Saturday, November 22, 2008

Week 14

Rhetorical Analysis of a Song- "The General," by Dispatch

This is an anti-war song that uses appeals to ethos and pathos, as well as logos to make its argument against warfare.  It begins by describing a "decorated general with a heart of gold."  The lyrics continue to establish his ethos by describing how experienced he is, and the "respectful fame" he earned with "many medal of bravery and stripes to his name."  The song then appeals to emotion in the listener by stating that the general "grew a beard as soon as he could to cover the scars on his face."  The lyrics get the listeners sympathy by hinting at the sordid side of war.  This appeal to pathos continues as the song describes the general being unable to sleep because he was not sure that leading his infantry into battle was the morally right thing to do.  He gets up the next morning, and it is a "gray morning," which foreshadows the misery that will soon be present on the battlefield.  He then tells the infantry, who are lined up and courageously ready for battle that he has seen the "others" and their "mothers," and that "this fight is not worth fighting."  This is an appeal to pathos; by pointing out that their opponents are real people with mothers, which are a symbol of love and protection, the listener begins to sympathize with the general and see that perhaps killing other people is not the right thing to do.  Pathos, as well as logos, are then appealed to with a carpe diem argument.  The general tells his troops that as "young men" they "must be living," and that they "got no time to lose."  This not only seems logical, but it strikes an emotional chord with the audience, who is mortal and is sensitive to the argument that life is short and should be lived to the fullest.  The soldiers eventually take his suggestion and leave the battlefield.  The general, however, stays for the battle and we can see he will basically martyr himself for the good of his troops, which adds to his ethos.  This chorus in which the general tells them to go home is later repeated to add power to the argument.  The phrase "go now you are forgiven" is also repeated through out the song, and especially at the end.  It is reminiscent of the Christian refrain "go now in peace," so it appeals to those who are a part of or at least respect Christianity.  This phrase is also comforting in a secular sense.  The general, who we respect because his ethos was well established, tells them they are forgiven, and it also implies that the soldiers forgave their enemy.  It is a phrase that gives them a clean palette on which to start living life to the fullest, and to not hurt others just because a group is their supposed enemy.  This argument, with the appeals to pathos in the audience, combined with the well-established ethos of the emissary of the pacifistic message, is highly effective.

The music does not have a distinctly militaristic sound, and does not seem to have a direct correlation with the message of the song.  There is very catchy acoustic guitar that makes a person want to listen to this song even before they get the meaning from the lyrics.  The instrumental part of the song does have the power of drawing in people who might not even sympathetic to the pacifist cause.  They think they are just listening to a catchy, fun song, but they eventually  pay attention to the lyrics and may realize they agree with the message.  It is a subtle way of changing people's opinions about warfare.

The lyrics of the song can be found at the following location: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/dispatch/general.html

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