Page 123, when Bromden raises his hand for the baseball game Written from the perspective of McMurphy

Twenty chronics. I just need one of them to get this damn game on.

“Fffffffuck da wife”, says Ruckly, the youngest of the chronics.

Nineteen chronics.

Eighteen chronics.

I keep going. With every non-response I get, I feel Nurse Ratched’s smile get wider and wider. I feel her presence tower over me more and more. I can’t let this happen. I was already humiliated when I proposed this the first time at the last meeting. I have to win that gamble.

Two chronics. No clue what his name is, but he’s so unresponsive I don’t even bother asking him.

And that leaves Chief Broom. Bromden, I think his real name is? Something like that. But he’s deaf, so what’s it worth? It won’t hurt to try at this point, what have I to lose? That damned nurse ain’t letting me off the hook either way after this.

“Chief, you’re our last bet.” The Indian stares blankly into my face. Please, for the love of God, give me some damn miracle Chief.

“The meeting is adjourned, then”, says Miss Ratched. Fuck her. “And I’d like to see the staff down in the staff room in about an hour. So if there is nothing el-”

Everything stops. I saw it out of the corner of my eye. Chief Broom’s hand twitched. The same hand that spends every day sweeping the floor might actually be of some use for me today. He starts to raise it. I don’t know how, but my miracle has come. That hand goes up, and it’s not coming down. It just happened. The World Series is coming to the ward.

I immediately pull the Chief out of his chair and slap him on the back.

“Twenty-one! The Chief’s vote makes it twenty-one! And by God if that ain’t a majority I’ll eat my hat!”. The Acutes and I are whooping, and in the corner of the room, I see the Nurse. That lady’s been oppressing the people of this ward for ages, and we finally got her back. Now I just need her to lose her temper so that I can win that bet.

She’s still smiling. I know that dirty bitch doesn’t want to admit defeat. The Big Nurse walks out of the day room, and that confirms it, we just won the vote.

I look back at the Chief. His eyes meet mine. I want to find his secret out, if the Indian is really deaf or not. What if he’s been faking it this entire time? I could bet a whole pack of cigs the entire room is thinking about that right now.

I was right. The curiosity of an entire room of Acutes has now piqued, and we’re all taking turns trying to talk to Chief Broom. “Can you hear us Chief?” “How’d you know to raise your hand?” I could bet another pack that the Nurse would like to ask the same questions as well.

But the Indian doesn’t respond. That means one of two things. Either he is indeed faking it, like we all suppose, but he’s still trying to play that damned charade of his. Or, he is actually deaf, and by some miracle, some miracle that could win my bet and push the Big Nurse over the top, he raised his hand the moment I looked at him, not knowing what it’d be for. Either way, he gets my utmost respect for it. Whether it is to break a secret just for the sake of us twenty watching the World Series, or his ability to recognize how much we needed his hand raised, he clearly supports me in some way.

Maybe I’ll find a way to pay Chief Broom back. He doesn’t play cards with us, obviously being (or pretending to be) deaf, so it’s not like I can give him a favorable bet. I don’t really know what he likes, what he wants, or who he even is, really. All I know is that he’s the guy who sweeps, and the guy that just made the tie-breaking vote.

Author’s Note:

With this version of the story being from the perspective of McMurphy, I wanted to highlight three specific aspects of his character: his gambling addiction, his hatred for the Big Nurse, and his determination towards his goals. The first is simple, as McMurphy continuously mentions the bet he made with the other ward members, as well as makes other gambling references. Second, I wrote aggressive language as McMurphy describes the Nurse, building off the actions she made in the actual book. Third, the man’s determination was shown at the beginning of this piece, as I write his internal monologue as he desperately tries to get the World Series game on, and his excitement when he succeeds. Lastly, I use more simple and colloquial language, assuming that that would be the type of thoughts going through the head of McMurphy.

