Character Playlist

Character Choice:  Maria 

• Katy Perry: Who am I living for- Jamie:  This song is perfect for when Maria is sent off to a boarding school to be tamed.  It speaks to the battle of her confinement of religion and her anger towards Matt.  She is taught to forgive, but she has inner anger towards Matt.  This song highlights the struggle of choosing between instinct and your religion.  A passage from the book that shows this is "Saint Francis preached to a wolf and told him not to eat lambs."  (Farmer 154)

• Josh Grobon: You raise me up- Jada: I thought this song was perfect to show Maria's perspective of Matt. She often says how Matt is the only one easy for her to talk to, an example of this is, "Except no one in the convent listens to me like you do." (Farmer 207). She talks to Matt about a lot of things which he usually listens to without interrupting. "When I am down and, oh my soul, so weary; when trouble come and my heart burdened be; Then I am still and wait here in the silence, Until you come and sit awhile with me." Maria always goes to Matt for comfort and finds it while sitting next to him. She waits in the secret passage for him, waiting for him to sit with her and talk.

• Jason Meraz: I won't give up- Stephanie: This song is a exceptional example of what Maria would listen to when she comes back from boarding school.  The reason we thought so is because the chorus states, “At worst I feel bad for a while, but then I just smile.”  She’s feeling bad because of the things she did to him and blamed him for wrongfully.  She smiles eventually because she loves him.  She knows underneath the pain and betrayal lies love for an “animal”.  She says, “You aren’t evil, only...”  and then says, “You don’t have a soul.”  She knows loving one without a soul is against her religion but she chooses to do the right thing for her.  

• Whitney Houston: I will always love you- Jordan: This song may seem like another kind of lame love song but I think it really describes Maria. When you listen to the song you can kind of feel how it relates to her. But when you look at the lyrics you really get this feeling that this song was meant for Maria. Now not because it is a sweet song, but more because of the words in the song such as "I will always love you." This made lots of sense for Maria because is really one of those innocent girls who tries to look through the evil of every one. She looks through the evil of Tom and even Matt. We felt this was a great song to describe how she really looks for the ups in every thing and every one and tries to love them any ways. There is a quote in the book that really described this "I love you to, even though I will probably go to hell for it" (Farmer 222) We as a group felt this really showed she would always love Matt even though he was a clone.

• Dave Matthews: Some Devil- Jamie: This song talks about having a 'devil' stuck inside of you.  Matt is different.  He is a clone, but Maria still loves him.  Several times Matt is referred to as "a bad clone" but Farmer portrays him differently.  (Farmer 35)  It shows she loves him but that she also knows there are consequences.  She is wary about loving him as she knows it will not end well.  

• Pearl Jam: Amongst the Waves- Jamie:  "And once outside the undertow, just you and me, and nothing more.
  If not for love, I would be drowning, I've seen it work both ways, but I am up, riding high amongst the waves."  This song is definitely a tune that Maria would be listening to throughout her journey with Matt and the rest of the Opium empire.  In fact, she does know both sides to the opium story.  She once tries to grasp power by using her dad's status, "It doesn't matter.  My dada says servant have a right to privacy, and he's a United States senator, so his opinion is worth more."  (Farmer 10)  I think that this is why she tells Matt not to call her Saint Maria, because she has faults (Farmer 158).  

• Bon Jovi: You Give Love a Bad Name- Stephanie:  We as a team really felt that the Lyrics for this song made sense for Maria more then any thing else. When you look through the lyrics you see he often talks about how this girl seems so sweet but really she changes in a second much like Maria. Through out the book she is often very sensitive and delicate. But we also see that she has a cruel almost evil side to her. “A school boys dreams you act so shy...” ( Bon Jovi Verse 5). We felt this really describes Maria because when you think she would be a sweet Innocent girl and then she often times can just switch her emotion and be very mean and cruel to Matt and any one else. A good example of this is when she says “Your aren’t evil, its only that you don’t have a soul...” (Farmer 245). This is proving that she can be nice but also very cruel.

• Rihanna: We Found Love- Jordan: Okay so we found love, well we felt the title almost made sense for Maria. Because she really was the kind of girl who could find the love in some one. Even inside Matt when he was begging to believe he was a nasty monster. She was a girl that never went to the worst possible idea unless it was forced upon her. We think this song also kind of describes Maria and Matts relationship because they were a love that was supposed to be in the darkness. We know that Matt often believed that she would never love him, but she really showed the readers that she would. We know this because of when she comes into the church and takes him saying "he is their brother wolf" (Farmer WHAT PAGE?). She really believed they had love even though it was in a hopeless place.

• Lily Allen: Smile- Stephanie:  This song is a exceptional example of what Maria would listen to when she comes back from boarding school.  The reason we thought so is because the chorus states, “At worst I feel bad for a while, but then I just smile.”  She’s feeling bad because of the things she did to him and blamed him for wrongfully.  She smiles eventually because she loves him.  She knows underneath the pain and betrayal lies love for an “animal”.  She says, “You aren’t evil, only...”  and then says, “You don’t have a soul.” (Farmer 159)  She knows loving one without a soul is against her religion but she chooses to do the right thing for her.  

• Taylor Swift: Mean- Jada: "You, with your switching sides and your walk-by lies and your humiliation, You have pointed out my flaws again, as if i don't already see them." Maria always seems to be angered by Steven and Emilia, at one point Steven calls Maria an "eejit" or in other words stupid. In the same chapter (Chapter 3) Steven and Emilia leave without Maria towards there home. Making Maria feel stupid and abandoned. This song seemed perfect to show how she sees everyone at some point in the story.