I Want to Break Free

The Power of Free Will

By Will Wu

I only liked two bands/artists from the UK. One is Ellie Goulding because she has a great voice, and the other is Queen. I grew up listening to "We Will Rock You," but recently, I found more connection to their song "I Want to Break Free" after I read the piece from Henry David Thoreau. Here's the link to the song if you're interested. It's a really good song (click on the photo to go to the song).

Here's how the song goes:

I Want to Break Free!
I Want to Break Free from your lies
You're so self satisfied I don't need you
I've got to break free
God knows, God knows I want to break free
(Deacon:2-6)

The song, surprisingly, reflects almost identical ideas from the Essay “Civil Disobedience” in the modern day setting. Henry David Thoreau, the author of “Civil Disobedience,” illustrates his ideas and visions of an ideal government in the essay. Thoreau emphasizes on the importance of a free government, and the power of which belongs to the people themselves. Contrary to what Thoreau believes, an increasing amount of modern governments have become restrictive to people’s free will and their rights. Thus, resonating with Thoreau’s essay, the Queen’s song reflect the strong will of people, to escape the chains of the restrictive government and to gain more freedom from the current political settings.

I grew up as a Chinese, and I still recognize myself as one. While believing in the greatness of my mother country, I kept my open mind and attended school in the US. My exposure to this brand new culture gave me new perspectives on China. As I was reading Thoreau's work, I instantly started to think about my mother country.

Thoreau believes that people’s conscience and free will should come first before the government. He writes: “Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator?” Thoreau believes that every government should be “expedient” in terms of helping its citizens to promote what is right for them.

I can't stop thinking about the current state of China. Media bans still exist; people are afraid to experss their free wills; and, the internet firewalls formed a giant prison to trap the Chineses inside. Oh heck, I can't even check my friends' instagram post when I get home! With my experience both in the US and in China, I started to feel that I am in shackles. The government, though being "expedient" in many ways, suffocates my free will.

Queen’s song, hence, reflects my will with its strong lyrics: “I want to break free!” The simple diction and the strong tone of the song accurately captures Thoreau’s passion to break from an “inexpedient” and restrictive government and to prioritize his conscience before justice.

Nevertheless, I still miss my home, and I still cherish my mother country. As people always says, the first step of solving a problem is to realize that there is one. I hope that more brave people can stand up and experss their thoughts, motivated by their conscience, and I trully believe that day will be here.

The connection between a song from the 80's and one of the most legendary American essayists of all time

Ralph Waldo Emerson, revolutionary essayist and inspiration to some of the most influential writers in history, has written many popular pieces of literature. Among them is “Experience,” an essay that discusses the importance of being self-aware. If there were to be a song that could represent some of “Experience”’s key aspects, it would be “Once in a Lifetime,” by the Talking Heads (hence the quotation marks in the terrible joke that is the title). They both give the feeling of being aware of one’s situation and both use rhetorical questions to trigger a sense of analysis in hopes that the listener/reader gains more understanding of their atmosphere.

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One idea that Emerson’s “Experience” brings forth is the outcome of one’s lack of awareness. According to Emerson, “Ghostlike we glide through nature, and should not know our place again,” (page 8). By comparing people who are unaware to a creature that represents silence, death; a spirit trapped in between the afterlife and its own mortality, Emerson establishes the fact that these kinds of people have no idea of what they should do or where they should go, they just go with the flow of nature. The Talking Heads plays with this idea in their first verse by giving many examples of possible outcomes for one’s ignorance and then ending it with “And you may ask yourself, ‘Well...how did I get here?’” (genius.com), clearly demonstrating that there are people who won’t know how or why they do what they do. To further cement the connection between Emerson’s idea of how ignorance forces one to move with nature and how “Once in a Lifetime” shows it, the chorus explicitly describes the flow of water. Not only that, but the chorus goes on to say “let the water hold me down” (genius.com), further showing that the singer is being controlled by the water and the water’s flow, similar to how Emerson wrote about ignorant people gliding through nature.

