Paper 4: Everything is a text

Whitney Barton

The war is a very controversial topic these days. People all over the world agree, disagree, are indifferent, or even just ignorant about what is happening right now. The majority of people remain silent about how they feel and what they think, but there are the few and proud who let it be known what they are thinking or feeling. These people show how they feel through different ways. Some ways they do so are through protests, politics, books, interviews, and even through a song. For example, Toby Keith, a country singer, makes it very clear and evident through his song “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” what his views are on the war. He lets us know that he has strong emotions towards the attacks on America and he is not going to back down to a fight against the enemy.
Just by looking at the title of the song “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” it is easy to tell this song is dealing with America. By further reading the lyrics, it is clear that this song is responding to the attacks made on America on September 11, 2001. “Now this nation that I love has fallen under attack” (Line 10: Lyrics.com) Keith has written this song in response to what has happened to the country he loves. He relies on pathos in this song because he wants the emotional appeal of his audience. Keith wants he and the audience to connect on an emotional level so they can relate to each other and get riled up. He used pathos because if you touch someone emotionally and they can connect, they will be more likely to relate and take action as well, if that is what the speaker is saying should happen. His response is an angry but aggressive one. He talks about how justice will be served and they will not sit back and just take what has happened. Also his response is a Patriotic one that is pro war. He doesn’t talk about how we should try to solve this situation with peace; he talks about how there will be initiative and actions taken.
“Justice will be served and the battle will rage
This big dog will fight when you rattle his cage
You'll be sorry that you messed with the US of A
Cause we'll put a boot in your ass it's the American way”
(Lines 20-24: Lyrics.com)
This just shows that Toby Keith has responded in a pro-active way and wants revenge on the evil people who did this to us.
The persona in this song is several different things. Obviously it is an American because the song talks about things that would only pertain to an American citizen.
“When we see Old Glory flying there's alot of men dead…
Uncle Sam put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty started shaking her fist
And the eagle will fly and its gonna be hell
When you hear Mother Freedom start ringing her bell”
(Lines 4,14-17: Lyrics.com)
All of the things such as Old Glory, Uncle Sam, Statue of Liberty, the eagle, and Mother Freedom are all things that would be “American” so this is why one of the personas is an American. Also this persona portrayed would be pro-war. The songs talks about how justice will be served and how if you fight with us, we will fight back, so this just shows the persona is pro-active and pro-war. Another thing that is persona portrays is being patriotic. It is evident when the song talks about serving in the army and waving a flag.
“My daddy served in the Army when he lost his right eye
But he flew a flag out in our yard till the day that he died”
(Lines 6-7: Lyrics.com)
By using this persona of a patriotic, pro-war, pro-active, American, Keith was trying to connect with all the Americans that felt the same way as he did. All we know about the persona is that many Americas felt the same way as what was said in this song, and so it connected with a lot of people. This in turn got many people fired up about what had happened and they started to want to fight back and show pride in being an American.
All Keith is arguing for is that America fights back against the terrorist and doesn’t let them ruin our pride and glory in being who we are. He just wants people to know what has happened was a terrible thing but there are measures that can be taken to regain our moral and strength. He argues for justice to be served and freedom to remain. The audience for this song would be all Americans. Even though some people might not agree with him, because he is pro-war, the audience would still have to be anyone living in this country. Even if the people who hear the song don’t really have emotion towards what has happened to us, maybe after listening they will realize that there needs to be action taken. More specifically though, the main audience for this song would be the American people who feel the same way as Keith and who want to take action and serve justice.
The song “Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue” is an important song to the history of America. It was written about someone’s emotions after the horrific attacks of September 11, 2001. It shows how people felt when this happened and will be a reminder to all that Americans will fight back and stay strong.