Rachel M. Harper's The Myth Of Music

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While the thought of close family bonds are comforting, it is important to recognize that no family is flawless and will contain imperfections. In Rachel M. Harper’s “The Myth of Music”, the intertwined relationship between jazz music and familial memories are revealed through auditory imagery, eloquent connotation and unstructured form, conveying a reminiscent, yet bittersweet tone.
Initially, it can be inferred that music is very prominent in the speaker’s life and assists in the construction of the bond which exists between them and their family. The connotation of the word “myth” included in the title gives the sense of lineage and passing of generations which can be directly connected to Harper’s first sentence which states “If music can be passed on like brown …show more content…

When confronting her father’s absence presence about the reminiscence of routine noises the speaker includes “you present in the sound of typing your own accompaniment, multiphonics disguised as chords in a distant room, speakers set on high to fill the whole house with your spirit,” Harper makes it clear that these sounds bring comfort to the speaker and fill the void their parents no longer fill. This use of auditory imagery taps into the idea of solace taken for granted that was only noticed because of the now unnerving quietness. The noises have become so expected and natural that the speaker associates every action with a sound; without that, the atmosphere around them becomes almost lifeless revealing a need for music to keep her family connected because without it they are left with nothing. This introduces the bittersweet nature of their bonds because when disrupted, a sense of dejection overwhelms the speaker when they realize they no longer can rely on those sounds which only live on in their

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