PROTEST LITERATURE IN THE 1960S COUNTERCULTURE PERIOD
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ALLISON DEGERLIA
Tables Of Contents Page 3- Preface: Changing the World a Sentence at a Time; Protest Literature of the Counterculture Era: Page 5- Overview: Protest Literature of the Counterculture; The 1960s to early 1970s Page 13- Novel: “The Problem With No Name”/ “Occupation: Housewife” Page 18- Play: Hair The Musical Review Page 22- Poem: More Than a Beat or a Chorus; Exploration of Bob Dylan’s Lyrics Page 26- Short Story: Voices That Changed the World Page 30- Work Cited
Changing the World a Sentence at a Time Protest Literature of the Counterculture Era: It was a wonderful time to be young. The 1960s didn't end until about 1976. We all believed in Make Love, Not War. We were idealistic innocents, despite the drugs and sex. -Margot Kidder I have always believed that if you don’t like the way things are done, change them. Being a leader and standing up for the things I believe in have always exemplified my moral outlook. When exploring my options for this study, I knew I wanted to do something more modern. . As I was looking into the Counterculture time period, I was drawn to the protest nature of some of the works. It became patently clear that to understand the works of the period, I needed to understand the thinking and influences behind the authors and their collective voice--that became the resounding voice of protest, hence known as the Counterculture. The period that became known as he Counterculture was a time of questioning authority and making the decision to do what was believed as right. The generation of the 60s and early 70s was challenging and changing everything the generation before them had known. The musical Hair, script and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, and music by Galt MacDermot shows this new culture that the young generation embodied. It presents the hippie culture on a bare stage, filled with colorful characters, and a lot of upbeat songs with lyrics that convey part of the Counterculture lifestyle and morals. Something that differentiates the protest literature from the literature of other periods is the use of other mediums such as music and televised speeches Artists like Bob Dylan protested civil rights and the Vietnam War through his strong lyrics and rough voice. The medium of television also helped messages reach a wider audience; a particular example is Martin Luther King’s I Have a Dream speech, which reached millions of people as who were able to listen to his moving words. The book,
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan is a classic example of a protest novel as her work sparked the second wave of feminism. The reason that the 1960s and protest literature is remembered, is because it shows all the younger generations around the world that if you work together for a common cause you can accomplish anything. During the year this project has shown me many things. Reading and listening to these works you can feel the passion that is put into every single word and you can tell that they believe with every once of their body in what they are saying. It has showed me how works of literature can change the world. It’s a very good example of why literature is important and why we need people to question what is not right. I also learned during this project how literature could come in many different forms. It does not have to be on paper but in many other ways. No matter how it is presented the works read and analyzed in this project show how one voice can truly make a difference.
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Protest Literature of the Counterculture The 1960s to early 1970s “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.� Martin Luther King Jr. To understand the Protest Literature of the 1960s and early 1970s, one must first understand the Counterculture period as a whole. A major theme of the 1960s
Counterculture era was change, as it was one of the biggest culture shifts in the history of America between two generations. Names the ‘Baby Boom Generation,’ they wanted to change from the conservative 50s generation and their parents. The ‘Baby Boomers’ rebelled against a whole age of people regarding contemporary values and the governments of the world around them. They were breaking boundaries and testing lines. To be free and equal was the common end goal. The injustices in the world around them prevented them from being free and equal so it had to change. This lead to what is refereed to as the ‘Hippie culture’. The creation of a generation gap caused tension to rise between old and young people. They had such different ideas of how life should be lived and they could not respect or understand each other. The young adults and teens of the 1960s wanted to get rid of conformity and did not care about possessions or looks. This Style of living can be seen in the novel One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey and the musical play, Hair by James Rado and Gerome Ragni, which show the nature of wanting to rebel against ‘The Man’ and the ways of the Hippie culture. The new way of thinking was the complete opposite of the conservative older adults who believed in rules and the American life of working hard. Another major thing that influenced the 1960s was the public growing mistrust of the government. At this time the Civil Rights and equal rights was an important topic alongside the Vietnam War. There was also a lot of corruption in the government such as Watergate. Watergate was when in 1972 the Democratic National Committee got broken into to gain access to secret reelection documents. Nixon, the president at the time, denied his involvement which lead to an investigation. Before everyone thought that the government was doing what was best for the whole country but now they
were questioning their intentions. Between the ‘sticking it to the man’ attitude of the hippies and the injustices within America, it was a recipe for rebellion and a change of power, rules, and values.