Mirror Writings: Similar yet different

Mirror writings. They're deceptively similar yet very different. That is one of the instances in which writings are partially similar to each other. They can overlap in terms of style, ideas, scenes, or other things. That happens because a lot of writers draw inspiration from other writers. #Amlitsongs is a hashtag that was started to tweet songs and poems that are similar in a way to specific writings by Edgar Allan Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

The songs and poems could resemble the writings in style, images, and ideas. The following quotes from a song and a writing piece show how two pieces can create the same image. “And then I shot, shot, shot a hole through everything I loved” (Imagine Dragons) “But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain” (Poe 30). Those writings aren’t a mirror image of each other, but if you read one, it’s similar enough to remind you of the other. That reminds you of twins; they look alike, but have different personalities.

Poe and Queen: An Unlikely Connection

Edgar Allan Poe was a mysterious nineteenth century poet best known for his macabre stories, while Queen was a popular rock band in the 70s. It seems unlikely that their works would share meaning (however, in certain photos Poe could pass off as a band member)

Queen

Poe/Possible Queen Roadie 

but Poe’s “The Black Cat” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” are certainly connected.

Poe's “The Black Cat” is a tragic story of a mild-mannered man who drunkenly kills his wife and cat. Queen's “Bohemian Rhapsody” picks up where the pride of Baltimore leaves off--a man has killed someone and is begging for forgiveness.

Both are tragedies, because the characters commit brutal crimes that do not represent their true personalities. Though they are regretful and don’t know what got into them, it’s doubtful that regret will hold up against a twelve-person jury. “The Black Cat” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” are both about death, caused by people who aren’t in their normal state, and the subsequent consequences they will face.

The first verse of “Bohemian Rhapsody” describes a boy running to his mother, frantically explaining that he “Put a gun against his head, pulled the trigger, now he’s dead” (Queen 8).

His fear pours out during the song as he pleas for mercy. The narrator in “The Black Cat” is similarly confused with himself, however he feels more horrific than scared.

The man claims that his violent ways came from “this unfathomable longing of the soul to vex itself--to offer violence to its own nature--to do wrong for wrongs sake only” (Poe 27).

That quote will likely get him committed to a psych ward, because the pointless violence cannot be explained, it is sudden and unexpected. He goes into demonic states of rage, and inexplicably murders, just like our friend from “Bohemian Rhapsody.” These two clearly have some problems, but it’s still hard to see apparently normal people have lapses in judgement that will ruin their lives.

For more on Bohemian Rhapsody: https://genius.com/Queen-bohemian-rhapsody-lyrics

For more on Edgar "the show" Poe: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edgar-Allan-Poe

Lil Uzi Vert and Edgar Allan Poe share a common message?

http://tauology.com/lil-uzi-vert-you-was-right-2/

Have you ever considered the similarities the work done by a nineteenth century poet and a modern day hip hop artist?

Well, neither have I. 

This all changed when reading Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat.” For those of you who don’t indulge in dark romantic literature of the 19th century, the short story essentially speaks of a psychotic heavy drinker who obsesses over his black cat and later proceeds to kill his cat. Pretty dark right?  Well it gets better(worse), the protagonist of the story finds another cat that reveals a shocking similarity to his old one( which really is just a figment of his imagination). As the protagonist’s drinking problem takes over him, he become delusional and swings an axe to the head of his wife as she tries to defend him from striking the imaginary cat.

To any of you who are familiar with the artist Lil Uzi Vert, you probably have already made the connection to his song “XO TOUR Llif3”.  Lil Uzi explores a notion of substance abuse and relationship issues with his significant other, much similar to the motif of Poe’s “The Black Cat.”

Although Poe and Lil Uzi were under the influence of different substances, ultimately they both showed to exhibit the same violent nature. “Xanny, help the pain, yeah please, Xanny, make it go away”(Lil Uzi Vert).  Lil Uzi demonstrates his reliance of Xanax, a commonly accessible drug to treat panic disorders. Poe, although being influenced by alcohol, shares a comparable dependence. “My disease grew upon me-for what disease is like Alcohol!”( Poe 25) Such dependence in substances is what lead Poe and Lil Uzi to neglect and moreover, harm their significant others.

