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A Rhetorical Analysis Of Paul Mccartney's Song 'Bloody Sunday'

Decent Essays

Hope Wimer
English 015 Sec. 038
Rhetorical Analysis
17 October 2014
“Give Ireland Back To The Irish” Discrimination. Violence. Political turmoil. This was the reality that plagued Northern Ireland in a thirty-year conflict known as “The Troubles”, which began in 1968 and ended in 1998. Paul McCartney’s song “Give Ireland Back to the Irish” was written in response to “Bloody Sunday”, and is an effective example of a rhetorical argument. “Bloody Sunday” was a major incident that took place on January 30, 1972 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. On this day, twenty-six protesters were shot by British paratroopers and 14 died from their wounds. (Crutchley). This song, written and recorded just two days after the incident, was aimed at raising …show more content…

His aim was to make government officials realize the effects of their decisions and have more sympathy to the people who were affected by the British Army’s tactics. The line “How would you like it/If on your way to work/You were stopped by Irish soldiers” prompts the listener to think about how they would feel if the situation was reversed, and Ireland had sent troops into Britain to perpetuate conflict and injustice. The line “Great Britain and all the people/Say that all people must be free” highlighted the hypocrisy of the British government and how it stated that all people must be free, yet it was sending in its own violent troops instead of letting the Irish government and military forces handle the conflict (McCartney). This was also shown through the title statement “give Ireland back to the Irish”, because McCartney urged Britain to relinquish military control of Ireland because clearly the presence of the British army did not help the situation- rather, it furthered the conflict. McCartney further played on the sympathies of his listeners with the line “Meanwhile, back in Ireland/There’s a man who looks like me” (McCartney). He pointed out that there are similarities between everyone, and implied that we are all people with human rights who should not mistreat each other. In the line “He dreams of God and country… And he’s sitting in a prison” showed that Irish citizens wanted peace and loyalty in their country but instead they were mistreated and subjected to injustice, largely resulting from the British government’s military strategies

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