In my opinion, there is simply nothing better than lying under the warmth of a blanket with a smooth cup of tea and the soft tune of Jack Johnson absorbing the air. As Americans, we have the tendency to focus on the negatives of life, rather than divulging the positives. After a bad day, rather than sipping tea and relaxing, I unfortunately have the impulse to complain and think negatively. I know I am not alone in this. Americans are this way because of our ever-present news that is constantly shoving pessimism down our throats. With his fluttery tone and rhetorical lyrics, Jack Johnson’s song “Good People” relays this issue of Americans’ overwhelming cynicism. While Johnson has an abundance of songs, for the most part, they all possess the …show more content…
same gist: easygoing acoustic guitar sounds with a soft beat. Jack Johnson grew up surfing the shores of Northern Hawaii. Before his career in music, Johnson was a professional surfer until, at age 17, when he got into a accident, forcing him to stop. Much like surfing, Johnson’s music has a laid-back vibe. happy melody and happy lyrics to match. On the other hand, “Good People” sends a powerful message, making it stand out to its listeners. In About As Mellow as You Can Be and Still Have a Pulse, Kelefa Sannah views Jack Johnson as “ultra-mellow”, saying his “temperament perfectly matches the ocean he loves so much”. On Johnson’s third album, In Between Dreams, Sannah judges Johnson for this “ultra-mellowness”. “You should never trust anyone who seems this mellow” Sannah says. She then criticizes “Good People” and how its message is “unpleasantly hard to ignore”. How can such a mellow creature create a song with such a bold message? I believe that Johnson makes all of his music with purpose. The reason “Good People” is so important and powerful is because Johnson is known to sing songs with laid-back lyrics. “Good People” is a song on an album surrounded by 14 other songs that, for the most part, allude to happiness. Because of this, you really cannot miss the message in “Good People”. I agree with Sannah in the sense that “Good People” has a clear message, however I would argue that Johnson made this message clear for a reason. In Between Dreams is, in my opinion, Johnson’s best album.
This album is my go-to, despite whatever mood I am in. He sings about “making banana pancakes” and how it's “better when we’re together”. Happy lyrics with a happy tune. I must admit, however, like Sannah, I have always been indifferent about the song “Good People”. Like his other songs, “Good People’s” catchy tune automatically makes me happy, but as I listen to the lyrics, I realize that it is a protest song, questioning, “where’d all the good people go?”. Johnson’s use of this rhetorical question emphasizes his point and makes his audience think. As a listener, I find myself questioning, “where did all the good people go?” It is such a harsh question that is simply unanswerable, which helps to further convey his …show more content…
message. The contradiction between the happy melody and the depressing lyrics is also worth noting. It is commonly understood that music based on the minor scale has a sadder sound compared to major keys, which are happier sounding. The main parts of “Good People” are all on the major scale, showing its catchy melody. This contrasts with the lyrics. These two parts juxtapose between negativity and positivity, which alludes to his larger theme of the contrastment between negativity and positivity in the world. “Good People” is clearly Jack Johnson’s most cynical song.
