The Pretender

Essay 4


Everyday people have to deal with inner emotions, which can cause get strain on an individual. They look at themselves in mirrors and are forced to face their judgmental stare. They are their worst critics. Some people cannot handle their own criticism and choose to hide behind a facade. They mold themselves into the person they want to be, not the person they truly are. When people transform, it affects their demeanor immensely. They feel alone and feel they are always hiding a secret. The lyrics of “The Pretender”, by Foo Fighters, present an individual who is at conspiracy within himself. The masculine song, which uses bold words like skeletons, bones, dark, and enemy, tells of a guy who goes through life everyday with a facade on; the type of facade that pleases everyone. He is sick of hiding behind this mask, and finally wants to reveal his true self. He wants to be defined as a real and true individual. The lyrics write out a motivational speech. The male character says this speech to encourage himself to stop pretending to be something he is not. He does not want to hide any more secrets, because he cannot emotionally deal with the fact that he is living a lie. He continues to motivate himself by thinking in a positive light to inspire himself to be that genuine individual he dreams to be.

In this song, the man is speaking to himself in an annoyed way. He is sick of hiding behind secrets, and he is ready to let out his skeletons. The lyrics write, “Send in your skeletons/…The secrets that you keep are at the ready/ Are you ready?/ I’m finished making sense/ Done pleading ignorance/ That whole defense” (ll. 5-12). He is admitting he is finished with his facade. He does want to pretend anymore. This internal conflict he is dealing with can be seen in lines 39 through 42. It reads, “I’m the voice inside your head/ You refuse to hear/ I’m the face that you have to face/ Mirrored in your stare.” These lines reveal the character is experiencing emotional hardships. He is explaining to himself that he is the only person he has to deal with each day of his life. When he looks into the mirror, he is the one starring back; the one who stares back and judges. He is his own enemy. The one person that can destroy his soul and bring him to his knees is himself. He realizes this dependency and wants to compromise. He wants all his internal problems to settle, so he can actually look in the mirror at himself and not experience the feeling of judgment. The chorus reads, “What if I say I’m not like the others?/ What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays/ You’re the pretender/ What if I say that I’ll never surrender?” The picture these words create is of a guy looking at a mirror talking as if he were two people. He admits he will never surrender to the pretender, who in the lines is the character in the mirror. The pretender is the man’s fake self; the mask he has worn all his life. The man wants to get rid of this mask and will destroy the mask until he has reached his true identity. He wants to find out who he is.

The lyrics are full of details that make this song effective. “The Pretender” mainly addresses the technique of ethos, because the male character constantly refers to his own credibility and who he is as an individual. The speaker continually says “What if I say I’m not like the others?/ What if I say I’m not just another one of your plays”. These are strong lines directed to his double self; the one hiding behind the mask and the one searching to find his true identity. Since he is his audience, the man tries to prove his credibility by describing his determination. He says he is a strong person who will never surrender to the facade he used hide behind. In lines 25 through 27, it says, “In time our soul untold/ I’m just another soul for sale… oh, well/ The page is out of print.” These lines justify the man’s annoyance of being a “soul for sale”, referencing that he was not living the life he wanted. He is done going through life pleasing everyone around him. He is done with his mask. His pages can no longer be written by anyone else. He is now in control of his own life. The man continues to motivate himself, so he does not get side track off the course of finding his true identity. He repeatedly says, “So who are you?/ Yeah, who are you?” This is the question that lingers on his mind. He wants to be able to answer that question, and he will not stop searching until it is answered. All these intricate details and key phrase add to the effectiveness of ethos in “The Pretender”. The man continually proves to himself that he is capable of growing as a person by the strong motivation he provides for himself. He does not have any solid credentials, but the spirit behind him has strength and power. This strength proves to him that he can be his own person and not some character behind a facade. The pretender is no longer the pretender.