Sweet Home Alabama Analysis

As a kid going to southern Indiana for my family's weekend reunion in the middle of July seemed to be a stress-free heaven. Talking with family while eating all of the great food everyone made, and awesome fishing in the glistening pond served as a retreat from the textbooks, homework, and tests in school. Although I never did any reading, writing, or math at the reunion, I learned some of the most valuable lessons at that 50-acre property in the dog days of summer. My great uncle, who owned the pond, taught me the best fishing spots, my dad taught me how to set up a tent, and my uncle Vance taught me the great values of our family between old folk songs. It was from these stories that I developed a great sense of pride in my family.

Every Friday night before going off to our tents, all of the family gathered under the pavilion next to the pond. A group of musicians in my family strung guitars and led the family in singing accompanied by the bellow of bullfrogs in the background. After the final note of “Sweet Home Alabama” Vance put his guitar down. Vance served as a genealogist for our family and was always willing to tell a wonderful story of the bravery, adventures, and hardship that our family has endured. This story

Many of the adventures and memories around the secluded pond in southern Indiana faded away with the summer sun, but the wholesome values passed on to me are immensely more important than any formula will ever be. Through everything that my family has overcome, hardship and triumph, every summer we are able to gather under the pavilion. As we walk away on Sunday evening, we are inspired by the heroic tradition of our family, and also motivated to be as brave and courageous as the family members that came before