Protest Songs vs. Older work

There were many ideas in these three protest songs that relate back to previous work that we read. Most of these protest songs inspired young black African Americans who were going through their lives. Many black African Americans in the past didn’t have much money and lived in poverty and when they heard these protest songs they could relate to the issues and the rest of the world could in some way place themselves in their shoes.

Even black African American rappers that sang songs like “N.Y State of Mind” or the “The Message” could relate to these protest songs and it inspired their work and helped their own songs make more sense. In the song, “We Shall Overcome” they sing about how one day they will overcome many problems they are facing in the world and that they may be considered as equal one day. Rappers like NAS talk about the same kind of things in their songs. They talk about growing up in the hood and having a hard time doing so and making a name for themselves, mostly due to their skin color.

Even people like John Henry can relate to these protest songs. John Henry is someone who wanted to pound steel stakes with a hammer his whole life and who most likely had a rough and challenging childhood. John Henry and his story can relate to the lyrics present in the song “Ain’t gonna let Nobody Turn me “Round” where the message there is that basically no one will stop you from doing what you are doing if you have a goal. It also says in that song that if you are so determined in doing something you can ultimately ‘build a brand new world” which is what these rappers are trying to do and people like John Henry amongst others.

Another important message of these protest songs is that what Black Americans truly want is to simply be equal to white people and have the same opportunity as anyone else to do something good in the world. That’s what they are all trying to do in a way. ( Black African Americans in the readings and songs)

John Henry Blog

In John Henry's song it tells us a story about a young black boy. This boy was obsessed with steal driving and he wanted to be the best steel driving man ever and thats all that he thought about. This young boy wanted to do this as a career and until the day he dies. John Henry here is showing us how determined and motivated this boy was and that he had set himself a goal for his life. This ballad influenced songs like "NY State of Mind" and "The Message"because both of these rappers also had a goal in their life and a "message". They both had hard lives when they were young and they had to face difficult challenges and be determined just like the young black boy in John Henry's song to succeed in life.

II.xiii – II.xv

Why does Joe start tapping?

Because Joe has no arms or legs and he basically has no communication with people he wanted to find a way to try and express his thoughts to others. When Joe is in the hospital in his bed he has visitors come down and see him every once in a while and he wants to be able to talk to them. In this chapter Joe has a special visitor that comes down and sees him. This person is his general that came down to the hospital to give Joe his award. When he was there Joe wanted to be able to communicate with him and therefore he tried tapping on his bed. No one understood what he was trying to do including the nurses who thought that he was getting mad. The nurses therefore gave Joe a sedative to make him cool off. All that Joe was trying to do was communicate and the nurses didn't understand. This was probably very frustrating for Joe who is trying so hard but he is in such a bad physical shape that he can barely do anything right.

II.xi – II.xii

Why does Joe decide to master time? How does he do it?

Joe decides to master time for a pretty simple reason. In the previous chapters Joe was never really conscious of time and what day it was. This bothered Joe and he wanted to do something about it. Joe is tired of not knowing what is going on around him at times and where he is during the day. Now that Joe seemed more emotionally stable he thought that he was ready to take on a new challenge and start mastering time. Joe tried doing this by counting seconds but that didn't work too well as he would get lost once he got close to the minute marker. Joe didn't lose hope though even though this method didn't quite work for him. Instead he decided to closely follow what the nurses did throughout the day that way he would be able to notice if it was morning time or evening. It ended up that this method worked out for him the best.

I.ix – I.x

What does Joe believe is worth fighting for? What isn't?

Joe believe that it is worth fighting for something that is extremely important, even more than your own life at the time. In the book Joe believes for example that a women is worth fighting for. Joe also explains that it is only worth fighting for something that is more important than your life because if you are only fighting for something to help you live you are risking your own life. It would be stupid to fight for something that will kill you because then you won't have the satisfaction to experience what you fought for.

According to Joe, it is also useless to fight for things such as liberty and freedom. Fighting for these things is useless and Joe thinks that the people that do fight for these things don't know what they are getting into and that they are wasting and putting their lives at risk. For example a solider may be fighting for honor but once he is in the middle of the battlefield bleeding heavily and about to die he isn't thinking about honor but how he wishes to live longer and see his family again. When you are dead you can't do anything more in your life, its over so in Joe's mind it is important to only fight for things that are extremely important and that will not cause you to die.

Although Joe believes all this he also believes that nothing is more important than your own life and if you are doing something to put it at risk you shouldn't do it.

I.vii - I.viii

Why does the rat come to visit Joe? What does it represent?

The rat comes to visit Joe while he is in the battlefield. Joe is wounded on his side and he has a small hole there because he was injured. The rat comes and eats away his side where he is hurt. Because Joe doesn't have any arms or legs he can't do anything about it and this is why the rat stuck in his mind for a long time. Joe is completely helpless and all he can do is think about this rat and that it has to go away by itself. To Joe, the rat represents the life that he had in the past. The rat also represented memories that Joe had in the battlefield. Because this happened while Joe was sleeping and that when he later woke up he was with a nurse in a hospital he doesn't quite know when he is in reality and when he is actually alive. Joe basically doesn't even know if he is sleeping or living. He has a very bad sense of reality and the whole rat situation made everything worse for him.

I.iv – I.vi

Why does Joe remember working at the bakery? What does he admire about Jose?

Joe was never really able to get a real good job and he wasn't hired at many places. He remembers working at the bakery because it was a job that he was able to get and that he ultimately liked. Although he liked working at the bakery he did end up finding a better job somewhere else. Because of this he tried to get fired from his job working at the bakery and he didn't work as good as he used to. Joe did things like dropping a pie in front of his boss Jose. Jose though forgives Joe and thinks that that wasn't a big problem. Because of this Joe drops a whole bunch of pies and then that time he was fired by Jose. Jose is a nice guy and wanted Joe to keep working for him. At least now Joe is able to focus more on his better job and he can move on with his life. He shouldve just told Jose that he wanted to quit though..