California Dreamin - The Mamas & The Papas

https://youtu.be/J4DmU_On6ag

This song, originally released during the time of the Vietnam War, would serve as the theme for Offred’s walks with Ofglen around Gilead. There are many connections between the lyrics and the story. While a lot of the story so far has taken place during the summer, the opening lyrics of California Dreamin, which refer to poor winter weather, are still reasonable, because these scenes will likely be repeated in winter time, and either way, the lyrics refer to a dark time, which is what Offred feels like she is living through. “I’d be safe and warm, If I was in LA” refers to Offred thinking about the Before Times, and how she used to be ‘safe and warm’, with LA representing Luke. Lastly, the line “And I pretend to pray”, perfectly describes how Offred thought about Testifying at the Red Center. “At Testifying, it’s safer to make things up than to say you have nothing to reveal.” (71). This mentality goes with the same idea of pretending to pray.

FE!N - Travis Scott

https://youtu.be/U-l4ya3ejko

The main chorus of this song is simply the word fein repeated, meaning a person that has an addiction to something. For the Handmaid’s Tale, this would be the theme to play in the club, with the representation of the ‘fein’ being the Commanders and other wealthy men present. They are addicted to women and sex, which in this world is as bad as being addicted to an illegal drug, since these people in power are the ones that made lust and passionate sex illegal in the first place. Additionally, FE!N makes a good addition to the playlist because of how some of the lyrics connect to the book. “The career’s more at stake when you in your prime” represents how Offred’s physical prime is soon coming to an end, meaning she will be cast off when she is no longer viable to have children. Another lyric is “In the night, come alive”, describing how Offred’s thoughts are often the most lively when she is in her room at night.

Mii Channel Theme - Kazumi Totaka

https://youtu.be/x2NzoLMWAwQ

This is a video game console’s background theme, about as boring as it gets. This represents some of the monotonicity of Offred’s life as a Handmaid, and specifically her experience with the Ceremony. In Chapter 16, the reader’s first impression of Offred’s feelings about her sex ceremony with the Commander are not positive. Many times throughout that chapter, the sex is described as boring: “The Ceremony goes as usual” (93), “This is serious business” (95), “If he were better looking would I enjoy this more?” (95). This same way, the song is a repetitive, boring process that only serves as a stepping stone to something else. The Mii Channel Theme is only played when the video game’s player is loading in, waiting to do something, and as a result, waiting for the music to end. The experience is the same for Offred in the Ceremony; she is simply waiting for it to end.

Quest Ah Dog - lolalumikola ft. Don Pollo (overlaid on Victory - Thomas Bergersen)

https://youtu.be/ZkfGkQVhQUU

This short theme creates a feeling of chaos and confusion to the listener, with many different audio tracks overlaid on a background song. Additionally, this song can also make any event that happened immediately before it feel more magnified. These are similar emotions that Offred feels at some important moments in the book. The first example was in the doctor’s office in Chapter 11, when the doctor offered to impregnate Offred himself. Upon this offer being made, a multitude of thoughts go through the Handmaid’s head (60-61): “Does he know something, has he seen Luke, […] can he bring back?”; “Is that his hand, sliding up my leg? He’s taken off the glove”; “I almost gasp: he’s said a forbidden word”. The shock that Offred feels in this scene can also be well represented by the “What da hell” lyric from Quest Ah Dog. The second example, from Chapter 31, was when Serena Joy offered her Handmaid a picture of her daughter in exchange for procreation with Nick. As Offred thought “She’s known all along” (206), a similarly fast flow of chaotic thoughts entered her head, once again repeating the theme of Quest Ah Dog.

Anakin’s Betrayal (from Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith) - John Williams

https://youtu.be/m2p-im7cxa4

This is a movie theme from a moment when many heroes died. I connected this to Chapter 18, when Offred imagines all of the various possibilities of what happened to Luke after they got separated. This would be the theme for that flashback/vision. The music gets its loudest when Offred thinks: “I pray that the hole, or two or three, […], I pray that at least one hole is neatly, quickly, and finally through the skull, […], only the one and then silence.” (104). This idea of Luke dying immediately, as well as all of the thoughts Offred has about Luke being in pain, would be well represented by this sadder theme.