So if by chance, you happen to stumble upon literature of a different century or even just a different time period, perhaps you will find joy in relating that modern music of your choice.

Whose Side are you on? Eminem Or Dr. Dre?

http://www.capitalxtra.com/artists/dr-dre/lists/facts/eminem-white/ 

We all battle two consciences, Eminem and Dr. Dre, and Edgar Allen Poe’s is clearly on Eminem’s side. In Edgar’s “The Black Cat,” and Em’s “Guilty Conscience,” characters struggle with their consciences while committing a crime. The main character in “The Black Cat” kills his cat and his wife—the second, Eminem’s alter ego, Slim Shady (and at the end of the song Dre can too) can understand, but killing a cat, c'mon man—and reasonably  has reservations and a conscious haunting him for days and weeks after the fact. This conscience eats away at his soul, making it more and more painful as time goes on—oh, the agony. The three main characters in Shady’s “Guilty Conscience” are split two to one, bad decisions to good. Dr. Dre convinces Eddie, the first guy, to not rob a liquor store, but Em sways the second, Stan, to rape a fifteen year old girl, I mean, it goes with his Slim Shady alter ego. In the end, Em and Dre both agree that Grady, the third man, should kill his cheating wife and her partner. All of these characters struggle with their consciences, showing that Poe’s ideals, about how a conscience can affect decision, still hold true to this day. Eminem and Dr. Dre’s “Guilty Conscience” is the modern day version of “The Black Cat” because it shows the prominence of consciences in moral decisions.

https://prezi.com/zw8cblnlmxww/the-black-cat-byedgar-allan-poe/ 

All the characters hear their consciences speaking moments before committing a crime, for the most part the characters commit crimes and Dr. Dre’s voice, the moral one, is often left angry afterwards, a clear example of how the man in “The Black Cat” felt after killing his cat and his wife. In the case of Stan, the rapist in “Guilty Conscience” and the murder of the first black cat, Poe’s character states that he is remorseful, “When reason returned with the morning...I experienced a sentiment half of horror, half of remorse, for the crime of which I had been guilty” (Poe The Black Cat), and Dr. Dre is clearly upset by Stan’s decision to side with Eminem and rape the girl, “Shit, you wanna get hauled off to jail” (Dr. Dre Guilty Conscience)The two quotes above show that both Edgar Allen Poe’s character and Eminem and Dr. Dre’s characters struggled with the conscience speaking to them in their minds about the crimes committed, murder and rape, respectively. But it’s literature, so it's up to you.

Stand Up to the Government with Rappers and Transcendalists

Hey guys! So I was listening to my some of my favorite songs the other day and I realized something. I realized that many of the songs I was listening to share similarities with some famous transcendentalist and dark-romantic essays. What I noticed was that both the songs and the essays expressed that our own experiences play an important role in developing our personal emotions. It is my understand that these experiences, and therefore emotions, are unavoidable. This is because such experiences occur in all different settings and environments, whether that be socially, politically, physically, or even mentally. There is a number of examples of songs and an essays sharing that same base setting or environment and in turn invoking very similar emotions. The most obvious instance of this idea is with the 80s rap song “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy and the essay “Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau. I noticed in his essay, Thoreau outlines a bunch of different ways the government unjustly intrudes into his own life and freedom. Public Enemy also addresses the government, specifically on how the government has a restrictive and limiting attitude towards race. Both of the works discuss detrimental government progress, and their respective authors are overcome by strong emotions. These strong emotion drive both authors to call for action. Thoreau expressed that “Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them”, and Public Enemy outright states the “We've got to fight the powers that be”. The similarity between Public Enemy’s song and Henry David Thoreau’s essay is obvious: the entire sequence from setting to emotion to response for both the rap song and the essay share the same basic themes. 

See you soon and don't forget to FIGHT THE POWER!

