Analysis Of The Song Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee

In the Vietnam songs, all of the songs were made as protest songs against war. These songs sent a message that war is not something that we as humans should be doing and that we shouldn't have to solve our problems by killing each other. The American society felt the same way. Why are we doing this? This is not what we should be doing as humans, and this was partly why the American people didn't really welcome veterans back from war. They thought that what they were doing was "wrong" and it's not really solving anything, it's only taking lives. In the first song, "War" by Edwin Starr, there is a very clear message that war is good for nothing. Life is to short to spend fighting in wars. War is nothing but a heart-breaker and it shatters young

The first song I will examine is the folk-rock hit, “The Universal Soldier.” Carrying a somber yet avant-garde timber carried by a charismatic rhythm, Buffy wrote this song with the intent of creating a dialogue surrounding the absurdity of war and to deepen the responsibility of conflicts which we too often hide from, “It’s about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all” - Buffy St Marie. During the 1960’s “Universal Soldier” became an anthem for the activist movement against the Vietnam war. As the title suggests, the song declines to commend a particular group. Rather, it applies to all the soldiers worldwide– to the universal soldier. Because, no matter the time or place he is the one who will risk his life and subject himself to the ubiquitous barbarism of war. The soldier can be of any religion, of

To begin, America has been through hell, but she always comes back. “Ragged Old Flag” was Cash’s response to the nationwide frustration brought on by the Vietnam War and Watergate Scandal. Johnny wanted to write a song that would make people feel patriotic and stand together during the Vietnam War and Watergate Scandal. “Ragged Old Flag” reaches many generations and that is apparent in the first couple of verses. Johnny Cash wrote “Ragged Old Flag” in first person point of view. The listener will be skillfully taken on a journey through the historical events of the United States. Within the first couple verses we are introduced to a man new to small town. He is walking by the courthouse when he notices an elderly man sitting on a bench. The man

The Dave Matthews Band has been a musical power house for years. They have meshed together almost every type of music together to create their extremely unique sounds and attractiveness towards their music. Dave Matthews, lead singer and guitarist from South Africa has put together a band that no one will ever be able to create again. Dave picked four extremely talented and unique sounding men to join his band and together they have created some amazing music. The members of the band include Stefan Lessard on bass, Boyd Tinsley on violin, Leroi Moore on saxophone and one of the best drummers in the world, Carter Beauford. Together these men will one day leave behind a similar reputation as one of the all time greatest "jam" bands of time.

In these songs, one can unearth the heart’s deepest desires—desires that are so basic, so undeniably human, that they cannot help but underscore the dehumanizing condition of slavery.

2. Is the intent of this song to promote or protest the Vietnam War? Why?

In Lakota Woman, a biographical account of Mary Crow Dog, there is established a reoccurring theme centered around Native American women and their outlasting strength as they play their roles of wives, mothers, daughters, and sisters. Especially so in trying times, which Crow Dog illustrates, that have spanned for centuries and are as inescapable as they have ever been. Remarkable are her feats of bravery fueled by strength she’s derived from other influential women in her life and her love for her people and their traditions. Without a doubt, Native American women had and always will play a large role in keeping the ardor behind their fight for equality and justice lit. Whether it be physically, such as it was in Wounded Knee, spiritually, in their participation in keeping up rituals and religion, or traditionally, as they help uphold old values beloved by their people for centuries.

Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, America’s first Female Native American writer and poet, exemplifies a unique multicultural influence in her writing as a result of her intermarried parents. Robert Dale Parker (2009), in his paper “Contemporary Anticolonialist Reading and the Collaborative Writing of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft,” describes her controversial writings “as representing the cacophonous medley of internal contradictions that she lived in” (p.52). Specifically, that of her poem Pensive Hours, which exhibits the layered nature of her works, shown through her Anglo-American heritage (with an emphasis towards Christian) tones hidden alongside her native spirituality, establishes Jane Johnston Schoolcraft as an American poet influenced by more than English Romanticism.

