Analysis of Lyrics- Finished

"Acrobat"

Don't believe what you hear

Don't believe what you see

If you just close your eyes

You can feel the enemy

When I first met you girl

You had fire in your soul

What happened your face

Of melting in snow

Now it looks like this

And you can swallow

Or you can spit

You can throw it up

Or choke on it

And you can dream

So dream out loud

You know that your time is coming 'round

So don't let the bastards grind you down

No, nothing makes sense

Nothing seems to fit

I know you'd hit out

If you only knew who to hit

And I'd join the movement

If there was one I could believe in

Yeah I'd break bread and wine

If there was a church I could receive in

'Cause I need it now

To take a cup

To fill it up

To drink it slow

I can't let you go

I must be an acrobat

To talk like this

And act like that

And you can dream

So dream out loud

And don't let the bastards grind you down

What are we going to do now it's all been said

No new ideas in the house and every book has been read

And I must be an acrobat

To talk like this

And act like that

And you can dream

So dream out loud

And you can find

Your own way out

You can build

And I can will

And you can call

I can't wait until

You can stash

And you can seize

In dreams begin responsibilities

And I can love

And I can love

And I know that the tide is turning 'round

So don't let the bastards grind you down

The first four lines, especially "If you just close your eyes/ You can feel the enemy" can be connected to The Handmaid's Tale quite literally. Offred's "enemy" is the society in which she is nothing but an object, a body used to procreate. A society that she is stuck in and could not escape until the very end. The Commander is the one whose job it is to make the Handmaids useful, and therefore can be called "the enemy." The song references the Ceremony where Offred describes how she just lies there, eyes closed, waiting for it to be over.

"And you can dream/ So dream out loud/ You know that your time is coming 'round"could refer to the time when Offred finally leaves Gilead at the end of the novel. Since the very beginning she had been dreaming of her old life, but it had only been to herself. She had never been allowed to verbalize her dreams out of fear of being sent to the Colonies, but at the end, even though we never learn her fate, the time has finally come for her to leave the society.

"What are we going to do now it's all been said/ No new ideas in the house every book has been read" can be connected to the dystopian theme of the society of Gilead. In these types of societies, knowledge is forbidden, if not impossible. The Handmaids are simply objects, they exist in Gilead for one purpose, and having any sort of knowledge would be a major threat to the goal of the society. There is supposed to be nothing new for them to come up with, since everything they are intended for has already been said, and this is all they are permitted to know.