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:

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.

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.

The start of the ceremony, is the day where a child is being brought into the world, the world of Gilead. Ofred wakes ready for the special event and hears the sirens of the birthmobile which sounds like the sirens of something tragic happening like a crime and the police turning their sirens on to alert everyone on the road or the siren of a fire truck; it none of those but a siren of life where a van turns those sirens on to alert everyone that someone is giving birth. As soon as the van gets there, there are guardians standing in front of the van covered in a red carpet with other pregnant women in there waiting. The women there were crying and praying for unknown reasons. But soon enough Ofred finds out it’s because they are hoping their child comes out normal without any problems, such as coming out with missing limbs, having a hole in their organs, etc. Looking at this art piece you get to see the reader’s imagination of how the ceremony went. The first thing that would catch your attention is the van, which in this case is the Birthmobile and the three random women inside of the van. If you look deeply into this photo you can see details described early in the text such as the sirens that sound like one that you would hear during death, for ambulances, or a fire, also you can see the curtains on the windows that were mentioned on the page. 111. Once you look at the Birthmobile the second thing you may notice is Offered in a red cloak like seen in the cover of the book, being led by a guardian. She is getting in the Birthmobile in the driveway outside her home as you can see the tall apartment buildings in the background. The last detail you will see in this art piece is that the women in the Birthmobile don’t look too happy and they look like they are crying, hoping their child will come out normal and that they don’t fall in the 1 ⁄ 4 chance of their child coming out as an unbaby. Also, I made sure to make the background feel cloudy and dark because whenever the story takes place in a dystopia the first thing you think of for its setting is a dark place so I colored the background gray. This scene is Important to the story because this is the next step into Offred’s life and it changes the direction of where the story is going. At first, it was about the society they lived in and how life there is different from the lives we the reader are in. Now it is about Offred and these ceremonies that she is getting into and the relationships they are having with other characters such as the commanders and others: Serena Joy, Moria, Jannie, Aunt Lydia, and more. Even when you go on to the latter pages Offred strengthens her relationship with one of the Commanders, and he even lets her do things that aren’t allowed such as read and look at things like magazines.

Lit Log #1 For my Lit Log, I will be doing prompt #1, and comparing a part of The Handmaid’s Tale to a historical context. Specifically, I will be analyzing the later half of Chapter 22, where Moira, having had as much as she could take from The Aunts, frees herself from the re-education camp. I call the reader’s attention to page 133, where the other residents of the camp realize that “…Moira had power now, she’d been set loose, she’d set herself loose. She was now a loose woman.” The way that Moira not only escapes from the terrible fate set out for her, but also makes herself a hero in the eyes of the other handmaids-in-training reminds me very much of the 15th Century Maid of Orleans herself, Joan of Arc. The way they both radiate power, allowing themselves to become the one of the last symbols of hope in their people’s eyes, is too much of a coincidence for me to not notice.

However, there are, I believe, two small differences between Moira and Mdmsl. of Arc, that being their receival among their fellow women, and their beginnings. When Joan was fighting for the Dauphin, she did so out of loyalty to France, but also, sources say, due to the guidance of the Archangel Michael, a prominent figure in Heaven, most well known for dealing the final blow to his equally infamous brother, Lucifer Morningstar, when the latter led a revolution that, if successful, would have displaced God as the ruler of everything. Lucifer’s defeat, and subsequent(not to mention immensely publicized) banishment from Heaven, led to him becoming the being we know and loathe today as The Devil.

Moira, on the other hand, fights only for herself, and against power and religion, as the latter is what got her(as well as the whole country)into this whole handmaid situation in the first place. From that point of view, one might see her as a sort of Anti-Hero Joan of Arc. Not only that, but her reasons for fighting are extremely similar to Lucifer’s as well, both parties wanting more than the fates that those in power had arranged for them. However, for the sake of Moira’s image in the eyes of the readers, I’m going to continue with the Joan of Arc comparison.

However, the difference in their receival among their fellow women is much more, shall we say, hard to distinguish, but can be detected by a keen literary eye. Both Joan and Moira are despised by the men of their era, and admired by the women, of their generation as well as ours, though it is in public opinion where the difference can be found. Where Joan today is lauded with terms of heroism among females and males alike, Moira’s reception is more akin to that of Joan when she was alive, only loved by women, in secret, lest they too be accused of uprising. My point is illustrated best by Offred on Page 133, where she writes: “We hugged her to us, she was with us in secret, a giggle; she was lava beneath the crust of daily life. In the light of Moira, the Aunts were less fearsome and more absurd. Their power had a flaw to it.” The terms upon which Offred is writing this are what I will be discussing next: her escape from the training camp.

Another great author, Roald Dahl, once wrote that most people, when faced with challenges of the highest degree, surrender and hope that things turn out for the best, while others choose to push as hard as they can, with every ounce of strength they have, to overcome said challenges. Moira, as is plainly obvious to anyone who reads Chapter 22 of The Handmaid’s Tale, is one of the latter. The sheer bravery she showed in threatening Aunt Elizabeth like that, followed by stripping her to her skivvies and impersonating her to escape, is reminiscent, like many other things in THT, of the Jews who were forced to employ all manners of deception to escape the Holocaust, in that only those with an unshakeable nerve would have been able to pull it off. After that, though, Moira’s fate is completely up in the air. She seems to have completely vanished from the face of the Earth after escaping the camp. Of course, one can only imagine what sort of effects this has on Offred’s already scarred mind. All I hope is that Moira doesn’t meet the same fate as Joan of Arc, burned at the stake like a marshmallow.