One of the main reasons I chose to research memory was because it reminded me of a song that I know very well. The song is called My Favorite Memory by Merle Haggard. In the song he sings these words “First time we met is a favorite memory of mine. They say time changes all it pertains to but your memory is stronger than time.” I settled with this song for several obvious reasons like being about a memory and being a song I know. Merle Haggard’s song is a hit off of his album Big City. In this song, he sings about a memory he remembers with a girl. Throughout the song he talks about all the different things he remembers either doing or just enjoying with this particular girl. I related the meaning behind this song to just the word memory. Memory

The book Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee was written by Dee Brown. Dee Brown wrote a handful of books and the central theme around those books were tales of Native Americans and civil war stories. He spent a long time studying different tribes all around the United States. He has brought out the voice of the Native Americans which was muffled and silenced by the army and government. This book brought much awareness to a cause many had forgotten about, and to the shock of many when they realized he was not a Native American. Bury my Heart at Wounded Knee tells the stories of many Native American tribes and their hardships when facing the government, army, and settlers. While reading this book, I came to quite a shock. I learned the point of view that was hidden in history books, the loss instead of the win, and the sadness felt throughout the book that made it unpleasant to read. I believe this book has brought to light the mistreatment of Native Americans in the past, the main hardships including countless false treaties, harsh treatments from the settlers, and the unjust massacres. I found this book to be quite a difficult read but incredibly worth it. It is written in such a manner that you feel immersed, you feel the all the emotions and imagine how everything came to be. It is figurative, but also incredibly factual. In the beginning of almost every chapter, before the actual start, there is small paragraph with the year and the events in that following year, a quote, or

This Social-Self manifest in Citizen: An American Lyric, “A friend argues that Americans battle between the 'historical self' and the 'self self’.”' (Rankine 2014). Citizen helps the reader understand that the small everyday acts of racism can accumulate and potentially become toxic, this includes: being skipped in line at the pharmacy by a white man, because he has failed to notice you in front of him; being told approvingly, as a schoolchild, that your features are like those of a white person; being furiously accosted by a trauma therapist who does not believe that the patient she is expecting could look like you. Written by poet, essayist, and playwright Claudia Rankine. Rankine discusses the microaggressions, which is defined as the

In Ben Johnson’s “To the Memory of My Beloved, The Author, Mr. William Shakespeare, and What He Hath Left Us”, Johnson dictates a dramatically sycophantic poem in honor of the late William Shakespeare. With his superficial, dramatic style, Johnson unveils his own envious attitude within the unbegotten admiration he appoints throughout the poem. By complimenting Shakespeare through this ironic voice, Johnson insincerely praises Shakespeare’s legacy in a clever attempt to highlight Shakespeare’s minute but mentionable flaws. Throughout the commemorational poem, Johnson cleverly praises Shakespeare’s seemingly incomparable success as a poet by incorporating other famous poets as a belittling contrast. While meant as a friendly coup de grâce, Johnson’s assessment of Shakespeare is Johnson’s ultimate attempt to align himself with Shakespeare, bearing praise unto himself as well. In a poem meant to highlight and enunciate Shakespeare’s unparalleled skill and talent, Johnson instead attempts to expose his faults in hopes of bringing Shakespeare closer to himself.

The song “American Solider” is sung by Toby Keith, a country music artist. The release date of this song was 2003, and it was named one of the hot country songs on the chart in November 2003. The lyrics to American Soldier by Toby Keith explain a soldier's feelings and responsibilities to his family and his country. He wants to be a good husband and father, and to also meet the needs of everyone else. Toby Keith states that he is not a soldier for the money because he is still unable to pay all of his bills, and the glory is not a good reason because it is not always wonderful. He became a soldier because he knows that he has to fight for the future of his family and his country. There are some cons to being a soldier, such as not being able

servant Uncle Remus (Weinman). Song of the South has never been released in North America and is no longer shown on television due to its use of offensive racial stereotypes regarding African Americans and racist language (Weinman). Uncle Remis the films protagonist lives on a plantation in what resembles the post-civil war period, although Disney never reveals the actual time period. Uncle Remis and all the ex-slaves in the film speak pidgin dialect or what some refer to as slave dialect a type of speech commonly associated with the slaves whom were not allowed to be educated and speak formally (Weinman).

Both the song and this article talk about the loss we suffered in vietnam. The song mentions sending your kid away and having them come home in a box. The Article talks of how long the war was and how we suffered major losses. Both the article and the song talk of how the Vietnam war was not our fight, and we had no business being there. Both the article and the song are seemingly anti Vietnam.