For my capstone, I worked with Maxine Wray to create a student government (SGA) at SLA. SGA is a club that tasks students with leadership roles, from planning events and activities for the student body to solving problems around school. Maxine and I were interested in seeing if student government was possible at SLA, and if it would make an actual difference. We started by designing an outline for how we wanted our club to function. Having never attended a school with any form of student government, at first I didn’t know what the club should really even look like. We talked to people with SGA experience in order to get an understanding of how student government works in different schools. From there, we worked on getting interested students to join our club. Our first meeting took place in the beginning of May. We worked with members of the club and our teacher sponsor, Ms. Clancy, to organize our first fundraiser on May 16th. We put together a lemonade stand during lunch and I was happy that we were able to organize a successful fundraiser in such a short amount of time. I hope that through our capstone Maxine and I were able to establish a club that will continue to grow after we graduate.

Link to annotated bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gYcsdrzmYKwcgYuezHHOaQHAlHLnl4XVrRuBWYx8xJI/edit?usp=sharing

Picture from fundraiser: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15wWSajATL6SFNOXISVMZigALL61ajxX1k2css9jNo5M/edit?usp=sharing

A Handmaid’s Playlist

What a Wonderful World- Joey Ramone

Offred often has flashbacks about her best friend, Moira, whose free spirit and resilience against Gilead make her a recurring symbol of the “before times”. In one of these flashbacks, Moira and Offred are studying together for an assignment for college. Everything about this scene goes against the rules of the Republic of Gilead. Offred observes Moira as wearing, “one dangly earring, the gold fingernail she wore to be eccentric, a cigarette between her stubby yellow-ended fingers.” (37) The two women are reading, smoking, talking freely, and Moira’s even writing a paper on date rape. I chose Joey Ramone’s version of “What a Wonderful World” because its energetic rock style matches the lively and unrestrained spirit in the two friends, and this genre of music is probably the last thing that would be allowed in the Republic of Gilead. This being said, the lyrics are “What a Wonderful World” and describe everything beautiful and good about the “before times”. This song choice shows how Offred misses her old life, and thinks of the world where she had freedom and individuality, as wonderful.

Have a Cigar- Pink Floyd

During the story, we often see cigarettes being used as a symbol for freedom and hope. In the “before times”, the last day women are allowed their rights is the last day Offred is able to buy a pack of cigarettes, and throughout the book we see people in power, like the Commander’s Wife, smoking frequently. During her first interaction with Serena Joy, Offred notes the cigarette in her hand and thinks, “I looked at the cigarette with longing. For me, like liquor and coffee, they are forbidden.” (14). So when Serena Joy gives Offred a cigarette, it’s like she’s offering her hope. This is especially so, because the two women have been hostile towards each other the entire book, after all, they live in a society where women are pitted against each other. Serena Joy’s offering the cigarette, and Offred taking it, shows a budding mutual respect between the two. I chose “Have a Cigar” for this moment because its title closely resembles the events of the scene, with Serena Joy telling Offred to have a cigarette. But also, the song has a dramatic tune that matches the surreal circumstance Offred finds herself in, in this moment.

99 Luftballons- Nena

This song will be played during the scene where Offred and the Commander argue about the meaning of love. Offred talks about the freedom of falling in and out of love as being part of human nature while the Commander sees love as failure and success, something that can be calculated, saying, “look at the stats, my dear. Was it really worth it, falling in love? Arranged marriages have always worked out just as well, if not better”. In the song 99 Luftballons, two kids innocently release balloons into the air, which are mistaken by international governments as a threat, and ultimately trigger a nuclear war. The song is basically about people in power turning something pure and childlike into something ugly. The Republic of Gilead similarly takes children, family and love, disregards their true meaning, and turns them into a gross process that dehumanizes women.

The Dog Days are Over- Florence and The Machine

“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.” or “don’t let the bastards get you down” is scrawled in the cupboard in Offred’s bedroom, scratched there by the previous handmaid. It is right next to the row of hooks that Offred thinks about using when she’s at her lowest point. When I read this, I thought that the previous handmaid wrote it there on purpose to sort of act as a guardian angel for Offred. Whenever Offred would look to the hooks, she would have to see “don’t let the bastards get you down” or, “don’t let them do to you what they did to me”. The writing is there to tell her to hold on to hope, to stay resilient, and to not give up. I chose “The Dog Days are Over” because it sends a similar message, with the lyrics telling a story of perseverance during dark times. When Offred is feeling hopeless, she refers back to the hooks, remarking, “You could use a hook in the closet. I’ve considered the possibilities. All you’d have to do, after attaching yourself, would be to lean your weight forward and not fight.”(195) The previous handmaid’s message is telling her instead, to fight and keep going. Similarly to “What a Wonderful World”, the upbeat and lively energy of “The Dog Days are Over” serve to make the song a perfect theme of protest against the Republic of Gilead.

