Junkyard Dogs Meaning

“Your greatest self has been waiting your whole life; don’t make it wait any longer.”(Maraboli) When you make that decision in your life that you aren’t content with where you are, it finally clicks that you need to get up and make that change in your life. Giving yourself the power to go in any direction and being able to make the decision on how your attitude will affect your day. Knowing your self worth even at the lowest points in life that when you want to be great, you will be. It may not be easy to climb out of your lowest points because you start to make excuses for yourself on why you could never be happy again. Thinking that it just isn’t meant for you to be successful after the depressing times you have been through. Similar to, “Fight Song,” Rachel Platten wrote this song at her worst times in her life, but used it to remind her not to give up, that she believed in herself and still had fight left. The rhetorical devices used in Rachel Patton’s “Fight Song” are intended to reveal to the listener that to empower yourself, the listener needs to make those changes their life for their own happiness.

In the text it states “Doodle told them it was I who had taught him to walk, so everyone wanted to hug me, and I began to cry."What are you crying for?" asked Daddy, but I couldn't answer. They did not know that I did it for myself, that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all their voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.” The narrator, brother, regrets teaching Doodle to walk. The narrator taught Doodle how to walk but for the wrong reason. The narrator was embarrassed of having a disabled brother, so the narrator wanted to make him look normal. So the narrator decides to teach Doodle to walk, but the narrator taught Doodle to walk for himself not for Doodles health. In the text it also states “ Let's go, Doodle," I said. He didn't answer, so I placed my hand on his forehead and lifted his head. Limply, he fell backwards onto the earth. He had been bleeding from the mouth, and his neck and the front of his shirt were stained a brilliant red. "Doodle! Doodle!" I cried.” The narrator ran away from Doodle hoping for Doodle to fun after him, but after awhile he goes back and checks on Doodle, and Doodle was lifelessly laying on the ground. The narrator finally realized how much Doodle actually meant to him. The narrator had regret being mean to Doodle. Now that Doodle was dead, the narrator regrets taking advantage of Doodle and now he knows he should of

The first verse of the song shares the troubled relationship between the father and son, when it said, “he came to the world in the usual way, but there were planes to catch and bills to pay. He learned to walk while I was away.” This verse explained that he was away on some type of career to make money for the family, and provide for the son financially. However, he wasn’t able to spend quality time with him, and missed important milestones in his life, such as taking his first steps. His career obviously came before his son and family, and he made excuses for that. Then it finishes with the chorus, which says, “when you

In On Turning Ten by Billy Collins the literary devices that are used to express the theme of aging are word choice, figurative language and symbolism. The word choices that has been put together shows that the narrator is maturing. An example of this was when the narrator says “but now if I fall upon the sidewalks of life, I skin my knees. And bleed.” (Collins 31) . The word choice that is used to describe how the character falls is an advanced way for a child to explain how reality is hitting her at this age. Billy Collins used symbolism by comparing herself falling on the ground to the real world. In the quote mentioned above the author is explaining that when she gets older failing in life is not what is used to be, but now she bleeds and is experiencing real life. In this quote it is showing the theme of aging because it is a point of realization in this character's life that she is no longer a child. Lastly another literary device that was used is figurative language, Colins used similes to enhance the theme of again. The narrator explains how she is feeling upset and she is saying this to herself “as she walk[s] through the universe in [her] sneakers” (Collins 21). The usage of similes in this context is having the character compare sadness to walking through the universe which is lonely and sad. All three of these literary devices show that throughput the short poem the character is having a reflective moment on her life where

The narrator regrets how he pushed Doodle far beyond his limits. Now that the Brother is older, he knows how pride can affect him. “I did not know then that pride is a wonderful, terrible thing, a seed that bears two vines, life and death.”(4) When the Brother got Doodle to stand, he was confident in Doodle to accomplish any physical movement. So he expected more and more out of Doodle. But he didn’t know the pain and the danger of trying to exceed the limit of one’s body. Now, after all the years have passed by, the narrator realize that his love for Doodle. “But sometimes (like right now), as I sit in the cool, green-draped parlor, the grindstone begins to turn, and time with all its changes is ground away--and I remember Doodle.”(1) The years have taken away the cruelty and selfishness in the Brother’s early year and he was sorry for how he forced and threatened Doodle. The narrator looks over the cruel moments he had with Doodle and blames Doodle’s death on himself. “They did not know that I did it for myself; that pride, whose slave I was, spoke to me louder than all the other voices, and that Doodle walked only because I was ashamed of having a crippled brother.”(5) The voice here is very regretful of his sins, and wants to fix what he had already

To help show this, it used many literary devices to make the reader feel apart of the story. Although there are hard times in your life, you will always be able to overcome it. For Doodle, it was having to deal with problems nobody else had. But with determination, people can do anything they set their mind to. There are always going to be obstacles in life that might not be easy to get around. For Doodle, he had to deal his own situation, being able to walk, that he eventually overcame. There will always be another way around an obstacle. As long as you work hard and use

