Characterizing/Summarizing The Silent Patient with Music
The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides is a psychological thriller which tells the story of a wife’s act of violence, and a therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive. On the twenty fifth of August, the hottest day of the year, Alicia Berenson shot her husband several times in the head then proceeded to never speak again. Alicia’s refusal to talk fascinates criminal psychotherapist Theo Faber, who is determined to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband.
The basis of this book parallels the Greek love story Alcestis. The story Alcestis is about Alcestics, a wife who willingly sacrifices her life for her husband. Self Sacrifice is a key aspect of this book so keep this in mind.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
One major conflict for both Theo and Alicia is their cheating spouses. In the middle of the book, Theo suspects his wife is cheating on him after reading through her emails and finding suspicious content. This leads to Theo following her into a park, where he witnesses her clearly cheating on him with another man.
I would characterize this section of the book with the song…
You & Jennifer - bülow
This song is about an unfaithful lover, and emphasizes on the pain and betrayal you feel after. Theo was deeply hurt by his wife’s act of unfaithfulness, and this song demonstrates his anger as well as his hurt.
Following Theo's discovery about his wife, he feels the man’s wife also deserves the right to know about his affair, and follows him to his house. From there, he learns the man’s wife is none other than Alicia Berenson. Readers later learn in the book Alicia feels like she is being constantly watched, even suspecting being stalked by someone. When she tells Gabriel, he tells her she is being delusional and that her old habits are recurring, but we later learn Alicia was not mistaken, and Theo was actively stalking her.
Therefore, I would characterize this section of the book with the song…
Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell
Alicia spends most of her journal worrying and writing about this stalker, pondering whether she’s mistaken/going insane, and filling it with descriptions and theories. Alicia writes out her fears, emotions, and suspicions in this journal, wallowing with the uncertain feeling of being watched. This song summarizes that feeling perfectly.
The final section of this book is undoubtedly the craziest part. Drawing back to the story Alcestis, you will want to keep the message of self sacrifice in mind. In this section, Theo breaks into Alicia’s house, ties both her and Gabriel up, and exposes Gabriel.
Theo mirrors the message of Alcestis, asking Gabrile if he would sacrifice himself for Alicia to live. Here is a direct excerpt from that scene:
“Alicia dies, or you die. Your choice, Gabriel. Let's find out how much you love her. Would you die for her?”
Theo then starts a countdown from ten, with Alicia pleading and insisting she knows he loves her. At two seconds, Gabriel speaks and says “I don't want to die”
Gabriel ultimately chooses his own life over Alicia which mentally kills and destroys her inside.
After this, she faces Gabriel and physically kills him herself.
Leaving the note:
“I didn't kill Gabriel. He killed me.”
“All I did was pull the trigger.
I would characterize this scene with…
I Bet On Losing Dogs by Mitski
This song is absolutely PERFECT to characterize this scene with. Here’s why:
This song itself is about “losing dogs” or failed relationships. This song represents an unrequited love where Mitski’s (the singer) feelings are not reciprocated with the same intensity.
Alicia wholeheartedly choose herself to die if Gabriel could live, even offering/insisting for Theo to go through with her sacrifice, (I think this is somewhere in this scene too) which parallels the differences in intensity/loyalties between the couple.
This song feels like a lot of emotions. The ones I can think of are disappointment, heartbreak, desperation, and a whole more. I want to emphasize especially how the song sounds void and desperate in a way, which captures Alicia’s desperation for Gabriel to sacrifice himself for her. I think this also captures the feeling of heartbreak and the null moments after.
Don't Blame Me by Taylor Swift
https://open.spotify.com/track/0Fs9cdPDhptWEDJmiCbkEW?si=bf26431eed2a4686
This song is essentially talking about love making someone crazy, the goods along with the bad. When Alicia and Gabriel were in love, he made her a better person, embracing love together. When Gabriel betrays Alicia, I imagine the hurt she feels would make her crazy. The vibe of this song also fits the "kills your husband for betraying and cheating on you feeling".
Sign of the Times by Harry Styles
This song includes the lyric, “We don’t talk enough”, which I thought was interesting since this novel is based off of Alicia staying silent after killing her husband. The song itself also sounds mellow and heavy, which I believe were the emotions Alicia were experiencing and processing.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5Ohxk2dO5COHF1krpoPigN?si=a8f1959fb183474e
There's a ton of stuff from the novel I did not include, but if you want to experience this book firsthand, TOTALLY recommend reading it.
*NONE OF THE PHOTOS ARE MINE! ALL OBTAINED FROM SPOTIFY AND GOOGLE*
Thanks for reading this blog post!
I really liked your blog post Heidi! I would never have thought to use music to summarize a story, but it works so well here and it adds another level of emotion to the story. You did a wonderful job drawing parallels between the songs and the story. Also the formatting is really nice :)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a good idea, Heidi! Sometimes I read a book and then hear a song that reminds me of a specific scene just based on the vibe, but actually using one to summarize the story is a lot cooler. Nice blog!
ReplyDelete