Paper 4 - Rhetorical

Jared Sims
English 101
November 1, 2007
Rhetorical Analysis

Terrorism was has become a big issue in the United States after the attack on the world trade center. Terrorism also has caused a good number of our military to have to deploy in a foreign countries. It’s not easy on soldiers being away from their families for extended periods of time. John Michael Montgomery creates a persona in his song, “Letters From Home”, of a man who is away at war that keeps on going because he knows he has a family at home that cares about him. People don’t realize how hard it is not only on the soldier, but also his family that he has to leave behind at home. The line, “like we ain’t scared and are boots ain’t muddy” (Lyrics007 9), portrays how the soldier is feeling low. The persona gives the reason that he keeps on going every day from the lines, “and it keeps me drivin’ on/waitin on, letters from home” (Lyrics007 14-15). From the lines, “and everything’s the same old same, in Johnsonville” (Lyrics007 4) combined with “and they all laugh like there’s something funny bout the way I talk” (Lyrics007 10), you realize that this song personifies your typical southern boy from a small country town that has to go off to war. The soldier has some kind of a fiancée or girlfriend back home from his lines “My dearest love it’s almost dawn/I been lying here all night long/wonderin’ where you might be/I saw your momma and I showed her the ring” (Lyrics 16-19). Mothers are normally the most emotional people when it comes to their children while fathers are more stand offish. The persona created was that of a man that his father was somewhat hard-hearted towards him. The lines “Dear son I know I ain’t written/and sitting here tonight alone in the kitchen it occurs to me/I might not have said it so I’ll say it now/son you make me proud” (Lyrics007 32-35) tell me that the father has a partially distant relationship with his son but it is clear to me from the line “but no one laughs, cause there ain’t nothing funny when a soldier cries” (Lyrics007 38).

The lyrics of the song are setup perfectly. If you glance at the lyrics you notice there are three main paragraphs with no chorus. As you begin reading through the lyrics, you pick up that there are three people that write letters to the soldier. The mother’s letter is mentioned first in the song but oddly she mentions, “your stubborn old daddy ain’t said too much/but I’m sure you know he sends his love” (Lyrics007 5-6). When you read the aforementioned lyric, you think in the back of your head that there is a dysfunctional relationship between the father and son. As you continue reading through the lyrics, you learn that his fiancée/girlfriend at home misses him. The brilliance to the piece is the last paragraph. The soldier gets a letter from his father surprisingly and you can tell that it was a shock by the line, “but no one laughs, cause there ain’t nothing funny when a soldier cries” (Lyrics007 38). After reading that lyric, the whole tone in the song seems to change from sad to proud. The soldier cries because he realizes that his father after all is proud of him for fighting for his country. The goal of this song was to make people realize that soldiers are people with emotions. When I say soldiers have emotions, it is an obvious statement but seems to be overlooked by many daily. People sometimes seem to just think that soldiers are robots that go off to foreign lands and fight then come back. What people don’t realize is that the whole time they are gone, there are loved ones back home that they miss. It can’t be easy having the responsibility to stay alive, but at the same time being depressed and missing who you have at home.

The positive methods that the artist exhibits are his element of surprise in the last paragraph and rhythm of chorus that holds together the same idea throughout the song. In the last paragraph, I described in detail of how the artist surprises you in the last paragraph with the letter from his father. I also like how the artist has the lines, “I hold it up and show my buddies/like we ain’t scared and are boots ain’t muddy” (Lyrics007 8-9), in each paragraph to keep the song’s rhythm going. The negative side of the song was that it was short and I think although the last paragraph was genius, it could have been made more dramatic. The song was short and by lengthening the song I believe there would be more build up to what happened at the end. The last paragraph should have had more of a dramatic ending such as after the lyric, “but no one laughs, cause there ain’t nothing funny when a soldier cries” (Lyrics 007 38), the artist could have added something about the soldier getting pumped up and proud of what he is doing instead of uniforming the end of the song with every other paragraph.

The artist did a very nice job of making his point effective. He didn’t make the song repetitious by changing up just enough lyrics in each paragraph to keep the listener interested. I also like how the artist portrayed the soldier as being from the south, which seemed to get me even more into the song. This song is very effective at reminding the reader about soldier’s morale and makes you realize how unpleasant it must be to be away from home by the lines “pick up my gun and get back to work/and it keeps me drivin’ on” (Lyrics007 13-14). I personally recommend reading then listening to the song.


Works Cited
1) http://www.lyrics007.com/John%20Michael%20Montgomery%20Lyrics/Letters%20From%20Home%20Lyrics.html