The Civil Rights was the first of the social movement of the 1960s. The movement originated among black Americans in the south where there was heavy racial discrimination and segregation. They fought this discrimination by going to court, lobbying elected officials, and beginning sustained campaigns of nonviolent demonstrations (Albany Georgia 1962, Birmingham Alabama 1963, Washington D.C. 1963, and Selma Alabama 1965). A foremost leader of this movement and one of the greatest activists in American history was Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King’s speeches were very influential to the movement. His literary works, Letter from Birmingham jail and I have a dream speech are just two of many empowering speeches Martin Luther King wrote and delivered. Some other influential speeches made in support of the Civil Rights Movement were Lyndon B Johnson We Shall Overcome and John F. Kennedys Civil Rights Address. TV was another immense element to the success of this movement. The ability to televise these speeches and the events going on in the south gave the everyday American the opportunity to understand what was happening and made it seem as if they were experiencing these struggles themselves. For example, when Bull Connor, the police commissioner of Birmingham, Alabama, ordered dogs to attack marching peacefully black men, women, and children, many Americans were appalled and decided to support the passage of civil rights legislation. Another medium used to protest civil rights was
music. Songs such as The Temptations Ball of Confusion, Sam Cooke’s Change is Gonna Come, Bob Dylan’s Times They Are A Changin’, and Bob Dylan’s Only A Pawn in Their Game are just a few ways of how the younger musicians of the time showed their frustration with segregation and the government. Music also influenced authors such as Harper Lee in her book To Kill a Mockingbird, and Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. An essential key about this movement is that it showed the young people of the 60s that they could change the political framework of their society besides just supporting a politician who believes their same values. Many politicians had different view on The Vietnam War then their constituents. The Vietnam War started in 1959 in an effort to stop the spread of communism. What lead to the Vietnam War was the Cold War between the United States and Russia that started in the late 1940s. Protestors of the war argued that it was not important in trying to defeat communism and that the United States had no right to interfere. Protestors of the Vietnam War were of all ages and ethnicity, but most
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were middle class, well-educated whites in college. The Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) played a vital role, as well as Martin Luther King who was at first hesitant to support as to not lose Civil Rights backing of President Johnson. Most of the protests took place between 1965 and 1971. Most were held at colleges, because the protestors were mostly young people in the protests. They were influenced by song such as Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain is Gonna Fall,” Barry MGuire’s “Eve of Destruction,” Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On,” and Credence Clearwater’s Fortunate Son. Protests started to become violent around 1968 when 15,000 Americans held demonstrations in Chicago that resulted in violent confrontation between police and protestors. The most famous example is Kent State University when National Guard troops fired into a large group of protestors, killing four students. The song “Ohio” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young recalls that fateful day. Students also became physical and would burn their draft cards, picket reserve officer training corps buildings, and attempt to close down local draft boards. Over the time of the Vietnam War approximately three quarters of a million people protested against the Vietnam War. The protests had little effect on presidential politics but the protest movement influenced US policy. It had become unpatriotic to fight in the war. This kind of negative outlook on war can be seen in Joseph Heller’s popular novel Catch 22. In this satirical novel Heller explores the pains of war and how it is a ‘no win situation.’ Overall, it taught Americans to look at their nation’s foreign policy and consider if the government was really doing what was best for them. Another protest movement of the counterculture time period is the Women’s Rights Movement that began in the late 1960s. Many of the women who participated
