The Songs of "The Anatomy of Desires"

After reading "The Anatomy of Desire" by John L'Heureux, I came up with a list of songs that relates to the plot, characters, and the emotions in this story.

"Disturbia" by Rihanna

This song is a catchy pop song, and not many people realize what the words are meaning. There is a verse in the song that reminds me of what happened to Hanley: " it's a thief in the night to come and grab you/ It can creep up inside you and consume you/ A disease of the mind, it can control you/ It's too close for comfort" (Rihanna). In the short story, Hanley was taken in the middle of the night by the enemy and the general consumed him by taking his skin (L'Heureux 340). Later on, Hanley wanted this feeling of being possessed like something was controlling him (L'Heureux 341).

"Love Somebody" by Maroon 5

The video of this song represents the "skin" that Hanley was desiring. The video expresses the skin of love. Hanley wanted someone to love him and be close with, and this song expresses that as well. He doesn't believe anyone can love him with is skin gone, but the saint loved him and sacrificed her skin. 

"Sound of an Angel" Instrumental-Violin

 

This song represents the relationship that Hanley had with the saint. She cared for him and tried to give him what he wanted. She was there for him and seemed like she wanted to be the one who "possessed" him. In the story:

 

                 The saint did everything she must. She told him how handsome he was and what 

                 pleasure he gave her. She touched him in the way he liked best. She said he was her whole

                 life, her fate. And at night when he woke her to staunch the blood, she whispered how she 

                 needed him, how she could not live without him (L' Heureux 341).

"Never Enough" by The Cure

Hanley wanted more. Being loved by the saint wasn't enough for him. This whole song talks about it never being enough no matter what it is. He wanted "to possess and be possessed," but having all that he could wasn't enough (L'Heureux 343). He "saw that there can be no possession, there is only desire" (L'Heureux 343).

"My Immortal" by Evanescence

The general grew a guilty pain that caused him to be possessed by Hanley. He "wrote to Hanley one last letter. 'I can endure no more. I am possessed by you'" (L'Heureux 342). The lyrics of this song represent the obsession the general grew with what he did to Hanley. One of the verses says, "These wounds won't seem to heal/ This pain is just too real/There's just too much that time cannot erase" could reflect on how the general is feeling. Even though the general's first letter was to make sure he didn't get investigated for this act, it grew to haunt him to the end.

L' Heureux, John. “The Anatomy of Desire.” American Gothic Tales. Ed. Joyce Carol Oates. New York: The Penguin Group. 339-343. Print.