The problem he talks about is rather obvious, since he repeats it throughout his chorus: “Where’d all the good people go? I’ve been changing channels I don’t see them on the TV shows”. American news is notorious for bombarding its viewers with endless amounts of negativity. It is so easy to flip through the TV channels and not see one positive thing, which makes Americans constantly yearn for negative news. The news never tells an optimistic story, despite the fact that there are so many positive events that happen in the world that should be shared. Due to all of this negativity being shoved down American’s throats, it is no wonder that we have the tendency to focus on negatives, rather than positives. Americans are all around “glass-half-empty” people; Pessimism is taking
over. This pessimistic state of mind is like a disease and it is spreading fast. The reason Donald Trump is the 2016 President Elect sheds light on the negativity growing in our country. Trump’s campaign was based off of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and xenophobia. Moreover, his campaign was based off of hatred. The slogan he ran on, “Make America Great Again”, proves exactly this. Saying he wants to make America great is inferring that America is not already great. Part of the reason Donald Trump was elected as president is due to the fact that the news yearns to constantly spew negativity. According to Fortune Magazine, “the media helped create Donald Trump” (Mathew Ingram, 2016). Trump “got a high volume of coverage even before his polling number justified it” due to the negativity that his campaign was based off of (Ingram). Because of this, “Trump is arguably the first bona fide media-created presidential nominee. Although he subsequently tapped a political nerve, journalists fueled his launch” (Ingram). In other words, Donald Trump had a consistent presence on the news and endless amounts of free media coverage because of his negativity and the news’ obsessive inclination to eject it. Now we must ask, how should Americans be free to live optimistically with someone like Trump in the White House? It is ironic because the negativity that was developed from Trump being elected was the same negativity that got him elected in the first place. Before Trump was elected, “70 percent of Americans [had] an unfavorable view of Trump, including a 56 percent majority who [felt] this way ‘strongly” (Scott Clement, 2016). This “pessimism is a potent incubator of political radicalism” (Damon Linker, 2016). An abundance of Americans are unhappy with the election results, and therefore are lashing out. Ones that were once crying out “#ImWithHer”, the “individuals that inspire the greatest hope for improvement”, are the Americans that now are “threaten[ing] to do the most damage to the established order of things” (Linker). “Good People” was written in 2005, so it is clear that the issues of negativity that Johnson preaches have been around for a while. His line “we’ve got heaps and heaps of what we sow” is extremely important; What is planted into the minds of Americans is so omnipresent. While many Americans are unhappy by the election results, Americans must rise up together in optimism. We must plant positivity into our nation, so that bright hopes for the future blossom. So, next time you ask, “Where’d all the good people go?”, look closer because they are all around you.
When an individual has to do a compare and contrast for a short story in the realm of literature, I believe that you have to take into account the deeper meaning in a short story. You have to read between the lines, one has to know what the symbols and what metaphors are. “A symbol is something that has a literal identity, but also stands for something else—something abstract—like an idea, a belief, or an emotion. A metaphor is a figure of speech in which an implied comparison is made between one object and another that is different from it.” (Clugston, 2014) The reader needs to know that the author is using figurative language in the short story. Once the individual can understand this, the literature work will be significantly easier to do a compare and contrast essay.
Some people dream of wealth, happiness, or genius, but is any of that easily attainable? An intellectual young man from the movie Good Will Hunting has an unusually high IQ that is shrouded by emotional problems. Will Hunting is arrested after yet another case of physical assault in Boston, and this time it was a police officer. When he is arrested, his genius is discovered by a college professor, Gerald Lambeau, who sees potential in Will despite his flaws. Instead of jail time, Labeau offers him a fair bargain. As long as Will attends mandatory therapy, he will be allowed to work alongside the professor. But education isn’t everything, because under Wills sarcastic wit and mathematical genius, he hides his true self. Will scares off five different therapists before he finds himself stuck with Sean Maguire, who ends up using personal and profound forms of therapy to crack Wills shell. Sean delivers this speech to help Will realize his ignorance of his insecurities and other people by using ethos, logos, and pathos appeals; Sean addresses that true knowledge and perspective can only
Mothers always want the best for their daughters, it’s a given feeling for a mother. Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mom is written in her perspective as the mother. In The Joy Luck Club, Amy tan writes the novel through her eyes as the daughter of the relationship. Both passages portray the harsh emotions between the mother and her daughter. These emotions are caused by the mother pressuring her daughter to achieve expectations. The two excerpts have similar stressful tones but Amy Tan’s novel is much more intense and displays a uglier relationship.
The Shawshank Redemption is an inspiring story about Andy Dufreine and his efforts to maintain hope in horrible situations. The directors used many effective methods that displayed signs of hope in such a horrible place. Andy maintained hope by distracting his mind and always staying occupied. Andy was also inspired to survive by helping others find hope in life.