Inside The Mind of Satanic Killers

Inside The Mind of Satanic Killers

    

Have you ever killed? Have you killed a human? Maybe a dog? Or that fly that is annoying the shit out of you? What motivated you to kill?  Eminem’s song “Kill You” and “The Black Cat” by Edgar Allan Poe reveal the differences of the minds of murderers, and their satanic thoughts that provoke them to take another living thing’s life. In the song “Kill You”, Eminem spits violent, aggressive lines about the public’s visions and expectations of Slim Shady.  Edgar Allan Poe’s story of “The Black Cat” makes you feel as killing is the daily norm, although the descriptions in the way he kills may haunt your dreams. Both pieces of work will grab your attention, and make you realize the sanity and craziness that roams through a killer’s mind.

“I invited violence, you vile venomous volatile vicious / Vain  Vicodin vrin vrin vrin! / Texas Chainsaw, left his brains all / Danglin’ from his neck while his head barely hangs on”.

These lyrics capture the listener making you wonder how the hell someone can have these thoughts. But at the same time the song captures you with the aggressive tone, and makes you feel like you have a dark side just like Eminem. The lyrics have a purpose though, as Eminem uses these lyrics to express his disgust of the media and the public’s perception, views, and opinions on him. “The Black Cat” doesn’t express as much anger as Eminem does, but instead makes killing feel casual which can be perceived even crazier than Eminem’s song “Kill You”.

Jimi Hendrix and Nathaniel Hawthorne are pretty similar

Hey readers! I was listening Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of All Along The Watchtower, and I thought to myself, “Wow the society he describes resembles the society in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Minister’s Black Veil.” The wording in All Along The Watchtower closely resembles that of “The Minister’s Black Veil.” It seems to me that these two works of art share a deeper connection. That connection is the confusion that arises in the societies that both artists describe. For The Minister’s Black Veil it is the confusion over why the minister is wearing the veil, but for All Along The Watchtower the confusion comes from a general confusion of society and a revolution stems from it. Through this connection, a deeper exploration of both the song and the short story is needed.

The reactions of the many people in the town of Milford in “The Minister’s Black Veil,” are of confusion. The minister is going against social norms and is receiving a lot of negative feedback for it. “‘But what has good Parson Hooper got upon his face?’ cried the sexton in astonishment” (link to book line 2). The confusion the sexton displays is one of disgust and astonishment as he can simply not believe what Parson Hooper is wearing on his face. This simple act of wearing a black veil upon one’s head goes so far as to cause great unrest within the small town of Milford. Jimi Hendrix perfectly captures this unrest in the lyric: “There's too much confusion / I can't get no relief” (genius lines 3-4). It is unclear who is saying that they cannot get relief from the confusion, I believe that the “I” is a metaphor for the society and Jimi Hendrix is embodying that when he sings these words.

More to come as delve further into the rabbit hole

- Alex

How Much Can Love Really do?

How Much Can Love Really do?

The iconic lyrics, “When you kiss me heaven sighs/ And though I close my eyes/I see la vie en rose”, depict the most sought after feeling in the world: Love. Love is the feeling that transforms all. Love can make the world seem different- beauty and light may shine through even the most mundane of texts.

Now, the connection between a song played in the Disney animated movie, Wall-E , may not seem the most obvious of connections, but bare with me.

“Experience”, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the song “La Vie en Rose” by Daniela Andrade are connected as they both describe the heavy impact of different perspectives in life.

Emerson describes “Life is a train of moods like a string of beads, and, as we pass through them, they prove to be many-colored lenses which paint the world their own hue, and each shows only what lies in its focus.” Excerpt From: “Transcendentalist Readings.” iBooks.

And in “La Vie en Rose”, the Pilaf, and in Louis Armstrong’s rendition himself, and in Daniela Andrade’s rendition herself (this song is sure covered a lot). They are  madly in love- extremely in Love. And when they are in love, everything is beautiful.

