Biography of Woody Guthrie

1252 Words3 Pages

Woody Guthrie was an extremely talented and relatable musician who was able to bring joy to people’s lives through his songs. Becoming a person who can relate to people usually doesn’t just happen. Guthrie’s childhood was fairly comfortable until some major events took place. These events in his personal life along with huge dust storms in the area he was living caused his life as he knew it to completely change. Although many would see these hard times as a negative, Guthrie used them as a way to connect with the common people who also were going through rough times in the dust bowl. Not only was he able to connect with them, but he was able to create happiness in people’s who otherwise would mainly be filled with completely negative thoughts. In the book Bound for Glory by Woody Guthrie the reader is able to explore the experiences that created such an influential and motivational character in the history of music.
One major personal problem that played a massive part in Guthrie’s life was Huntington’s Disease. Huntington’s disease is a brain disorder that affects the parts of the brain that control thought, movement, and emotion. It is caused by a mutation in chromosome 4 that causes the one of the genes to dominate the other. The disease’s

symptoms are not noticeable until the person with the disease reaches their middle years, approximately 30-50. The disease progresses rapidly once the first signs start showing. Within years the symptoms will get severely worse and the person’s quality of life will drastically decrease. Some of these symptoms include uncontrollable body movements, loss of mental stability, and loss of the ability to think. In the later years of the person’s life they will need assistance wit...

... middle of paper ...

...jor it at least provided him with some discomfort from a sore throat and nose. Although he did not strive to live in these conditions, he definitely took advantage of his situation used it to make himself stronger as a person.
Woody Guthrie’s music provided a type of comfort to struggling people that couldn’t be provided by anybody else. His own suffering made him able to understand the feelings of people. It was through his good and bad experiences in which he gained the ability to connect with others. He used this ability to help soothe the emotional pain of the everyday people of the dust bowl. Although he stole the lyrics for most of his songs; he put his own

personality and influence onto them. Music provided a direction for Guthrie to follow and it turned into his true calling. Woody was a great man and definitely left his mark on mankind.

Open Document