in the earlier protest movements had to do menial tasks such as photocopying and answering phones. Women were supposed to stay at home and had to depend on the men to bring home the money. If women did work, their roles were limited because they were viewed as physically fragile and they were expected to fulfill the role of a mother in their families. They also had little say in political and economical aspects of the country. In 1963, the novel, Feminine Mystique by Betty Freidan became a best seller and launched the second wave (first wave women’s suffrage of 19 th and early 20th century) of feminism. In 1964 the Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination based on gender, as well as other things, but government officials rarely enforced the anti gender discrimination part of the act. In 1966, the National Organization for Women, NOW, was formed and Betty Freidan was elected president. NOW’s goal was for the government to prosecute cases of job discrimination against women. There was not a single ideology or goal the women’s movement but many varying opinions. They questioned gender roles at home and in the work place, tried to change so much emphasis on a women’s physical appearance, make abortion legal, and prosecute rape and domestic violence cases. Millions of women never attended demonstrations but used feminist rhetoric and legal victories to create a change. Some important legal victories were the 1971 congress ban of discrimination against girls and women in schools, and 1973 the Supreme Court Roe vs. Wade, that gave women the constitutional right to choose to have an abortion. Some of the influential artists of the women’s movement were Aretha Franklin, Joan Baez, Jonie Mitchell, Carole King, and Janis Joplin. Even though all of these movements are about varying topics and are made up
of very different people, they all have the same ideologies. They all embraced the new way of thinking and went about it by working together and protesting and holding marches, speaking, and bringing these injustices to court. Also, in all three mediums: literature, music, and TV played a vital role in the protestor’s success. They all provided a way for people to understand what was going on in the world and in some ways people had never seen before. One thing that no matter a persons opinion on these protest and 1960s, its agreed that the Counterculture era was one never seen before and will forever go down in history for showing how you can change the world to the way you want it to be.
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“The Problem With No Name”/ “Occupation: Housewife”
The perfect life, that’s what you were told you had. You lived in a quaint house in the suburbs with a white picket fence; had a couple of lovely children, a husband, and the newest fashions and appliances. Then why did you feel so empty, sad, and unimportant? This was the problem that millions of counterculture (1960s and early 70s) suburban housewives faced. They felt incomplete but did not understand why, for they had everything they were told that they should want in life. Betty Friedan, a magazine writer of the time, wanted to uncover why she felt this way and if other women were struggling with the same issues. In her search for answers, she wrote The Feminine Mystique in 1963. She wanted to change the world and show that there was a problem society had been ignoring. People across the country responded instantaneously to her message. A growing media presence, advances in education, the aftermath of WWII, and a rapidly changing culture within the suburbs of America set the stage for Betty Friedan to write The Feminine Mystique and create the second wave of feminism. Her personal experiences, the political scene, and the socio-economic climate influenced her in the writing of her revolutionary work. The time period in which The Feminine Mystique was written was a ‘perfect storm’ to garner the response Friedan was looking for from her audience. The period’s name explains itself. The young generation of the Counterculture was questioning the status quo within America and it was a time of change and questioning authority. This discourse was what was needed to make the novel so successful and to have as big of an impact as it did. What is the feminine mystique? In her book, Friedan describes it as, “the highest value and the only commitment for women is the fulfillment of their own femininity.” Women were not expected to think about the outside world or strive to have a meaningful
job, but instead their focus and goals centered on their house, children, husbands, and fashion. For example, in the late 1950s, the average age at which women got married in America dropped to 20; 14 million girls were engaged by the age of 17; and 60% of women dropped out of college to get married. This trend of marrying at a young age did not give women an opportunity to taste independence. They went from the rule of their parents to the rule of their husbands. A woman dying of cancer refused a drug which research had proven might save her life because the side effect of losing her hair was unfeminine. These examples demonstrate the life that suburban women were told to have. As a woman who would be classified as a suburban housewife, Betty Friedan experienced first hand the affects of the feminine mystique. Her personal journey to discovering the feminine mystique started with her, an unhappy suburban housewife who didn’t know why she was unhappy. Friedan describes this feeling in the first paragraph of her book, “Each suburban wife struggles with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries, matched slipcover material, ate peanut butter sandwiches with her children, chauffeured Cub Scouts and Brownies, lay beside her husband at night- she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question-- 'Is this all?