Similar to Pilaf’s lyrics in “La Vie en Rose”, Emerson shows how a specific event can affect one’s perspective, providing color, a hue, light and may even shield one from the dark and ugly in the world.

Do You Hear the People Sing?

July 14, 1789, morning. 954 people crowded outside of a prison in downtown Paris, shouting at the 82 jailers, urging them to stop resisting. The jailers refused. The crowded brought two cannons and fired at the jail. Unsurprisingly the 954 people beat the 82 jailers. They swarmed into the jail, took over the control, and officially started arguably one of the most significant revolution in human history: the French Revolution. Yes, this event is remembered as the Storm of Bastille.

Sixty years later, in New Hampshire, a man named Henry wrote an essay regarding civil disobedience in his two-day sojourn in prison. He was imprisoned because he refused to pay tax as he was concerned that the tax would be used in the American-Mexican War. His essay eventually became one of the most influential one regarding revolution in human history, influencing revolution leaders from other nations in the future. Yes, this Henry has middle name David and last name Thoreau.

Another thirteen years later, in 1862, Victor Hugo published his epic work Les Miserables, celebrating the history of France and French Revolution. In 2012, the book was adapted to a romantic musical film to dramatize the Jean Val Jean’s exodus from prison and Javert’s moral atonement. This accolade-winning features powerful music that echoed in my mind the first time I listened to it when I was thirteen. The song was so full of emotion that even I wanted to join the front line of the rebel and kick some French aristocratic asses.

If Thoreau would be part of the French revolution, would he approve what Jean Val Jean was doing? I highly doubt so. Although both advocating for changes in the existing regime, Thoreau supported more nonviolent resistance, accepted flaws of the regime, and preferred a government that exercises minimal control. He made his position clear in his civil disobedience essay that he did not pursue drastic changes of the regime:

“I came into this world, not chiefly to make this a good place to live in but to live in it, be it good or bad”

What an emotional line! What was more impressive was that Thoreau managed to maintain calmness and sangfroid in his protest even though he put enough passion in his protest against the American government’s move to invading Mexico.

The crowd in the French revolution violently did not want to do the same thing. They attacked the authority, outrageously refused to embrace the existing regime, and ecstatically attemptd to seize control of the government. Listen to the iconic song “Do You Hear the People Sing?” in Les Miserables:

“When the beating of your heart

Echoes the beating of the drums  

There is a life about to start

When tomorrow comes!”

Anything else to say? It’s all about emotion!

One final question to consider: what if the French fellows used Thoreau’s methodology in attempt to overthrow Louis XVI? Probably there would have been fewer mistakes and casualties in the revolution, but would the revolution have been successful? In other words, what does a revolution mean to achieve? Is it all about civil disobedience?

Guilt and paranoia are two common emotions that us humans experience all the time. They appear when we lie, cheat, or even murder somebody. Humans think with 2 consciences, the good one and the bad one. These consciences are influenced by situations that we go through, and Edgar Allan Poe shows this in The Black Cat. The deranged narrator’s excessive alcohol addiction causes him to lash out, spiraling out of control into a violent, bloody story of guilt, death, and paranoia. This story relates to Guilty Conscience by Eminem (ft. Dr. Dre), sharing the idea of a guilty conscience, and battling between good and bad thoughts and decisions.

Guilty Conscience is about a devil and an angel battling. Eminem is the devil, similar to the narrator in the story, while Dr. Dre is an angel, similar to the narrator’s seemingly nonexistent good conscience. They battle over different scenarios, attempting to convince different people to make the right or wrong decisions. In The Black Cat, the narrator doesn’t battle with a good conscience, but begins to feel remorse after the appearance of the second cat, causing  him to regret his excessively violent acts against an innocent woman and ripping and gouging the eyeballs out of his beloved cat’s eye sockets.

Time = Life. Let it Fly, you will Die!

Time.