It is a sin for anyone to destroy, in a blink of an eye, what they have been working on for months or even years. Therefore, one should always face the hardships with a strong will, hold their head up high when facing an upcoming storm, because that is the only way they can survive the war that is life. Right towards the end of the song, there is an extremely empowering line that says “this road never looked so lonely, this house doesn’t burn down slowly to ashes” which stands as a reminder that right when the challenge becomes harder, one should never forget what they are fighting for and simply give up. The amount of determination reflected in this line is the reason why I listen to this song whenever I feel defeated by the obstacles. It comes to spark the flame of determination in my heart when I consider backing

On page 76 the entirety of the stanza is a happy tone of nostalgia. The whole stanza is the child remembering his life as a wonderful time filled with imagination and freedom. He is reminding the reader of how amazing his life was compared to his life now. Collins utilizes this tone to really ingrain in the reader that the kids younger life really was fantastic, and it sets of the reader to for a more dismal feeling when the next stanza comes around. This stanza is so exciting and it gets the reader to remember the extravagant stories they used to imagine with utter joy. This happiness is directly contrasted by the rest of the poem. Collins does a great job of distracting the reader and makes them almost forget about the sadness they read in the previous stanza so they get hit really hard with the sadness again. this is exactly how the child feels about growing up. In the final stanza the child says, “This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself, as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.” (76). The child recognizes that he must grow up and let go of what he used to hold dear at younger ages. The boys feeling are expressed as laborious and distressed, the boy clearly does not want to grow up, yet he is extremely saddened by the fact that he has to. The reader shares the kids feeling of sadness because like

The road of life can be a bumpy one. There will always be twists and turns that can alter a person’s life, changing the course of their destination. Even though life can be tough, you have to draw upon your inner strength in order to persevere. The songs, “Move Along” by The All-American Rejects and “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” by Greenday sing about this message. The lyrics in their songs have many literary devices such as personification, repetition, symbolism and juxtaposition. The personification will help you

In the same fashion, the words, “Feels like I walked five thousand miles and didn’t even come close. Feels like I try to make you smile, but you don’t even care.” emphasizes the reality that his father will never appreciate what he does. In fact, including several different lines that have the same meaning can symbolize how Smollett takes a variety of paths to be accepted by his father, but end up with the same outcome every time. To sum up, Smollett’s utilizes his lyrics to get through to his audience and spread his

The first line of the song, “I’m gonna make a change for once in my life” (Ballard and Garrett), helps set the stage for the entire song. The lyrics are very straight forward, speaking about a man seeing the world around him and how it needs to change. The only way to start to change, is to look at yourself and start within. “I'm starting with the man in the mirror… I’m asking him to change his ways… and no message could have been any clearer… if you want to make the world a better place… take a look at yourself, and then make a change” (Garrett and Ballard), is the chorus to the song that refers to a man knowing the world around him is suffering and by taking the first step will help change not only himself but can help contribute to his environment. In order to make a difference in the world, you must start small and start with yourself. The song speaks about is about people suffering and how cruel our world can be. People only care about

The song “Cold Feet” is an artistic way of explaining exactly what can happen when one gets too greedy with their life and desires more to show their worth. In the song, Tracy describes of how man always wants to be an honest man and this is shown within the verse of “He'd struggled all his life to be an honest man, Proud that the dirt on his palms was the soil of the land, but some guys he knew from high school days said they had a plan to get rich quick”. This I certainly can relate to as I always want others to be proud of me and proud of what I have achieved in my life so far. If I feel that I have not fulfilled this, then I will work harder to show them that they should be proud. When I first heard this song, I was at a very young age and did not understand what the warning that the lyrics were telling. I continued to work for peoples approval and would do anything to do so, including wanting everything from “the sun and moon”. It wasn’t until listening to the song as a Year 12 student that I was able to understand the meaning behind the lyrics. After listening to the song numerous times, I have now learnt valuable lessons about the life I have been gifted with. I have learnt that striving to succeed the best of my ability is

Well, son, I’ll tell you: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair. It’s had tacks in it, And splinters, And boards torn up, And places with no carpet on the floor— Bare. But all the time I’se been a-climbin’ on, And reachin’ landin’s, And turnin’ corners, And sometimes goin’ in the dark. Where there ain’t been no light. So boy, don’t you turn back. Don’t you set down on the steps ’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard. Don’t you fall now— For I’se still goin’, honey, I’se still climbin’, And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

So why would the band choose to illustrate such a serious stage of personal development with the nursery rhyme-like style of the song's chorus? Before we get to that, the song's emotional and psychological message must first be examined.

The theme of this novella is to look at the good you do in life and how it carries over after your death. The moral of the book is; "People can make changes in their lives whenever they really want to, even right up to the end."