� (Friedan, Ch.1 P. 57) For her 15th college reunion in 1957, Friedan decided to survey the other women in her graduation class to see if they were satisfied with their lives. She came to realize that many other women were experiencing feelings similar to hers. This discovery inspired her to meet with physiologists, doctors, professors, housewives, students, and others to delve deeper into this issue. If Betty Friedan was not personally affected by the feminine mystique and sexism within America, the book might have never been written and the second wave of feminism may not have followed. The origins of the problems that caused the second wave of feminism were started the ending of World War II. As World War II came to an end, the United States was thriving internationally and domestically. It was one of the best times in the history of America. Truman had led the Unites States to a victorious end of the war and they were prospering. It seemed as if America had finally gotten it right, and a surplus of jobs caused the middle class to grow. Women had helped keep the country running. But, with
the return of all the soldiers, women were sent from the factories and the workplace back to the confines of their kitchens and wifely duties. Men did not need or want these independent career women and bullied them back to the house. Friedan offers another reason why women ran back to the house in her chapter The Mistaken Choice, “but mothers of the maladjusted soldiers, the secure and impotent post-war males were not independent educated career women, but self-sacrificing dependent martyred-house wife moms.” (Friedan, Ch.8 P287) When the soldiers came back from the horrific war, many of them could not deal with the gruesome things they had witnessed. They craved the comfort of home and the ‘Mother’s Love’ they dearly missed to help them forget the images of war. Another factor that made women think they belonged in the house was the education system. Even though women were going to college and were more educated than they ever were before, they were not using college to find a career or passion. Women went to college and studied things such as home economics for they were told that these were women’s studies. They did not go to college to find a passion; they went there to find a husband and they knew that their job was to be in the house. It was clear to women that their overriding purpose in life was to support their husbands and no amount of work experience or education seemed to be able to break them from the inevitable job title of housewife. Woman were not only told by their families, spouses, country and teachers to aspire to be the perfect wives and mothers, they were constantly bombarded by the media with images of the ‘perfect housewife’ who could cook, clean, and take care of the children all while looking beautiful. Big companies wanted http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/ 4df660b7ccd1d50a0f0d00001200/hoover-1960s.jpg
women to stay
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at home, because they quickly realized that these would be the women to buy the new cleaning products, kitchen gadgets and following fashion trends. Shows like ‘I Love Lucy’ perpetuated forth the image that women were not capable of succeeding outside of their roles as housewives. The character Lucy in the show is heavily dependent on her husband or other male characters for direction and guidance. When she tries to do something outside of the house she usually fails. Even though she is a full-grown adult, it is as if she still needs the amount of guidance one would give to a naïve teenage girl. It was also clear that when women did go out into the workforce, their level of pay would be much less than that of men and the jobs they would be offered were typically secretarial or in some type of service industry. The socio-economic climate of the time pressed women to be consumers, not contributors to the work force.
When Betty Friedan questioned the role of women and helped society understand how they had been given little choice in their own definition of happiness, women began to look for answers to why they felt unfulfilled. Whether it was to finally pursue a career that was based on a passion, or to simply be taken seriously, women broke the mold for the second time and began to ask, What if‌� When women realized that there was more for them besides the house and that it was okay to want more in life, women banded together to change the culture of America. This realization drastically affected the United States, because women started to compete for the same jobs as men and demanded to be taken as equals and to be paid as equals. Women realized that there was a whole world out there and everyone had the right to find their passions and be happy and not do what other people said should make them happy.