Chapter 17: pg 96-99

The ceremony has just finished, and now Offred is back in her room. The narrator seems to have become very accustomed to the ritual with the Commander; she doesn’t show any signs of being significantly shaken.

“I rub the butter over my face, work it into the skin of my hands…” (96) Offred uses the butter she stole from the dining table earlier as face cream. She explains that ‘vanities’ aren’t meant for the handmaids. “We are containers, it’s only the insides of our bodies that are important.” This poses an interesting question about how the handmaids are treated. While the inside of a container is obviously the most important part of its purpose, personally, I would also care about the outside. However, the only reason to tend to the outside of such a container is for its presentability, and to relate back to Offred, its vanity. The fact that Commanders don’t care for the outsides of their handmaids means that their presentability doesn’t matter, which checks out with how they are covered, and mostly kept inside the house. The important difference, however, is that since these ‘containers’ are human, they care about their own vanity, resulting in tricks like the butter being widespread among handmaids.

“To such devices [using butter] have we descended.” (97) I find ‘descended’ an interesting verb for the narrator to use here. While it emphasizes that using butter is a worse solution than in the Before Times, ‘descended’, to me, makes it seem as though the handmaids downgraded to butter on their own accord, as opposed to a more force-based word. Maybe the reason for this word choice was to show that society as a whole ‘descended’ to this state, forcing the handmaids to use butter for vanity.

“Buttered, I lie on my single bed, flat, like a piece of toast.” (97) I am curious about why the author chose toast for this simile. It successfully connects with being ‘buttered’ and ‘flat’, as well as portraying Offred as nothing but an object. Additionally, toast comes from bread, which is considered a source of nourishment and life worldwide, the same way the handmaids represent life in Gilead. Going further down this thought, toast could mean that Offred has been burned, making her not as pure or lively as she used to be.

“I want to steal something.” (97) In this sentence, and the paragraph before, every sentence except one begins with “I want”. It starts off with “I want Luke here so badly” and escalates into Offred wanting to be valuable. Then, all of a sudden, she talks about stealing, as if it was a thought that just came to her head. While this stream of consciousness is a fair explanation, it is also interesting how Offred turns value into stealing. Since handmaids are treated as nothing, and meant to be as invisible as possible, rebelling is a way to become visible, and as a result, valued.

“I like this. I am doing something, on my own.” (97) The comma in the second sentence, breaking regular syntax, splits what Offred likes into two ideas. The first is that she is actually doing something instead of lying on her bed, breaking her mundane cycle of living. She relishes the freedom she gets in the middle of the night to move instead of sit. The second part that she enjoys is that her actions are her own. By breaking rules, she can now immediately ignore all commands, giving her freedom from the external restrictions she has.

“He too is illegal, here, with me, he can’t give me away.” (98) There is an interesting power dynamic between Guardians and Handmaids throughout the entire story, and it is only accentuated more by this encounter. My immediate thoughts about Offred sneaking around were to question what she has to be afraid of. After all, she is valuable as long as she is physically valuable; her actions, and theoretically her mental state shouldn’t matter. But after more thought, I realized that is not guaranteed. What happens to handmaids who are rebellious? Was the previous handmaid in Offred’s room gone because she became infertile, or for a different reason? I assume these are the questions that Offred is wrestling with as she sneaks through the house. As for Nick, he is completely breaking the rules with nothing backing him up. He is the lowest level of man, meaning he is as invaluable as the next, compared to Offred, who is at least valued for her fertility. This makes me believe that despite the Guardians having weapons and controlling important posts in Gilead, it is in fact the handmaids who have more power.

By Sam, Lyev, Justin, and Bash

By Giovanni DiCastelnuovo, Tibor Barankay, Lyev Pitram, Josiah Jones

Host Duncan, his son Malcolm, Thanes Banquo and Macduff, one of the Witches, and the servant Seyton discuss the transformation of Macbeth after he heard the witches prophecies until his death at the hands of Macduff.