Perhaps both the most valuable and the most easily wasted resource known to man.  Ralph Waldo Emerson has warned people to “be very suspicious of the deceptions of the element of time” (Emerson 26).  Similarly, Kenny Chesney advises you “Don’t blink” (Chesney, Line 7).  If not, you are risking time flying and life passing by before you even realize it.  While the song “Don’t Blink” by Kenny Chesney and the essay “Experience” by Ralph Waldo Emerson have some contextual differences, they are similar because they contemplate time and its importance in respect to human life.

Deception of time is a central theme in “Don’t Blink” and “Experience.”  Both Chesney and Emerson (and I) believe time can move too quickly if you don’t take a moment to appreciate today.  Chesney draws his inspiration from a man who turns 102 years old; his song is the advice given to Chesney by the old man.  The man warns him of missing his “babies growing up” (Chesney, Line 14) and next thing he knows his “better half” (Chesney, Line 17) will be on their deathbed.  All of the old man’s advice warn Chesney not to “blink.”  By this he means not to cruise through life ignorant of time passing.  In the same way Emerson tells the reader “it takes a good deal of time to eat or to sleep, or to earn a hundred dollars” (Emerson 26).  Emerson wants the reader to step back from daily activities one does out of habit, and to truly admire the world around (him/her/them).  Ignorance of time and its deception is the issue Chesney and Emerson wish the listener or reader to avoid.

Modern day artists with connections to transcendentalism, What?

                              Modern day artists with connections to transcendentalism, What?

 The script, Creedence Clearwater revival, and Lil Uzi, all 20th and 21st century musicians who have connections through transcendentalist ideas. Despite each musician being from a different time period, they all each have one piece of music that brings them together; The script’s “Hall of Fame”, lil Uzi's “You was right”, and Creedence Clearwater’s “Fortunate son.” All of these great songs songs use the same basic concept of transcendentalism and discusses some of these ideas in their songs. These three pieces of music from the AMlit playlist all relate to the central ideas of transcendentalism including individualism, nonconformity and discussions about clouded judgement. The script’s “Hall of Fame”, talks about how you the individual should go about their lives independent of society and use themselves to achieve their goals. It is clear that these ideas are shown in the first verse. “You can move a mountain...you can be a master...dedicate yourself and you gon’ find yourself.” These ideas show how an individual should believe that they will be able to accomplish their goals without help from society. There is also a direct connection to Ralph Waldo Emerson's short piece of writing “Self Reliance” where he talks about these same ideas of individualism. Emerson proclaims “To believe your own thought, to believe what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,- that is genius” (Emerson, 28). Here Emerson discusses the same ideas of how an individual should act by using their own talents to go through life. Both the song and the short essay discuss the ideas of how by passing the boundaries of society you are able to accomplish your goals. Emerson and The Script both set boundaries for you all to follow. By using the ideas of individualism, “Fortunate son” also discusses the ideas of the individual protesting against society and not conforming to the rules.

Edgar Allen Poe and Hopsin are BOTH crazy

What kind of person throws baby corpses at people’ homes? In his song “I’m Not Crazy,” Hopsin raps about different crazy things he would do if he was actually crazy. This song is kinda like Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Black Cat”. Even though Poe’s story is about killing and Hopsin is just rapping about scenarios, they are kind of similar.


In the narrator of Poe’s story states “In a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad I am not.” He says he’s not crazy when he clearly does things only insane people do. When retelling the story he says “The fury of a demon instantly possessed me, I knew myself no longer”, he shifts the blame from himself to something outside. Speaks of lines such as “I retained sufficient regard to restrain me from maltreating him, as I made no scruple of maltreating the rabbits ” to once again prove that he is in fact sane with having self control. No one told him to kill his cat and wife, it was all him.  Escaping this truth, he blames it on the cat scorch mark, the white hair on the cat, and other reasons because he cannot accept his own actions. This is similar to Hopsin’s song because it starts with someone accusing him of insanity. His response was “If I was really crazy I’d run up inside an orphanage and torment kids, and beat babies faces with bags of oranges ”, he tries to contrast his accusation with something even more crazy. This makes anything he did seem less important and can dodge it altogether.One would have to be crazy to come up with these scenarios that scary, if not creative. Yet this combined with his chorus “I’m not crazy… I can’t control the thoughts that always travel through my brain….not my fault so don’t blame me” shows that his creativity isn’t intentional. He has no control over these ideas, which is just as scary. Both narrators in both works have been confronted with the idea that they might be insane, either looking back on their actions, or someone else telling them. Both of these narrators have used someway to dodge the idea that they might be insane. Both narrators do/think of ideas that no sane person would do.