Hair The Musical Review “The draft is white people sending black people to make war on the yellow people to defend the land they stole from the red people!” (Act 2 Hair) Hair is a nonfictional musical with script and lyrics by Gerome Ragni and James Rado, and music by Galt MacDermot. Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival’s Public Theatre originally produced the musical and made a commitment to run it for six weeks only. Unwilling to let the musical come to an end, Redo, Ragni and MacDermot moved it to the Cheetah, a Broadway discotheque that was going to be shut down. The show ran there for 45 performances. Because of its off-Broadway success, it was revised by Tom O’Horgan, opened at the Biltmore Theatre and became one of the most successful musicals of all time. The time that Hair was written and being preformed, 1966, was in the middle of the counterculture time period. During the counterculture time period the younger generation was questioning society and their government. They protested for their rights and the injustices within the government. This way of thinking lead to the ‘Flower Power’ movement of the hippies, which contradicted all the beliefs of modern day society in an attempt to find peace and happiness. The theme of the musical revolves around the hippie culture and the challenges hippies faced embracing their way of life during a time when their values were so different than those of mainstream society. Hair tells the story of a group of hippies called ‘The Tribe’ who] reside in the East Village of New York City. The main members of the tribe are Claude, Berger, Hud, Woof, Shelia, and Jeanie. The musical opens with the song “Age of the Aquarius” which represents their desire for an age of peace, freedom and love. As the play progresses the audience learns about the way of life within the tribe who are freed from the responsibilities of everyday life and put their own happiness in front of anything else. Their main concerns are protesting, tripping out, and hooking up. The song “Hair” speaks to their non-conforming attitude and explains why the men use long hair as their physical rebellion against society. One of the main characters, Berger, is the picture of this way of life and is the leader of the tribe. He dropped out of school and
calls himself a “psychedelic teddy bear.” The musical also focuses on Claude as he struggles with his responsibility to society and the tribe’s way of life when he gets drafted for the Vietnam War and the protest signs become all too real. The free love beliefs of the tribe bring about romantic problems within the group as Jeanie explains, "I'm hung up on Claude, Sheila's hung up on Berger, Berger is hung up everywhere. Claude is hung up on a cross over Sheila and Berger." (Act 1 Hair) As the play progresses the members of the tribe struggle with their relationship with each other and with authority figures as they try to find a way to coexist in a complex and polarized society.
“Hair isn’t really a musical. It’s a fabulous over-the-top extravaganza recreating the brief moment in American history when youthful outrage and idealism seemed to rule the world.” (Milk, Leslie. "Review: Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical | Theater Review | Washingtonian." Washingtonian. Washingtonian Magazine, 11 May 2010. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.washingtonian.com/blogs/afterhours/theater-review/review-hair-theamerican-tribal-love-rock-musical.php>). It is hard to experience Hair and not feel the need to jump onto the stage and dance with the tribe. Even though the musical has very serious themes, the rock themed music and silly banter within the tribe make it a fun and interesting musical. With more than twenty-five songs in its score, much of the tone of the play is conveyed through song. Whether the mood is peace and love (Good Morning Starshine), protest (Aint Got No), sex (The Bed), or personal struggle (Where do I Go?), Hair’s music represents the time and people well. Being the first musical of its kind, it is memorable for the risks, such as nudity, using an almost empty, bare stage, and talking about taboo topics of the time. The stage is very minimalistic, with a dirt floor, an exposed stage, and only two permanent props, a totem pole and a crucifix tree. The visual power comes from the dress of the characters, the use of symbolic images like the American flag and the messages on protest posters. I think the writers try to address complex issues in simple surroundings to symbolize the simple life the hippies desired in contrast to the complicated world around them. Reading or
