Saturday, October 5, 2013
Rhetorical Analysis/Audience of Wake Me Up When September Ends
Both Bob Dylan’s song and Green Day’s song are used as a form of protest against a negative time. The audience in Wake me up when September Ends would be all Americans in this current time period, especially those effected by war and 9/11. These people may be greatly effected by war or not be effected by it at all, but after listening to the song they will get a strong sense of the effects of war. The music video showing a loving couple where the boyfriend dies at war uses pathos and ethos to appeal to the listeners. Pathos is used to show the horror that war brings and the sad effects it can have on lives. Ethos is used to bring credibility to Armstrong’s claim that war simply tears lives apart, as shown when the loving couple lose each other forever because of war. Aside from that piece of imagery, Armstrong uses specific diction to express his view also. He says “the innocent never last” which uses logos and “here comes the rain again…drenched in my pain again” which uses ethos again. Logos is used in the first lyrical example because Armstrong is saying that the innocent are effected by the negative effects of war, therefore the logical thing to do is stop the violence and destruction to save lives. Ethos is used once again when he gives credibility by expressing his own feeling of pain from his father’s death.
Sources: http://www.geekstinkbreath.net/greenday/song-meanings/wake-me-up-when-september-ends/
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I wonder if Armstrong is appealing to logos (and pathos) in the audience when he uses the word "September." Seems any time he uses it, the word triggers a reaction in the post-9-11 audience? What appeal would you consider that?
ReplyDeleteI would consider it more pathos than logos because I can see how it would appeal to an emotion but not logic as much.
DeleteI agree with most of your point. However, for those who do not know Armstrong, if you can explain his credibility out side this song - extrinsic ethos - will make your analysis more clear
ReplyDeleteI like that you made the connection between "September" in the title and the trauma of the 9/11 experience. It was also effective of you to look at the appeals in the music video rather than just in the lyrics. Do you think there could be any connect in the song between his father's death and the death of American corporate compassion?
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