One of the most renowned inspirational speakers in the country, Eric Thomas, is a Hip-Hop preacher that influences young people all over. Formerly a high school dropout student, he obtained his Masters in 2005 and is currently getting his PhD in Education Administration from Michigan State University. Living life as a high school dropout and surviving on the streets, Thomas has taken his past hardships and harnessed them in to make a better life for himself. He now changes thousands of lives with his inspirational words. Thomas has various famous speeches, but the most popular of them all is his “How Bad Do You Want It” speech. The rhetoric techniques he uses in the speech range from anaphora to pathos and covers everything in between. Due
In the article “It’s Not About You” by David Brooks, Brooks takes a different perspective on this current generation. Many of the past generation huff at the thought of the new age group. Brooks has an incredible, somewhat biased opinion relating to the new generation, which is not unusual since he is from the current generation. Brooks discusses and explores the idea that the current generation is expected to grow up, get educated, get married and then have children. Brooks speculates that the new generation will be less family-orientated and maybe more adventurous and more about just living life and getting to experience things. Overall, Brooks wrote something different from most stories regarding generations.
The song “Most People are Good” by Luke Bryan, describes a theme of hope and seizing the day. This song is clearly directed to an adult audience for it could not be relatable to a younger crowd. The song offers words of wisdom and a recollection of youthful times gone by. The song is told in the first person and portrayed by an ageing man or woman who is expressing their beliefs and personal morals through their experience of youth and forgiveness. The hopeful lyrics are informal but provide bright ideas expressed with a buoyant attitude.
Anticipation is prevalent throughout The Road, which is set by the narrative pace, creating a tense and suspenseful feeling and tone.
“The New Jim Crow” is an article by Michelle Alexander, published by the Ohio State Journal of Criminal Law. Michelle is a professor at the Ohio State Moritz college of criminal law as well as a civil rights advocate. Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law is part of the world’s top education system, is accredited by the American Bar Association, and is a long-time member of the American Law association. The goal of “The New Jim Crow” is to inform the public about the issues of race in our country, especially our legal system. The article is written in plain English, so the common person can fully understand it, but it also remains very professional. Throughout the article, Alexander provides factual information about racial issues in our country. She relates them back to the Jim Crow era and explains how the large social problem affects individual lives of people of color all over the country. By doing this, Alexander appeals to the reader’s ethos, logos, and pathos, forming a persuasive essay that shifts the understanding and opinions of all readers.
We Shall Overcome Rhetorical Analyses Throughout the history of the United States, racial discrimination has always been around our society. Many civil rights movements and laws have helped to minimize the amount of discrimination towards every single citizen, but discrimination is something that will not ever disappear. On March 15, 1965, Lyndon Baines Johnson gave a speech that pointed out the racial injustice and human rights problems of America in Washington D.C. He wanted every citizen of the United States to support his ideas to overcome and solve the racial injustice problems as a nation. Throughout the speech, Lyndon Johnson used several rhetorical concepts to persuade the audience.
For many of us, one of the most accurate and effective ways to express the feelings that really matter to us is through music. We don’t only grow to attached to songs that are catchy, but also those with lyrics that we can relate to. It is not uncommon to feel like sometimes, artists can convey the way we feel better than we could ourselves. The storybook-like lines you read at the start of this page are a collection of lyrics
His songs are a narrative of his personal knowledge and wisdom from growing up in the bush, the stories of the people he’s met and the places he’s been.
Born November 7, 1943 in Fort McLeod, Alberta, Canada, Joni Mitchell is one of Canada's most prominent celebrities. I don't quite know what experiences she draws on to create blue; all I know are what experiences I draw on when listening to it. “Blue, song are like tattoos.” With this line I get a feeling of the power of music in general. Tattoos are permanent, just like music is permanent. I can't help but be changed by a song after I listen to it, because it is part of the nature of song. As I implied above, it is important to realize that these statements hold true about the artist as well as the audience.
In his song “Night”, he not only utilizes the literary device of the second person to create a stronger connection to the listener, but he sings about the dreaded work day and how a person’s only freedoms occur when they are driving through the night. Many Americans in the 1970s had jobs that they
This articles brings lyrics from a song that was previously considered offensive, which is now clean by today’s standards, and effectively argues for freedom of speech.