The Big Shocker

     

      When you are famous everything you do is under a microscope. The world is looking at the online newspaper refreshing waiting to see your face. Your face made up of pixels pops up on everyone’s smartphones across the country. Everyone drops their cellphones. Sending a soundwave of shattering screens reaching every corner of the world. Single handedly you just shocked the world. A group of young men in 1988 had created this same effect by releasing one of the most controversial songs ever to be performed. As well as the minister who decided to make a strange fashion choice that shocked his clergy. These two very different stories that both created friction in the worlds around them. The short story “The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne and the song “Fuck tha Police” by N.W.A. share in rattling the world and in many cases causing disturbances.

​      Diving into the text of “The Minister’s Black Veil” the character Mr. Hooper reveals himself to his clergy wearing a black veil. Chatter erupts among the members of the church in a way that is not quite disgust but is headed towards it. The people in the story were confused and did not know what to think of the veil. Just as the world did not know what to think when N.W.A. decided to continue to perform a violent song as seen by many including the Assistant Director of the FBI at the time. Both the minister and N.W.A were aware of what they were doing but both made an impact on the world. Whether it was the character that made the difference or just the act of having the song released sends a strong message to the world that one should never give up on their passion no matter what the world has to say.

The Fight Against Society

The Fight Against Society 

Whether in the United States or elsewhere, discrimination is apparent. People are deprived of their human rights because of their skin color, religion, gender, sexuality, social status, and many other identifiers. To address these issues, artists, authors, and other celebrities or leaders in our society should speak up for the voices unheard. In the short story, “The Minister’s Black Veil,” Nathaniel Hawthorne uses a minister to display a small change, yet this small change affects his entire life and the way people view him in his community. This story and the song, “Change” by Christina Aguilera fight social norms, hopefully creating a more diverse environment.

The first verse of “Change” pairs well with the portion of the short story that explains why the minister’s wife left him. A couple of lines of “Change” say, “Who you love or the color of your skin--Or the place you were born and grew up in--Shouldn’t decide how you will be treated.” (Aguilera, Change). Christina Aguilera is saying that identifiers shouldn’t determine how people view someone, instead, people should know the person inside and out before making judgements. Putting the message short: DON’T JUDGE. In the short story, the Minister says to his wife, “O! You know not how lonely I am, and how frightened, to be alone behind my black veil.” (Hawthorne, The Minister’s Black Veil). Hawthorn hits at the idea that people are afraid of changes, even if they are small and insignificant, just as Christina Aguilera hinted. The black veil caused him to lose the love of his life, while also revealing how terrified he is to be the only one who has changed. Without the idea of fear behind change, it would be hard to understand why people judge based on background. These ideas apply to your family, your friends, and, you better believe it, YOU.

Listen to the Song Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBSghlH0JgM 

Blog Post by Tommy Murillo
Posted 12/19/17

Thoreau and Journey

It’s definitely strange to think that a transcendental (aka 19th century) writer could have written and produced stuff that shares a lot characteristics with a rock song released in 1977 by the band Journey. Henry David Thoreau’s “Walking”  and Journey’s “Hotel California” use similar wording to talk about very similar ideas about life.  Each one talks about ways of looking at life in a non-traditional way that gives readers a feeling of uncertainty about how they normally view or experience their lives. 

