Sunday, December 9, 2007

formal revision

Jeff Aycock 4

September 11, 2001 was one of the greatest tragedies that America has ever experienced. After that tragedy many artiest tried to write songs to explain what happened, what we should do, or just to help people realize what happened. Right after the attack there were a lot of emotions going through everyone’s head and I believe that the music industry tried to do their best to use their music to calm the American Citizens minds. One of the greatest songs that was written after September 11 was a song by Alan Jackson called “Where Were You When the World stopped turning.” The song made you think about what you were feeling, and thinking when the attack happed; Have you ever heard the song and thought about it real hard to what it is trying to convey to you. In this song Alan Jackson is talking directly to the American Citizens about what happened on September 11, and how they feel about the war that is going on. He starts the song out by asking questions. For example the first stanza says, “Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day Out in the yard with your wife and children Working on some stage in LA Did you stand there in shock at the site of That black smoke rising against that blue sky Did you shout out in anger In fear for your neighbor Or did you just sit down and cry.”
He wants you to think about what you were doing, feeling, and thinking at the time of the attack and reflect on how you feel about the war that is going on right now. You will definitely realize this in the first stanza of the song. In the first stanza he wants you to think where you were when the attack actually happened.
In the first stanza he uses the logos, which is difined by argument based on logic or reason giving specific examples of where people might have been. For example the second and third lines of the song state “Out in the yard with your wife and children working on a stage in LA.” Those first two lines of the song could definitely be places where an American citizen could have been. Then he goes on for four more lines to give a couple more possibilities of where people might have been. When you hear the first stanza it makes you stop to think about where you actually were when the towers fall.
In the second and third stanza he uses ethos, which is defined by appeal based on the character of the speaker, by singing about the emotion that you might have had felt. For example in the first line of the second stanza states “Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones,” which is talking about the families that had lost their families or closest friends in the attack. Then in the third stanza he changes the emotion from weeping, crying, and sad to being proud. He was able to do this by saying “Did you burst out in pride for the red white and blue.” Now the mood of the song changed and instead of being sad now he wants you to feel proud to be an American.
In the fourth stanza he uses logos and pathos by giving examples about himself and how he’s a leader. He is trying to convey to the reader or the listener that he is not the most intelligent man but he knows what is right and what is wrong. In the second line of the fourth stanza it say “I’m not a real political man I watch CNN but I’m not sure I can tell you the difference in Iraq and Iran But I know Jesus and I talked to God.” Then the last two lines of that stanza states “And I remember this from when I was young faith hope and love are some good things he gave us but the greatest is love.” Throughout those lines he is trying to tell us that he is not sure of all the details but as long as we believe in God he will help us though this rough time in country. When he is telling us this I think he is absolutely correct in saying this. I agree with him that as long as we believe in God it will be ok Even though we do not know all the answers. The fifth stanza resembles the first stanza in the use of logos again and asks the reader questions about where were you and what were you doing. The only difference in this stanza is that he gives a lot more places and things that people could have been doing. He does this to reiterate the fact that he wants you to remember exactly where you where and what you were feeling so that you will not forget about what a terrible tragedy it really was, and so you will not lose pride in our country. The idea of pride comes out in this song when he is asking us what we think about the firemen that risk their lives by going in to the burning building to say live. He wants you to feel proud of your country that no matter what happens There are people in your country there to help you at all cost.
In the last couple stanzas which I believe are the most important is just like the fourth stanza word for word and the only this that changes is three lines at the end of the song. He definitely uses pathos again; I say this because he is trying to lead the reader or listener to believe that as long as you believe in God he is going to get us through the down fall that the country has taken because he loves us . How I know this is because the second to last stanza talks about what God has given us and in the last stanza all it says is “The greatest is love The greatest is love.” He again just wants to make sure that you know that God loves you and loves is his GREATEST gift.
He ends the song with one line and that line is the title of the song “Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day.” This is the most powerful line in the song because when the song ends it leaves you hanging and stunned and makes you think about what really happened to our country that day and how it affected you. In the last line of the song it makes you go back and think about the entire song over again in your head.

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