Close Reading/Listening "Devil May Cry" by The Weekend

(First, listen to the song here, so you know what I'm talking about!)


For my Close Reading Inquiry, I chose to closely read/listen to the song "Devil May Cry" by The Weekend. I chose that song because I noticed many verses had lots of inner meanings. "Devil May Cry" tells a story about hardships and merits. It is about the way life is and how it flows dynamically is echoed in the music and lyrics. This, I think, was expressed through an 'up and down'-like fashion.

In the first few lines of the song, I noticed that the words held a heavy message that contradicted the melody. The lyrics reflected upon enduring pain, while the melody was soft and soothing. This was the first sign of the 'up and down' pattern. I think that this was intended to show how if you can survive a challenge or a hardship you've faced, you will be able to face it again. And this time, you can plow through that challenge with more experience. 

The second and the third verse was all about the 'rewards' of the hard fracas. The phrases "They will parade upon your victory," and "Home will feel like home again," both sound pretty amazing, all things considered. Also, the tune of the music changed to a wall of pure concurrent sound, which added emphasis to the song. This was definitely meant to construct an image of one those climax points in life. It's that high point of life that can usually be identified with the phrase, 'This is the best day ever!' The climax always comes after the action, and these two verses really explained that. 

There were two lines in the song that confused me for some time. "Corruption will fill your brain," and "Just learn to love pain and be patient." At first, I thought these two phrases had a kind of negative resonance to them, being that corruption is usually what drives people to do bad things and the reference back to the first verse. Their placement in the song confused me as well, when it goes from "And home will feel like home again," to "Corruption will fill your brain." But then, it hit me. The two phrases aren't negative at all. They were almost  like encouragements. "Corruption will fill your brain," is just a funny way of saying 'You will have the strength to do <action verb>.' The second line that confused me, the reference back to the first verse, was really the entire message of the song summed up on that line. "Just learn to love pain and be patient." You have to be patient in order to successfully get through life's challenges. You need you a corrupt brain to convince yourself you can.

All in all, the song "Devil May Cry" by The Weekend was all about facing hardships in life and getting through them. It warned that if you're not patient, that low point of your life can drop even lower. I also noticed that this entire song was almost like a summary of social injustice in the world.  Someone facing poverty or abuse can definitely feel life's low points, but there is a way for someone to overcome these challenges. It can be hard, or it can be easy, you can even get help from others. But on the infinite mountain range that is life itself, there will always be a way to climb higher.  

The Stolen Party (Power vs. Resistance)

The Stolen Party is about the strain between power and resistance. When you think of power, you usually are thinking of a person with authority, the boss calling the shots. When you think of resistance, you think of the person resisting the person of authority. There is always tension between the two conflicting forces.

In the story, one of the characters with power and authority is the mother of Rosaura, the main character. This shown when the author uses words like sneered and her harsh tone when speaking with Rosaura.  But we can also see how Rosaura resists. She tells her mother to 'shut up,' and continually ends her arguments in 'so there.' When the two clash, Rosaura is upset by her mothers' tone and doesn't believe her mother is supportive of her. However, I think Rosaura's mother refused to let her go to the 'rich people's party' because she wanted to protect Rosaura. I don't think she wanted Rosaura to get hurt, but that was hidden by Rosaura's blind resent.

Moving on into Luciana's party, Rosaura runs into Luciana's cousin. Luciana's cousin believes she has more authority than Rosaura due to her stronger patronage with Luciana. However, this is actually a sign of resistance to Rosaura who really has more power than her. This is proven when she kicks Luciana's cousin, and when she gives her a small piece of cake. Though the story is written in third person, it is also written through Rosaura's perspective. And because of this, I think Rosaura didn't realize that her power over Luciana's cousin may have hurt her. (Both emotionally and physically.)

In the end, I think Rosaura realizes that her mother truly was trying to protect her, but at the same time make her learn through experience that power is dangerous. I think that in the world, prominent figures of power are politicians. But like Rosaura, some politicians abuse their power, or use it to hurt other people. but that is why there is resistance, so people with power don't become too overpowered. This balance is shown in The Stolen Party and in the world.

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How Are Minorities Portrayed in Books?

While collecting for my reading inquiry, I noticed minorities in general were not being portrayed as 

stupendously as the other characters in some books. This shows that the worlds we read in and the world we live in are full of inequality.

 In the book The Gunslinger by Stephen King, Jake is a young boy who travels with the gunslinger. The gunslinger allows Jake to be fairly independent, but mostly he treats Jake like a child. Jake has a lot of potential but the gunslinger only views him as expendable. Now, just because he's young doesn't mean he has to treat him like a child, and no one is expendable. People usually see those younger than them as lower than them, which is where the seed of inequality is planted. Difference. 

Again, in The Gunslinger, the gunslinger and Jake run into a group of people called the "Slow Mutants." These "Slow Mutants"  are people with physical mutations, and the book strongly implies that they are quite close to the definition of 'monsters.' If you were to come face to face with one of these mutants, you would be sure to agree. However, even though the mutants may look and act and think differently, they're all still people. People with feelings and needs, even if they're not all that human. 