 One of the most important ideas in both Thoreau’s essay and Journey’s song is the feeling of being trapped in your own life, but not necessarily knowing that you are or understanding how to break that pattern.  Thoreau says that he is “astonished at the power of endurance...and the moral insensibility...of [his] neighbors who confine themselves...for weeks and months, aye, and years almost together. While Thoreau takes his refreshing and eye-opening walks through beautiful woods and fields that sometimes span the course of an entire afternoon, his neighbors sit in their shops and houses, working away at the same repetitive work that they have done and will be doing for the rest of their lives.  Thoreau is saddened to realize that they will never have the joy of experiencing the refreshing eye-opener that for him, is nature.  Similarly, in Journey’s song, one hears the phrase “we are all just prisoners here of our own device.” This line is suggesting that people sit through their lives, never fully understanding or taking advantage of what might be right in front of them.  Instead, one almost imprisons himself in a repetitive lifestyle, making himself a prisoner to the boring work of familiar daily tasks, and never fully experiencing life in the way that Journey (and Thoreau) believe it should be lived.

Poe and Rihanna: a tale of alcoholism

Edgar Allen Poe is literature’s best-known insane alcoholic. The previous statement is a small exaggeration, but it is known that Poe struggled with alcohol abuse. In his short story “The Black Cat,” the main character writes from his jail cell about the effects of alcoholism on his behavior, and the effects are  gruesome. The unnamed main character has violent episodes in which he ends up killing his favorite pet cat and his caring wife. Rihanna’s “Disturbia” describes a similar experience

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that she names appropriately as “Disturbia”. Rihanna does not kill anyone in her story, but her disease does affect her and others around her negatively in similar ways that alcoholism affects the narrator in “The Black Cat.” Poe’s “The Black Cat,” and Rihanna’s “Disturbia,” are closely related to each other: they both refer to alcohol abuse and they describe the negative impact of their abuse on their minds.

Poe’s story states outright that alcohol is the stem of the plot of his story. On page the second page of his story, the narrator of the story admits the beginning of the abuse towards his animals. He writes “But my disease grew upon me-for what disease is like Alchohol![...]."

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The narrator openly admits the source of his abuse as his addiction to alcohol. Rihanna’s song does not describe her disease so easily but, it’s definitely implied when she sings “[...] To come and grab you. It can creep up inside
you and consume you. A disease of the mind it can control you” (Genius.com). The first part of this lyric describes how difficult is can be to see the difference between healthy alcohol use and being addicted to alcohol which prevents people from taking measures to avoid addiction. This lets addiction take over without the victim being aware until it becomes dangerous.  The second part of this lyric refers to the fact that addiction is a disease that changes your brain structure and chemistry, and therefore alters your behavior. Now that the main theme in these works have been determined as alcohol abuse, we can discuss what the effects of their addiction are.

The Beatles feat. Thoreau

Did The Beatles collaborate with

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau? We all know who The Beatles are, but Thoreau is a 19th century transcendentalist. Doesn’t seem like they have much in common, but one of The Beatles songs is remarkably similar to one of Thoreau’s essays. Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” was published in 1849, over a century later The Beatles released a song with the same ideas that were in “Civil Disobedience.” The song “Revolution” by The Beatles and the essay “Civil Disobedience” by Thoreau are very similar because they both critique their government, oppose violence, and boycott taxes.

“Revolution” and “Civil Disobedience” are both calling for change in their governments. In “Revolution” by The Beatles, The Beatles are mocking their current government’s agenda, “You say you'll change the constitution/Well you know/We all want to change your head” (The Beatles ln. 20). The Beatles call out the government. They recognize that the government is trying to change the constitution, but then later says “we all want to change your head.” The government isn’t doing what the people want. That doesn’t make a very good government. The Beatles say the people want change not to the constitution but the government. This is similar to Thoreau’s critique of his government’s agenda in “Civil Disobedience.” Thoreau says the government is “more interested in commerce and agriculture than they are in humanity” (Thoreau 93). Thoreau does not like the current government. He believes the government is immoral, and uncivil. He criticizes the government for focusing on “commerce and agriculture” over humanity. If this doesn’t convince you that the two could have collaborated, Thoreau and the Beatles, more specifically, criticize the government’s use violence.