge of the clouds. It reminded me of the part when Offred in “The Handmaid’s Tale” explains to the reader how the systems of Gilead are. To a test of this Offred even says that “Where I am is not a prison, but a privilege. (pg 8)” which, in the contexts from the state of the book to the middle , see that her “privileged life” is really not what it seems. Similar to how Offred is feeling “Heaven” can be seen as something that is relatable. Paradise is a prison when you can not leave.

Demon Days - “Demon Days”, Gorillaz
“Demon Days” is the last song on the album with the same name and is the aftermath of the previous song “Don’t Get Lost In Heaven”. The opening of the song is darker with static from an electric guitar which Alburn (Playing the character in the band 2D) singing about the dark days of his life but also how you should love yourself instead of changing for others. After this at the two-minute mark the song switches slowly into a clam and tropical rhythm with singing chores. The chores, talk about the Demon Days but how you should walk away from everything and start a new day. I think this really models how the Handmaids feel and everyone else who had to change their personalities to fit Gilead. This makes you reflect on the mental strain on the minds of everyone in the story. Most of the people are subject to this in some way shape or form. For example, Offred says “Like other things now thought must be rationed” (pg 8) and “Sanity is valuable possession” (pg 109).

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Authoritarianism and Totalitarianism:

One of the central themes of “The Handmaid’s Tale” is the omnipresent authoritarianism within the Republic of Gilead, a theocratic regime that governs every aspect of the characters’ lives. In Gilead, individual freedoms are sacrificed at the altar of state control, and citizens are subjected to surveillance, propaganda, and strict social hierarchies. The following quote from the book illustrates the extent of state control:

“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.”

This Latin phrase, meaning “Don’t let the bastards grind you down,” becomes a powerful mantra for the protagonist, Offred. It encapsulates the spirit of resistance against the oppressive regime’s attempts to break the will of its citizens.

In the 20th century, during the time when the novel was written, the world was experiencing the Cold War, a period marked by the ideological struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. The Soviet Union, with its centralized control, suppression of dissent, and state-controlled media, epitomized the authoritarian model. Similarly, the Gileadean regime in Atwood’s novel mirrors the totalitarian tendencies of such governments. This parallel serves as a reminder of the dangers of unchecked power, even in societies built on the promise of liberty and democracy.

In the contemporary political context, numerous nations grapple with the consequences of authoritarianism. Leaders in various countries have employed tactics such as censorship, disinformation, and restrictions on individual liberties to consolidate power and suppress opposition.

Gender Oppression:

Another central theme in the novel is gender oppression. In Gilead, women are systematically stripped of their rights, autonomy, and agency. They are segregated into distinct roles, and their worth is primarily determined by their reproductive capabilities. The following quote from the book underscores the dehumanizing nature of this regime:

“Better never means better for everyone… It always means worse, for some.”

This quote, delivered by the protagonist Offred, captures the essence of how the oppressive regime exploits and discriminates against women, demonstrating how the promise of a “better” society is often a guise for further subjugation.

In the modern political landscape, gender discrimination and violence against women persist in many societies. The #MeToo movement and global efforts to combat gender-based violence highlight ongoing challenges in achieving gender equality. “The Handmaid’s Tale” is a stark reminder of the importance of continuing to advocate for women’s rights and challenging oppressive gender norms that still endure.

Religious Extremism:

Religious extremism is another significant theme in the novel. Gilead is a theocracy where religious ideology is used to justify oppressive policies and totalitarian control of the state. The following quote exemplifies the role of religious rhetoric in the regime:

“A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze.”

This quote, delivered in the context of religious indoctrination, symbolizes how the regime constrains its citizens within the confines of its ideology, restricting freedom in the name of faith.

In the real world, extremist groups and political leaders have employed religious rhetoric to justify acts of violence, discrimination, and the curtailment of individual freedoms. In the early 21st century, the rise of religious extremism, particularly in the Middle East, brought religious ideology to the forefront of global politics. “The Handmaid’s Tale” stands as a cautionary tale, underscoring the dangers of religious extremism when it becomes intertwined with political power, leading to repression and authoritarianism.

Erosion of Privacy and Surveillance:

Beyond these themes, Atwood’s novel delves into the erosion of individual freedoms and privacy under a surveillance state. In Gilead, citizens are subjected to constant monitoring, both by the state and their fellow citizens. While the degree of surveillance depicted in the book is extreme, it draws attention to the contemporary debates surrounding government surveillance, data privacy, and the balance between security and individual liberty.

In recent years, discussions about mass surveillance, data breaches, and the collection of personal information by both governments and private corporations have taken center stage. The novel forces readers to confront the potential consequences of sacrificing personal freedoms in the name of security, a debate that continues to shape contemporary politics.

Contemporary Political Parallels:

“The Handmaid’s Tale” remains remarkably relevant because of the rise of extremist ideologies and the erosion of democratic norms in contemporary politics. The novel serves as a stark reminder that the gradual erosion of democratic institutions and the rise of authoritarianism can occur in any society, even those with long-established democratic traditions. This is evident in the political developments in various countries where leaders have sought to consolidate power, undermine democratic checks and balances, and manipulate public opinion.

One of the most pressing concerns is the spread of disinformation and the undermining of public trust in institutions and the media. The novel’s portrayal of state-controlled propaganda and censorship serves as a cautionary tale in the age of fake news and information warfare. In this context, “The Handmaid’s Tale” encourages us to remain vigilant, discerning consumers of information, and engaged citizens committed to the defense of our rights and the preservation of democratic principles.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, “The Handmaid’s Tale” is more than a work of fiction; it is a reflection of larger political realities. Through its exploration of authoritarianism, gender oppression, religious extremism, and erosion of privacy, it serves as a cautionary tale and a call to action. As we confront contemporary political challenges and witness the erosion of democratic norms and the rise of extremist ideologies, “The Handmaid’s Tale” reminds us that vigilance, advocacy, and a commitment to democratic principles are essential in safeguarding our freedoms and building a just and equitable society. Atwood’s narrative, though dystopian, serves as a guidepost for our path forward, prompting us to confront the dangers of complacency and to work tirelessly for a more inclusive, democratic, and equitable world.