So when you look upon it like that, does it still seem right to treat others who are different from you like you're higher than them? Is it right to treat someone lesser than equal to everything around them? True, people are not all equal, in terms of finance or politics, but when it comes down to the basics, will any of that matter? It shouldn't, because our shells may be painted different colors, but our insides are very similar. Everyone is intuitive in their own way, 

Doors

So over the period of gathering observations on Social Justice, I noticed a few things. I noticed a lot of Social Injustice. I noticed how there seemed to be very little done about it. And I tried to think, well... how can this be changed? And I realized there's not a lot I can do as a 13 year old to make a difference. Sure, people say you can do this and you can do that, but that won't really change much of anything. What you need for change is a whole movement, but nobody tells you how to create that. 

In the environment I spend most of my time in, I can look around and see kids, students,  of all ages. And they all have their own key. The key to one door, or the key to many doors, they were given the mold, and they helped shape it. But you look around at all the doors, and that key might not fit in any of them. But all hope is not lost, because maybe the door you're looking for is farther away than other people's and it'll take a while to get there. On the train, the bus, the street, I see people that found their doors quickly, people who fought for their doors, and people still looking for their doors. Each key is unique,each door is different, each person set on their own path. But they're not entirely alone. You get to have family, friends, rivals, and followers on the path right their with you, because you're not all going to the same place but they're bound to be close by. These doors, they just connect you to success. With that success, you can do anything, be it alone or with support you'll find the door. It may be small or it can be grand, you'll get somewhere. 

There is so much more, but this seemed to be the most significant to me. The search for success with various factors pulling you down or pushing you to the prize. It can be hard, it's a different experience for everyone. Failure can feel so imminent, it's scary. But it's possible to push through it. If you can't do it yourself, then someone will help you through it. That's the way Social Justice works. The Injustice is the people leaving the others behind and only committing to their own concerns. That's what needs to be changed. People need to open their eyes and look at the people behind them instead of themselves.

OMG I Just Noticed This Title Thingy Up Here

In the article "Why the Best Kids Books Are Written In Blood" by Sherman Alexi, author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexi expresses his reaction, opinion, and counter argument to Meghan Cox Gurdon's article "Darkness Too Visible". He explains how he has met with sixty students who battled depression, suicide, gang warfare, sexual abuse, physical abuse, poverty, racism, and learning disabilities and asked the readers how people already scarred by these battles could be scarred once more by the books they read. He wondered if "a dystopian novel will frighten a kid who already lives in hell?" He finished the article by saying that the best kids books come from the people who've felt and experienced what  they're writing about.

Sherman Alexi incorporated many crafting strategies in his article. He included what seemed to be all of his opinions on the topic and added many anecdotes to support his claim. Most were the stories of some of the sixty students he met with. He projected paintings in your mind just by the descriptions of his anecdotes and portrayed the mood of the text with words loaded with emotion.

After reading "Darkness Too Visible" I felt a little uneasy about what I was reading according to that article. But then I read Sherman Alexi's article and, well, I did not feel uneasy. I agree with Sherman Alexi, and I think I had already disagreed with MCG but didn't really know how. I also really liked this article because it was very strong and not at all robotic. When reading it, I could tell that it was written with passion and emotion that, really, the whole thing stood out and really did leave you thinking. I think the author got the reaction he was looking for from readers like me. You could even say he got more.

Destroying Dark

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

            This was promptly shown in the story X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills. The story follows the 6 Uncanny X-Men and their rival/enemy, Magneto, as they speak for mutantkind against the cold convincing words of the Stryker Crusade company. Reverend William Stryker was accusing mutants for being demon spawn and organizing a group of ‘Purifiers’ to hunt them down. But through all the nasty darkness surrounding the antagonists, I realized that there is no inherent good or evil in the world, instead there’s just one big, moral ‘grey area’. However, there is still more than one shade of grey.

            For example, when Magneto sought out the X-Men’s help, they thought he was there to fight against them because they had fought on multiple occasions. But instead of against them, he fought with them, for the benefit of mutantkind. This proves that Magneto is not your every day villain. It shows that he has many different layers and had different perspectives from the X-Men, causing them to fight frequently. Or take William Stryker, who wanted to exterminate all mutants in the name of god.  He was shown as a kind man who believed strongly in religion, that is, if you looked through the cowl of darkness he hid himself in. Sure, he did dark things, but everyone has a dark side. He did beneficial things too. This shows that just because you do ‘bad’ things, it doesn’t make you a ‘bad’ guy.

            When I reflect on all this, I realize that if everyone thought like this, the world would be so confusing, but at the same time, so much more clear and less harsh. The hate would be driven out by love. There wouldn’t be so much darkness. You can see that no one will go outside and say, ‘I’m going to rob a bank because I feel like it,’ or, ‘I’m going to enslave all of humanity just because humanity must be enslaved.’ Of course no one would say that, because even if it was a truly evil idea, it’s not like the person would intend on practicing evil. Everyone’s got a conscience and it creates a diversity in everyone’s own little ‘grey area’.