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watching this musical now, gives generations who did not live through the 1960s a view of what it was like to be a ‘flower power hippie.’ The culture today is so different than it was then that it serves as a portal through time to give the younger audience an understanding of the tribe’s life choices. It also gives the older audience a chance to reminisce how it used to be and remember the ‘good old days.’ The musical relates to many different issues. In the musical the authors reference different issues such as race, war, drugs, the government, and sexuality. During the 1960s when the musical was written, these were all taboo topics. These topics were also the main points of contention between the younger and older generation during the counterculture time period. The play shows how the younger generation felt about these issues. The younger generation believed in freedom and civil rights. This generation also questioned the government and the war. The play seems to glorify the hippie movement, however without giving a fair representation of the need for law and order. We only see them briefly through the eyes of Claude and the rest of the tribe as figures that just get in the way of them following their way of life. We never really get to understand the reasons behind the decisions of the older generation and instead view them as the antagonists of the tribe and the entire hippie movement. The musical affected me by giving a different way to view how the ‘flower power’ hippies lived and what they believed in. At the time it was written, Hair was relevant and edgy and the authors intended to give a voice to a misunderstood generation. This is what also makes the play timeless, because no matter the decade, the younger generation is always pushing the limits and questioning what is accepted. I would highly recommend reading or watching this musical or even just listening to the soundtrack. It is a fun exciting experience that makes you feel as if you are one with the tribe back in the 1960s. Hair is celebrated protest musical that shows a side of history not understood by all and shows the audience the complexity of leaving responsibility behind and embracing the “Age of Aquarius” lifestyle. It also shed light on a time of change that was brought about by a generation who dared question the norm.
More Than a Beat or a Chorus Exploration of Bob Dylan’s Lyrics
During the counterculture, the youth of America were challenging authority and injustices in the world. Bob Dylan captured this sentiment in the classic song, The Times They are A-Changin, “Come mothers and fathers, Throughout the land, And don't criticize, What you can't understand, Your sons and your daughters, Are beyond your command.” The youth in America felt as if they were not understood and they did not accept the rules their parents and the government tried force upon them: the draft, segregation, inequalities for women, conservatism, etc. When their voices were lost, Bob Dylan showed them the way and became a voice of a generation. Bob Dylan brought melody and artistry to his words of protest. His songs covered important social issues and were poetry in their own right.
Bob Dylan was born as Robert Zimmerman on May 24, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, and he grew up in the iron-mining town of Hibbing. His parents were devout members of the Jewish faith and brought their son up in the synagogue. While Dylan’s personal commitment to his faith was not strong, his love for music sparked a passion in him very early in his life. He learned to play the harmonica and piano by age 10. During his childhood he was influenced by folk, country, and rock and roll artists such as Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Woody Guthrie, Roy Orbison and Chuck Berry. After high school, Dylan attended the University of Minnesota for one year before he dropped out and moved to Greenwich Village in New York City to pursue a music career. He spent the next year performing in coffee houses and folk bars. After one of his shows received rave reviews in The New York Times, Dylan signed a contract with Columbia records and released his first album, Bob Dylan, in 1962. His second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, was released in 1963 and was his breakout to the music world. The album included many political protest songs about the Vietnam War and Civil Rights. His new fame gave him the opportunity to work with many famous artists of the time, such as The Byrds; Sonny and Cher; The Hollies; Peter, Paul and Mary; The http://images.smh.com.au/2011/04/14/ 2306233/bob-dylan-729-420x0.jpg
Association; Manfred Mann; and The Turtles. He also performed and became romantically involved with Joan Baez. Bob Dylan released his third album, The Times They Are a-Changin', in 1964. He continued to protest against the establishment and used real stories of social injustice to inspire his musical poetry and lyrics. Dylan’s career has
