Paper 4

Ever since September 11, 2001 there have been many different views on America as a whole. Of course with this large of a population not everyone is going to agree but in The Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (Angry American) Toby Keith expresses his side of the argument.
In Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue Toby’s main goal is to get his audience, American girls and boys, excited. He wants to do this so people will be pumped about fighting in the war rather than against it. In the world we leave in today it seems like America is split in half with their views on war. Half of America believes that we should go kick the terrorists in the butt while others think we are just killing innocent people and loosing soldiers. Clearly, Toby Keith thinks we should go ‘put a boot in their ass.’ This song as a whole is bursting with American pride, depending which half you stand on. If you are on the same side as Toby the goal this song reaches is a great exciting song that makes you proud to be an American. For the people against Toby’s side his goal is to change them and to change their views. He is hoping listening to this song will inspire them that what is going on is for the best interest of the country. For example, line 5-7, ‘there’s a lot of men dead, so we can sleep in peace at night when we lay down our head.’ There are a lot of great lines but that is one that really stands out. Toby wants people to feel emotion. The soldiers at war are fighting for them. By doing this he relies most of his song on points of the rhetorical triangle, talking to the audience about his father and about their own peace. Mostly he uses pathos, emotion and audience, Toby brings up 9/11 in hopes of reminding people the reason why he started fighting in the first place. He clearly says, “Now this nation that I love has fallen under attack. A mighty sucker punch came flying in from somewhere in the back.
Soon as we could see clearly through our big black eye” relating back on 9/11. Another important piece of the rhetorical triangle Toby uses is ethos. He speaks out to the audience from his own experience of his father fighting for American peace when he was younger. Toby Keith put a lot of though into writing this song. He wanted people to feel what he felt by using personification the best way possible. He could not have expressed American emotion better. When he said, ‘the Statue of Liberty will start shaking her fist’ I felt a burst of pride and I’m pretty sure the rest of America did too. Picturing one of our greatest monuments shaking her fist, angry with the people who hurt America was so powerful.
The way Toby approaches this song is very effective. Although it has a huge impact, for most people who listen to the song, unfortunately it will only last about the 3 minutes and 16 seconds. For very few, it may encourage people to go out and enlist. Either way he gets his point across by playing on the audience’s emotions and getting them pumped up about being American. Many people will hear this song and walk away with a complete different perspective on the war. I believe that is the main goal Toby Keith was trying to achieve. Not exactly getting more people in war but getting more people who love their country to change their views and stand behind it.