Gnossienne No. 1- Erik Satie

Offred often talks about the tediousness of her life as a handmaid, reflecting on how much empty time she has, especially compared to the Commander’s Wife’s freedom to knit and tend to her garden. Offred misses the “before times” when she was able to achieve small accomplishments, saying, “I envy the Commander’s Wife her knitting. It’s good to have small goals that can be easily attained.” (13) Instead, everything Offred does has a specific purpose and must go towards the greater good. This is why I chose this song to be Offred’s theme. As far as classical music goes, Gnossienne No. 1 is simple and repetitive, much like Offred’s life in the Republic of Gilead. Even the formatting of the book is like this, with a large chunk of the story simply showing us what the life of a handmaid looks like, and the chapter titles, which align with different parts of Offred’s daily routine, repeating themselves. The book is basically her day over and over, slowly changing itself as the plot develops. Gnossienne No. 1 also has a very melancholy tune that reflects Offred’s situation, and its melody has a dull quality that emphasizes the monotony of her new life.

I created a collage of a picture of a Handmaid, but as a doll. Throughout the text, Offred compares herself and others in her situation to dolls because of the way they are being controlled. While in conversation with Serena Joy, Offred remarks to herself, “They used to have dolls, for little girls, that would talk if you pulled a string at the back; I thought I was sounding like that, voice of a monotone, voice of a doll.” (pg. 16) Offred has no self expression or free will. Like a doll, she is being controlled, and everything she says is what she’s supposed to say, and everything she does is dictated by the will of others.

Another thing that struck me about the text is the way the handmaids are treated like children. This is especially seen in the scenes that take place in the gymnasium. The handmaids go through a sort of rebirth while in training, from cleansing themselves through Testifying, to total indoctrination and brainwashing at the hands of the Aunts. While reading this, I felt like the society was trying to create a blank slate out of the handmaids, someone new to the world, like a child. As I read the training scenes, I saw more of this. The handmaids call their mentors “aunt”, have daily naptime, are taught in a high school, and are overall put in situations that parallel those of kids. One example of this is when Janine Testifies and is humiliated in front of the handmaids, and they chant, “Crybaby, Crybaby. Crybaby.” (pg. 72) As soon as I first read this, “crybaby” struck me as an interesting choice of words. Crybaby is what kids call other kids when they’re making fun of them, it’s a word that’s associated with children. I found this to be another reason why a doll is a good metaphor for the handmaids. Dolls are toys for kids, and comparing the handmaids to dolls emphasizes the childlike manner in which they are treated.

I also decided to make the handmaid in my collage’s red dress made of flowers. From the first few chapters, I noticed connections between the handmaids and flowers. While Offred and Serena Joy are waiting for the Ceremony to begin, Offred narrates about her companion, “Even at her age she still feels the urge to wreathe herself in flowers. No use for you, I think at her, my face unmoving, you can’t use them any more, you’re withered.” (pg. 81-82) Offred is criticizing the Commander’s Wife’s obsession with flowers which we see in the text through her perfume choice, decor, and of course, her dedication to her garden. During a group discussion, several of my table mates thought that the garden represented motherhood, and Serena Joy’s commitment to her garden was her practicing for her one role in society. This made me later think that flowers represented children and fertility. It would explain why Offred reacted the way she did to the Commander’s Wife’s interest in flowers, describing her as withered, and why Serena Joy is obsessed with them in the first place.

Not only do the flowers represent fertility, but the handmaids themselves, since handmaids aren’t treated as real people, and their only purpose is for their job. The text describes the life of a tulip the same as it describes that of a handmaid, stating, “The tulips along the border are redder than ever, opening, no longer wine cups but chalices; thrusting themselves up, to what end? They are, after all, empty. When they are old they turn themselves inside out, then explode slowly, the petals thrown out like shards.” (pg. 45). This description of the flowers almost exactly parallels the life of a handmaid. To the republic, there is no difference between handmaids and their job, they are one in the same.