spanned many decades, but his biggest influence on the human condition was during the counterculture era. Bob Dylan stirred the emotions of his listeners using controversial topics, beautiful melody and powerful words. One of his first and most notable protest songs was Blowin’ in the Wind (1963). It was also one of his first big hits as it spoke to the young activists of the time. This iconic song can also be looked at as a poem. There are three stanzas all with eight lines. Dylan used free verse and half rhyme for lines 2, 4, and 6 in each stanza. By using the same set up for every stanza, he created a pleasing melody throughout the song. Beyond his musical talent, Dylan was a master lyricist. He interestingly asked the listeners three questions and told them that the answer was, “blowing in the wind.” Also, the last two lines of each stanza ended the same way, creating the recurring image of something blowin’ in the wind. His diction within this piece was very colloquial which was easily embraced by his young listeners. He also used provocative words and phrases common in protest writing. The listener can hear the angry accusing voice speaking out about the injustices of the world, giving the song a dense and serious tone. In this poem, Dylan talked about the Vietnam War. He drives his point by reiterating the questions: When is it enough? How many times do we need to make them same mistakes before we change? He does not answer these questions for it seems that no one knows the answers, because they escape us as they blow away. This suggests that there is no answer because there should not be a set amount of human suffering before the despair and destruction end. Dylan wants the reader to understand that there should not be any violence and war in the first place. The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964) was featured on Dylan’s third album and had a more general theme than Blowin’ in the Wind. It is a longer piece that is in free verse but also has open form. Dylan also used half rhyme and almost every other line within a stanza will rhyme. This work was quite dense and used a lot of symbolic language and double meanings. Dylan used everyday occurrences to represent more meaningful messages like in stanza three, lines 3-4. In this stanza Dylan talked about not standing in the doorway or blocking the hall, “Come senators, congressmen; Please
heed the call; Don't stand in the doorway; Don't block up the hall; For he that gets hurt; Will be he who has stalled.” He was not literally referring to blocking the passage way, but was alluding to senators and congressmen getting in the way of the change that was coming to America and its culture. Dylan also used association when he used swimming to represent the new way of thinking that the youth of America had taken ahold of, “If your time to you; Is worth savin'; Then you better start swimmin'; Or you'll sink like a stone; For the times they are a-changin'.” His use of enjambment and very colloquial diction helps the listener feel as if Dylan is talking one on one with him/her. This informal style made it easier for the listener to connect with the song and the message seemed more authentic and honest to the younger generation. Within this text, Dylan was warning the older generation about the future. He stated that they better abandon the “out-of-date” way of thinking because things are changing and their way does not work anymore. He made the point that the older generation and government were slowing down the progress of the younger generation, just as the older generation did when the adults of the era were young. Another important work from Bob Dylan’s third album was Only a Pawn in Their Game. In this song, Bob Dylan told a true story about racism of the time, something he liked to do in his music. He also used free verse, open form and enjambment. Once again, Dylan used half rhyme, as many of the lines within the stanzas rhyme. There is also some alliteration within the text, as seen in the first three lines of the first stanza with “back of a bush”, “finger fired”, and “handle hid.” Because the subject matter of the song is a true story, the diction is in the form of storytelling. As one reads or listens to this poem he/she can identify the beginning, middle and end of the story. This style gives the song a sense of intimacy and time. Dylan used recurring image and association with the line, “only a pawn in their game.” As this poem addressed civil rights issues, it makes one wonder who ‘their’ is referring too. As one goes through the text, Dylan alludes to several entities; the older generation, the establishment, and superior white people in general. However, this poem also acknowledged that it was not all the peoples’ fault for hating black people, for that was what they were told to do. He noted that members of society are pawns and higher
status ‘players’ use them to get the things they want. The song attempts create awareness and resentment toward greedy, self-serving people, which is the goal of this protest song.
