White Blood Chips Metaphors

During the entirety of the poem the speaker uses the contrast of light and dark to illustrate the divide of Caucasian and Native American in her life and the specific wording she uses throughout shows that she is ends up moving away from her white heritage’s side. We first start to see that she is upset with her white roots when she states that her mother left her with “large white breasts” that weigh down her body. This statement is quite important. With the addition of the word “white” and the use of the words “weigh down” the narrator seems to be implying that it is a burden to carry the whiteness. Also, the narrator uses specific wording in this statement in order to disassociate herself from her own white leanings since she refers to her breasts as if they were her mothers and not her own. The next time she mentions the word white comes in the third stanza. The speaker devotes an entire line to the short phrase “and is white” almost as if to single out that word in the poem and signify that being white

He mentions the fight in the House of Representatives that broke out, in relation with the civil rights bill. He also about the equality between black and white people in the 1960’s. At this point this is being read the words “all is calm, all is bright” this completely contrast from the subject about racism but the song is representing a sense of tranquillity as if everything is okay when it is not.

Ludacris talks about the struggle in many verses in the song and uses the alliteration “hand-me down” to describe many things he had hand-me down. First was flip-flops and socks and he then rhymed that with drug dealers and rocks. Flip flops and socks are usual hand me downs but drug dealers and rocks create a gritty impactful message that allows the listener to recognize the struggle. Ludacris also makes a reference to a triple beam scale normally used to weigh out drugs with his lyrics “overall triple, overall beams”. Aside from explanations of the struggle, Ludacris raps lyrics that show he now has overcome the struggle and has a good time, primarily with girls. The song starts out with him talking about his cadillac and how clean it is, “Candy paint, Cadillac kills,” and also ends the song talking about an expensive range rover, “All black tinted up thugged out range,” showing he is very successful to have these cars. Another attribute to his success is Ludacris’s talk about his grill, “mouth full of platinum, mouth full of gold,” showing he can afford a grill of platinum or gold, no longer living the struggle. With success comes women as Ludacris doesn't fail to mention in his lyrics, “pretty ass clothes, pretty ass toes/ oh, how I love these pretty ass hoes,” and other suggestive lyrics throughout the

Kanye West has proven himself over time that he is much more than just a producer. With each new album he releases, he constantly pushes the boundaries of music influencing artist across all genres. Kanye has an ever evolving sound that changes almost year to year. Kanye West’s Yeezus album is an album that takes a much darker and more minimalist turn in his discography. This approach to music makes Yeezus a much harder album to listen through because it is not filled with nice, polished sounds. Having the album made this way makes us look over what the message of a song and the album are. Among many rough songs one the most popular on the album was Blood on the Leaves. Blood on the Leaves samples from another song called Strange Fruit sung by Nina Simone which is a very political song talking about gruesome lynchings that happened before and at the turn of the century. With help from the sample, West uses the pain of lynching and drug abuse to compare with the break ups he goes through.

The context and setting of this rap is American in the 1970’s. Historically, this period came after the Civil Rights Movement, during the start of the Nixon era. The Vietnam War was dividing the nation’s population into anti-war protestors and those that supported the war effort. It was an era of recession and continued change for minorities. One of the issues was enforced racial integration after the Civil Rights Movement, which many institutions had still not complied with. The struggle to find equality even after the movement was something African Americans at the time had to deal with. The support for the black power movement was one of many results of this struggle. The media and press largely did not report on the alienation that was still present. This was an inspiration for Scott-Heron and this song in particular.

When I was 8 years old, the thoughts running through my mind should have been like any other 8 year old girl: going home to play my brand new Nintendo DS or playing house with my little sister. Reality was, I wasn’t a normal little girl. I was the girl whose life got turned upside down in a matter of minutes. No matter how much anyone tried to tell me, I knew a normal 8 year olds life didn’t include being surrounded by doctors 24/7.

Her first line reveals that the following emotional breakdown is a result of standing by as an opportunity comes and goes (Jones qtd. in Kimbrough). Jones wishes that she could go back and make a different decision, but it is too late. The speaker proceeds to lament the missed chance with a lover, her regret made evident in the repeated line, “ I don’t know why I didn’t come” (Jones qtd. in Kimbrough). Presented simultaneously with the text, the song strengthens the idea that failing to take action leads to sorrow.

The symbolism in this song is that life is hard for other members of the society. This song regards a man trying/ resolving to alter his ways before starting to change the world. This

The next set of lyrics I would like to examine is from the beginning of the song. The gentleman singing the song is discussing his father, saying, “He said, ‘Will you defeat them, your demons, and all the nonbelievers, the plans that they have made? Because one day I’ll leave you, a phantom, to leave you in the summer and join The Black Parade.’” In this extended line, the father is encouraging his son to conquer his fears and the people that have been holding him back, or have made him too afraid to try different things. The father is saying that his son has to do this because he, the father, will not be around much longer to help him do that. While fathers do many different actions to show paternal care, it is not simply a physical act; it

The main observation readers could take from this poem is that the “lower” individual has to take care of and pick up after the white man. It is even hinted at that the poems the mother chant rival the alleged master of poetry’s own works.

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.

As the man encounters his family members who died, they appear to be dirty and covered in mud. The role the mud plays is important in the story as it is a symbolization of grief or regrets and the forced distance between him and them. The narrator is constantly trying to hug or physically touch his grandmother and father, and then remembers his important meeting and their mud and restrains himself as he says, “I’d hug you guys, but I don’t want to ruin my

This theme is brought through the song by showing multiple literary devices. Such as “I'm the one at sail, I’m the master of my sea”. This metaphor shows the realization and empowerment that oneself can give in a depressing situation. This simile “Falling like ashes to the ground, Hoping my feelings they would drown” compares his feeling of sadness and depression to ashes, and wanting them to drown and vanish, from his life. This line, “All the hate that you’ve heard has turned your spirit to a dove” explains how all of the hate that he has experienced and gone through has turned his feelings around, and decided to look on the bright side of things. Personally I think this is a great

The refrain goes like this, “When I look into your eyes / There’s just devils and dust”. Eyes are often used in poetry and in popular culture as a path to see what somebody really feels and how that person is really like in the inside. If in a person’s eyes “there’s just devils and dust” it shows that that person is troubled, haunted, and desolated. The visual image of “devils and dust” illustrates a godforsaken place, which is what that person’s soul has become. Following that the speaker tells his friend, Bobby, how they are a “long, long way from home”. These verses can have two meanings: they can refer to a soldier in a war (thus the relation with the Iraq War) or they could mean that we have strayed so far away from our values, from what we were founded upon, that this is no longer home, it is now a strange place. Many people argue, and with some justification, that the United States in the past years is becoming less and less like the country it was founded to be. The verse, “I feel a dirty wind blowing” once more takes us to the Iraq War since it evokes the image of a desert. It also relates, together with the “finger on the trigger”, to the Wild West, which seems to be where Springsteen has gotten most of the imagery for his CD (as it can be seen in songs with titles such as “Black Cowboys” and “The Hitter”). The Wild West used to be a treacherous place, which relates with the

At this moment, Kendrick’s monologue addresses the battle encountered by African Americans today and the frustration that comes with wanting and deserving more than they have. The backing vocals in this section of the song imply that American society wants African Americans to submit to it and praise it, even though many of them have suffered from it. This introduction signifies how dazed society is to the black people and how there is a constant battle between