Come to the Church in the Wildwood

"Come to the Church in the Wildwood" is a hymn that surfaces in the novel as a piece of state-approved music, played on the television during the evenings of the Ceremony. Its appearance underscores the regime's strategy of appropriating familiar religious songs to create an atmosphere of piety and normalcy, even as it systematically strips the Handmaids of access to the written word and to any music that might carry subversive meanings.

Context and Performance

The hymn is heard during the waiting period before the Ceremony, when Serena Joy clicks through the television channels. A male choir sings "Come to the Church in the Wildwood" with "greenish-yellow skin" because the color needs adjusting, a detail that highlights the degraded, mediated quality of all entertainment under Gilead. Serena quickly changes the channel, moving past the hymn to find the news, which is the only part of the evening that Offred values. The hymn thus functions as background noise, a piece of the regime's sonic wallpaper, rather than as a moment of genuine worship or comfort.

Contrast with Forbidden Music

The sanctioned hymn stands in stark contrast to the outlawed songs that Offred remembers from her former life. She recalls singing "Amazing Grace" to herself, but notes that such songs are no longer sung in public, "especially the ones that use words like free." Similarly, she remembers a blues song from her mother's cassette tape, "I feel so lonely, baby," which is also outlawed. The regime permits only those hymns that reinforce its message of submission and piety, while suppressing any music that might evoke personal longing, freedom, or resistance. The presence of "Come to the Church in the Wildwood" on the television is therefore not a sign of religious freedom but of careful curation.

The Regime's Use of Religious Music

The hymn is part of a broader pattern in which the Gilead regime deploys religious texts and music to legitimize its authority. The Commander reads from the Bible during the Ceremony, and the Handmaids are forced to memorize verses like "Give me children, or else I die" and "Be fruitful and multiply." At the Red Center, they are played recordings of the Beatitudes, but Offred suspects that the regime has altered the text, leaving out inconvenient passages. The use of "Come to the Church in the Wildwood" fits this pattern: it is a harmless, nostalgic hymn that evokes a simpler, rural piety, serving to mask the brutality of the regime with a veneer of tradition and devotion.

Significance

The hymn's appearance is a small but telling detail in the novel's larger critique of how totalitarian regimes co-opt religious symbols and practices. It demonstrates that even music, which might seem apolitical, is subject to the regime's control. For Offred, the hymn is merely another element of the oppressive routine, a sound that fills the silence but offers no genuine solace or meaning. Its presence on the television, alongside the news of executions and military victories, reinforces the idea that in Gilead, everything—including faith—is a tool of the state.