Bob Dylan’s work represents the sentiments of the counterculture generation. When people listen to and read his words today, they can get a true sense of how life was in the 1960s. His lyrics demonstrate that music can have meaning and make a difference. It is unfortunate that a majority of the hits today don’t challenge what is right and just promote partying and other promiscuous activities. Music can be more than a beat and a chorus. It can mean something and change the world, one chord at a time.
The Voices That Changed The World “If you have an important point to make, don't try to be subtle or clever. Use a pile driver. Hit the point once. Then come back and hit it again. Then hit it a third time - a tremendous whack.” -Winston Churchill There is a difference between writing something down on paper and saying it out loud. It is easy to hide behind words on paper and write down anything, truth or not. Speaking, physically saying your words out loud is different. And not only saying this out loud but also in front of people; maybe just to one, or to millions. Orating your thoughts, you have to have the voice, presence, and delivery that will captivate the audience. But above all, it’s the content makes a speech memorable or not. Martin Luther King Jr.’s I Have a Dream speech is considered one of the greatest speeches of the twentieth century. His use of imagery, tone, structure, and use of the rhetoric shape the piece into a moving piece of literature.
MLK delivered this speech in Washington D.C. at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963. King the speech to over 250,000 people and over radio to millions other. During this speech, King discussed the problem of racism in America and shows what the future can hold if we can overcome this challenge. Imagery is used throughout the work either relation to time and nature. Here is one example how he uses both â&#x20AC;&#x153;Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice; now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of injustice to the solid rock of brotherhoodâ&#x20AC;? (King 103). In this quote King uses nature as a metaphor to describe and relate the social injustices to the world around him. The use to paint the image with scenes of nature set him up for success. Because he was speaking to a large audience he had to use imagery that no matter where you came from or how much education you had you could understand. Using nature makes it easier for the general population to understand and then later favor his opinion. King uses three different structures to relate his poem to three different types of people. King uses pathos, ethos, and logos to reach the three audiences of the white population, the African American population, and the racist supremacist. Pathos is used to appeal to the audienceâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s emotions. In I Have A Dream speech we see this in the way Martin Luther King describes the struggles that Negros have to go through everyday. This helps the African Americans relate to him, as he understands what they are going through while also showing the white people what they experience and make them sympathize them for the problems they face. Ethos describes the beliefs or ideals of a community or nation. This is used in the speech to talk about how when people protest they will not resort to violence because they are more dignified than that. King stresses that anyone protesting Civil Rights should remain peaceful because if not it gives the racist supremacist what they want as they believe that Negros are savages. Lastly, logos is trying to persuade by reasoning. King uses this by explaining that African Americans got the freedoms they were promised taken away from them. He tries to show the nation that they were promised freedoms and that the country should come through on those promises.
The rhetoric is using persuasive writing or speaking by using figure of speech and other techniques. The biggest rhetoric device used in this piece is allusion. By using allusion King refers to three different works, the Bible, the Gettysburg Address, and Richard III. Referencing the bible made MLK’s speech try’s to show the many churchgoers of the 1960s that his cause is righteous just like god. An example is when King says “justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.” (King 35) this refers to the biblical allusion of Amos 5:24. In the beginning of his speech Martin Luther King says “Five score years ago” (King 1) is a reference to the Gettysburg Address and he is also presenting this speech at the Lincoln memorial. He is trying to remind the people that one of the most celebrated presidents of our time was against slavery and segregation. The last reference is the Shakespeare play Richard III. This work is referenced when King says, “Summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality.” (King 120). Richard III is about Richard and his brother Edward are in constant struggle. This is allusion to the Negros and whites. How they are always fighting but in the end we are all brothers and need to remember we are all people. Some people might think that a speech does not have as much literary content as another piece of work and that it is more colloquial. In his I Have a Dream speech, Martin Luther King Jr. shows the complete opposite. He shows how using certain literary devices and powerful images can affect the success of a speech. Above all to have a speech that will go down in the books not only do you have to capture the reader with your strong voice and presence but also your words must be rich with meaning and imagery.
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