The Angry American

Jim McKenzie

Most people would agree that the American society is based largely off of the pride of our country. Usually when there is a national tragedy the American public needs some sort of coming together to help coupe with the tragedy. After the terrorists attacks on 9/11 Americans needed something that would help ease the pain of our fallen brothers and sisters. When Toby Keith wrote the song Courtesy of the Red, White, and the Blue, also known as the Angry American song, many people thought that it brought our nation closer together and helped deal with our tragedy. Even though this song helped unite many citizens of the United States, what does this song actually mean?

Before anyone can analyze a song you must first understand who the speaker is speaking to. The song first starts off with the lines “American girls and American guys”. This immediately lets us know who the speaker is talking to. In the second line he says the word we. This lets us know that he is also part of the audience. The reader now knows that they have something in common and this will let them relate to each other better. The speaker says in the beginning of the song “My daddy served in the army when he lost his right eye but flew a flag out in our yard until the day that he died”. We now know much more about who the audience is when he says these lines. The speaker is talking to people who have served in the army or have a very close friend or relative that has served. The speaker can relate to this audience because he had a father who was in the military. These lines also let us know that even though his father lost an eye in the war he still flew his flag until he died. Even though he was affected by the war in a negative way his father never stopped loving his country. The next step in analyzing this song is to figure out what it is about.

In the first line of the third stanza the speaker says “Now this nation that I love has fallen under attack. A mighty sucker punch came flyin in from somewhere in the back”. This immediately lets his audience now that this song is going to be some sort of retaliation to the fact that some sort of enemy has attacked America without warning. The speaker then goes on to talk about as “Soon as we see clearly through our big black eye man, we lit up your world like the 4th of July”. The speaker is talking about relation in these lines. This means that once America has recovered from this tragedy and pulled together as one nation that they are going to attack with full force and pride. He then goes on to say how American icons are angered by the situation and are going to come at the enemy head on. He says “Hey Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list and the statue of Liberty started shakin her fist”. Obviously these are two of the main American icons. They both represent freedom and that is what America is all about. The speaker also says “And the eagle will fly man, its going to be hell when you hear mother freedom start ringin her bell and it feels like the whole wide world is raining down on you brought to you courtesy of the red white and blue”. This is without a doubt a very bold statement saying that the American army is going to retaliate. When they do retaliate the enemy is going to wish that they had never attacked the USA. When the speaker says that “Justice will be served and the battle will rage this big dog will fight when you rattle his cage and youll be sorry that you messed with the u.s. of a. cause well put a boot in your ass it’s the American way”. This stanza is probably the most popular and meaningful stanza to many people. This shows our enemies that no matter who attacks our country they will not get away with it without a fight. And then you will be sorry that you ever even thought about picking a fight with our country. This song comes right out and tells you in the lyrics that America is a country based on freedom and our citizens are going to do everything in their power to make sure our freedom is protected even if it means going to war.

The song without a doubt uses pathos. Pathos is where the speaker uses emotions to affect his audience. In the song the speaker obviously uses pathos when he talks about America being sucker punched in the back. Anytime someone’s country is attacked it is obviously going to leave serious anguish. The speaker knows this and uses people’s emotions to get an uprising and to make people hopefully support retaliating back. He also uses pathos when he talks about how his father lost his right eye in a war. Whenever a friend or family member is affected in a negative way from war it is always going to leave scars on other people too. The speaker knows this because he has experienced it and knows other people have also experienced it. The song is purely about American Pride, something that our country has and will always have.