An Analysis Of Dolly Parton's 'Coat Of Many Color'

To begin, Dolly Parton was born on January 19, 1946 in Sevier County, Tennessee. She is the fourth of twelve children of Robert and Avie. Furthermore, Dolly Parton described her family as dirt poor, which is expressed in her song “A Coat of Many Colors” (Perone, James). From the start, music was extremely important to Dolly Parton. She first started performing in Church with her family. It has even been noted that she, “…loved performing since [she] was big enough to wrestle [her] little brothers and sisters into sitting long enough for [her] to sing them [her] latest musical masterpiece.” Also, as a child she sang on the local radio and television program in Eastern Tennessee. At the age of thirteen, she recorded her single “Puppy Love” and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry. You know that someone is going to go far in life if they are that young and have already accomplished what most wish they could.

The Color Purple by Alice Walker is the story of a poor black woman living in the south between World War 1 and World War 2. This was at a time when, although slavery had ended,many women were still virtually in bondage, and had to put up with many conditions that was reminiscent of the days of slavery. The problem was that they had to endure being treated like an inferior being by their own families sometimes, as well as from the white people that lived there. It was a life that was filled with misery for many black women, and they felt helpless to do anything about their situations.

Symbolism is one of the major elements in "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker. The woman's search for something she has never experienced is the symbolization of the mankind's search for love and happiness. The meaning of names, occupations, power, pants, cloth, words, eyes, frogs, starts, shell, stamps are only few examples of the symbols used by the author and are very important in understanding not only the characters of the story, but also global values such as love, power, mutual understanding, and authority over another person's life.

In Tiffany Hendrickson’s essay, Talking in Color: Collision of Cultures (2013), she argues that we should not be defined by the sound of our voice. Hendrickson supports her argument of ethical appeal by comparing dialects, race relations, and environments to eliminate the stigmas of having to change your voice in order to be accepted in a perceived “correct world” based on ethnicity. In writing this essay, she recounts her own personal struggle in order to bring recognition to the power of having your own voice, no matter your color. Hendrickson shares her personal narrative with the goal to educate and disprove those with preconceived discriminatory views that individuals from a specific race should speak in a vernacular that defines their

Dolly’s personal appearance is something that she puts a lot of pride into. She pulls everything perfectly together, all the way from the red nail polish, red lipstick, heavy make-up,

An example of the insecurity that is demonstrated in the story is mentioned when the narrator's teachers were of "no help, they looked [his] way and talked about how foolish [he] looked in [his] new jacket" (paragraph 7). The narrator feels insecure because of his assumptions that his teachers are making fun of him when in fact, they are not noticing him at all. Further more, he continues to say, "At lunchtime I stayed with the ugly boys leaned against the chain link fence… our mouths" (paragraph 9). This statement proves the narrator is having bad luck because of the jacket and is destroying his reputation at school. A third reason why the jacket symbolizes insecurity is because the fact that his classmates see him with the jacket, he feels that they "…say out loud "man that's ugly", I heard the buzz-buzz of gossip and even laughter"

This inner defiance gives evidence to Rachel’s determination and individuality. The sweater now represents a sort of barrier and if she submits herself to it, she fears the world of ages and maturity.

“Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, I'm begging of you please don't take my man.” This versus is from the classic song “Jolene.” “Jolene” is an original by Dolly Parton, even though, thousands of artists have their own renditions of this famous song. Worldwide, people have fallen in love with the song “Jolene” because of the relatable lyrics of infidelity and Parton’s powerhouse of a voice. The punk rock band, White Stripes, were inspired by the song so much so they decided to cover “Jolene”, but made the song their own by adding their own style, beat, and raw emotion.

By the age of 6 I knew I wanted to sing and that is what I did. Everyone knows me as the girl with the blond wig but what about the person behind the wig? When I was growing up it was really hard becauseof the fact that my family lived in poverty. I always wanted to do music and by the age of 6 I was singing live on WIVK. In high school I was in the marching band. By the time I finished school I went straight into music by moving to Nashville to follow my dream. I wanted to be a well known singer in country music. I may be a famous country singer but did you know I also had depression and thought about killing myself? However, that did not stop me from singing and making music.

“The sensation of sitting underneath a full moon on a star-filled night in the middle of the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park.”

“Who do you think you is? he say... Look at you. You black, you pore, you ugly, you a woman. Goddam, he say, you nothing at all.” (187)

The most influential and complicated character in Tim Winton’s Cloudstreet is Dolly Pickles. Dolly has the ability to inflict a variety of emotions in the reader. Due to her persona to be a ‘slut,’ alcoholic and a bad mother there are strong negative emotions invoked however as Dolly’s representation drastically changes the audience feels pity and sorrow for her. There are various symbols and language features that are associated with Dolly and as a consequence heighten the character’s influence in the reader’s response.

However, the one thing both sisters have in common are the family quilts. These quilts are described by Mama as being made from family members who have passed, which enhance their value. Maggie values the quilts because she learned to quilt from her grandmother and aunt. She hints that she sees the quilt as a reminder of them when she mentions, “I can’t ‘member Grandma Dee without the quilts” (360). Dee,

“…And this is for colored girls who have considered suicide but are moving to the end of their own rainbow…” (Perry: For Colored Girls, 2010). For colored girls was first written and performed as a play by Ntozake Shange in 1977. It was then called “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow was enuf”. Tyler Perry adapted and transformed it into a movie in 2010. For colored girls is centered on nine women as they encounter their fair share of neglect, abuse, pain and harassment both physically and emotionally. They slowly but surely recover from such abuse and discover joy in themselves. The movie begins with the characters as strangers but at the end, they become good friends.

Katy Perry, a well-known American pop artist, delivers a message of social awareness in her song and music video titled,“Chained to the Rhythm.” In “Chained to the Rhythm,” the singer asserts that people in American society should not isolate themselves from, and or ignore the problems in the community. Perry encourages her audience to not sit still when an issue arises. Inspiring her onlookers to not stand idly while social injustices occur and to bring about change is the main purpose of her song and music video. Perry uses a plethora of rhetorical devices and appeals between her song and music video to successfully present her message and to get her audience to start making a change.