Shrouded in Fog

Petals (Hole): https://youtu.be/sB5n6wnT61w

Petals by Hole, for me, gives the lasting theme and impression of a woman stripped of everything that kept her feeling human. Listening to it again immediately made me think of Janine (Ofwarren). The chorus of Petals is “Tear the petals off of you, make you tell the truth. Tear the petals off of you.” This evokes imagery of taking someone’s livelihood, reducing them to nothing. In chapter 20 of the Handmaid’s Tale there is a line Offred uses when describing Janine in labor- “Inflated but reduced, shorn of her former name.” (pg 117) Janine, a shroud of a human, someone who (at this moment in the story) has supposedly won the social game of Gilead, who has completed her mission and fulfilled her purpose. In verse two of the song, there’s another line that says, “They will make you so, so cynical. The fire burns the flesh, destroys the best in me that’s old.” I felt like this part had a vivid connection to the way Offred talks about losing her memories of the “before” world, and how she seems to float in between worlds. She doubts herself, and others and it is clear to the reader, who is not shrouded in the fog of Gilead to see that everyone living in it has been brainwashed to accept without question.

Call the Doctor (Sleater-Kinney): https://youtu.be/m3cWY4fliPM?si=O90njTHB_00fx2pW

Call the Doctor has many lines that I feel parallel Offred’s thoughts of Gilead- for example, in the first verse “They want to simplify your needs and wants to sterilize you” This line made me think of how Gilead erodes the handmaids to all be the same, with no individuality so it’s easier to not think of them as people. Another line from the song is “This is love, and you can’t make it” This line connects to Gilead because I feel like a major theme of the book is discussing what “real” love is and what forms it can take. You can’t force love, nor can you suppress it- as is obvious in some of Offred’s more provocative inner thoughts, distance does make the heart grow fonder. This song is also special because, like many Sleater-Kinney songs, the choruses have two voices who are singing/chanting two different messages at the same time. This creates an effect that I think is similar to how I feel reading Offred’s inner thoughts when compared to the things she says out loud.

Shimmer Like a Girl (Veruca Salt): https://youtu.be/EKEYB-y-2_Y?si=ieRc-Fz2RM5FJOv8

The main choruses of this song have the repeating part “Shimmer, sparkle, glitter shimmer while you can.” These lines made me think of how handmaids are viewed in Gilead. They have three chances to get pregnant before they are cast aside and banished from society. The lives of handmaids in Gilead are dictated by their physical abilities. If they are not able to have children, they are no longer relevant. Shimmer like a woman while you are still young, fertile, pretty, desirable. Useful to the continuation of society.

Dramamine (Modest Mouse): https://youtu.be/dXBEuQwy5NU?si=wZCMXjgbhZ6zMI4w

One of my favorite lines of Dramamine is, “We kiss on the mouth but still cough down our sleeves.” I think this line has a really good connection to how Offred discusses many of her relationships with men throughout the book. This could describe her complex relationship with the commander, who makes her kiss him goodnight after each of their secret meetings and wishes she was genuine, or her relationship with Luke in the before times when she expressed concern about her locked band account and job and he didn’t seem to mind her being more or less his property. She says, of that time, that she hadn’t wanted to be intimate with him that night and wasn’t able to pinpoint exactly why. I think this line describes a lot of the performativeness of Gilead, but also of society before. The entire first verse of Dramamine -“Traveling, swallowing, Dramamine Feeling spaced breathing out Listerine I’d said what I’d said that I’d tell you And that you’d killed the better part of me”- makes me think of Moira, especially in the part of chapter 38 where Offred is disappointed by the fact that Moira seems to have accepted her role in this society. Offred says, “She is frightening me now. Because what I hear in her voice is indifference, a lack of volition. Have they really done it to her then, taken away something- what?- that used to be so central to her?” Offred is okay with knowing that, between the two of them she is the one to give up and take her place but the fact that Moira, a character so full of spunk and determination, has been worn down, defeated by the system, is discouraging to her. Finally, at the end of the song, there are these noises that feel like a record-scratch type of breaking out of the rhythm of the song. This reminds me of Offred’s little rebellions in Gilead, her ways of breaking herself out of the droning never-ending loop of the Gilead society.

Song about an Angel (Sunny Day Real Estate): https://youtu.be/ETtXtl-VXcY?si=7zK-RZK7I1dyYLwb

Song about an angel by Sunny Day Real Estate uses a ton of biblical imagery, particularly the image of angels. Similarly, Offred uses a lot of references to angels in the thoughtshots when she thinks about her daughter. The first verse of the song goes, “So I say, still awake Sleep, close my eyes An image of your face Traced in white sand” And I feel that this entire paragraph actually parallels the multiple parts of the book where Offred lays in her room and lets memories of her daughter consume her. The entire song feels like it’s waiting for someone, just as Offred waits for her daughter, Luke, Moira or someone else to come break her out or at least remind her that there’s still other things out there, beyond Gilead.