Monday Muses Blog

Grace Bugler 809

Monday Muses Blog

Writing off of a song: They Do They Don’t, by Jack Johnson

The song “They Do They Don’t” inspires me to appreciate what I have and learn to never give up. It speaks to me because it’s different then most songs. It’s not a love song or a break-up song; it’s a song about the way Jack Johnson feels. He sings about the way he sees life.

The song starts off with a really dark tone. The first line, “Tied down against the tracks/ Screaming in silent black and white” has a lot of different meanings in it. I usually think of it as like a classic black and white movie scene. I picture a screaming girl tied against railroad tracks, but nobody can hear her. In the song, I think the greater meaning is that he feels trapped, and he’s screaming for help, but nobody hears him. I have felt this way before, so I know how it feels. For example, there has been a lot of pressure about picking a high school lately and sometimes I feel my parents don’t actually hear the things I say about a school that I like. It makes me feel like I am screaming at air. The first line always makes me feel listened to and I calm down when I hear the rhythm of the song. The hook speaks to me and I always find myself singing it out loud.

Another line that relates to me is “we were used/ Used to thinking we got nothing to lose/ we're losing everything but the truth”. I think Jack Johnson means that he once thought he didn’t have anything to lose, but now everything he has is gone and all he has left is the truth. I think the truth might be something he has been avoiding telling. He may have lost everything lying to people and now he must tell what he has been hiding. I can relate to this because I have been in a situation where I lied to avoid telling the truth. In the end I had run out of lies and I eventually had to come clean, but sometimes it doesn’t work that way, and if you wait too long to tell the truth you may be too late.

This song makes me feel heard. It’s always nice to know that you’re not the only one dealing with certain problems. Whenever I listen to this song I remember how good the world can be if you look at life with a positive perspective. Whenever I’m feeling down I just listen to this song and I feel so much better.

"They Do They Don't"

Tied down against the tracks

Screaming in silent black and white

Why'd you trust us we are such villains

We would tell ourselves anything

we want to hear if we are willing

To listen is to learn

Then too much is what we deserve

And how come when we say that we do

We don't

Pray to anybody you want

We won't

But if we're the ones to blame then the fruit

Shouldn't taste so good we were used

Used to thinking we got nothing to lose

We're losing everything but the truth

Is walking straight into a roadblock ending left here bending

Your point of view was chosen by the serpent's ruse

With all its do's and don'ts

The future is an empty promise

Unconcerned and so tired of waiting

We could sell it wooden horses

full of nightmares and when they open

This all might recompose

There's no going back to the good old days

it's just a phase bring in some new life

Archaism is a dusty road leading us back to nowhere

But if we're the ones to blame then the fruit

Shouldn't taste so good we were used

Used to thinking we got nothing to lose

We're losing everything but the truth

Is walking straight into a roadblock ending left here bending

Your point of view was chosen by the serpent's ruse

How come when we say we do

We don't

How come when we say we will

We won't

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay

By Suzanne Collins

Have you ever thought about how media manipulates consumers to buy their products, such as starting a sweepstakes on Facebook to earn more followers. In the book Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins, the Capitol and District 13 both manipulate Katniss and her friends. At first I thought just the Capitol was controlling Katniss and the rest of Panem, but now I think that District 13 is doing the same.

District 13 is just as powerful and controlling as the Capitol. One part where the author communicates this idea is “What they want is for me to truly take on the role they designed for me. The symbol of the revolution. The Mockingjay. I won’t have to do it alone. They have a whole team of people to make me over, dress me, write my speeches, orchestrate my appearances- as if that doesn’t sound horribly familiar- and all I have to do is play my part.” This shows that District 13 is trying to control what Katniss does, looks, and says. This sounds a lot like when Katniss went into the Hunger Games. She had a prep team to make her look good, a mentor to tell her what to do, and an escort to show her what to say. Katniss has not yet realized that District 13 is as controlling as the Capitol.

District 13 is trying to manipulate Panem. A part of the text that makes me think this is “Yes, other people had plans, I think. Has Peeta guessed, then, how the rebels used us as pawns? How my rescue was arranged from the beginning? And finally, how our mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, betrayed us both for a cause he pretended to have no interest in?” This proves that District 13 is trying to manipulate Katniss by turning her mentor who she trusted against her. Katniss is beginning to realize that District 13 is not so trustworthy after all, and that they might be as bad as the Capitol. Still Katniss has not done anything to prove her point. Katniss should try to find a way to destroy both the Capitol and District 13.

District 13 starts thinking like the Capitol did during the Hunger Games. This is shown in the text, “I'm not with Snow now. I'm in Special Weaponry back in 13 with Gale and Beetee. Looking at the designs based on Gale's traps. That played on human sympathies. The first bomb killed the victims. The second, the rescuers.” This shows that District 13 was thinking like the Capitol: heartless, and willing to kill dozens of children. Gale and Beetee could have set off those bombs, killing a pen full of children. If they were willing to think like the scheming Capitol just to win the war, it makes me think that District 13 and the Capitol were never any different in the first place.

Overall, District 13 manipulated their own population to think that they were the good guys, but in reality they were never much better then the Capitol. Katniss only realizes this in the end when she shoots President Coin instead of President Snow. This story relates to real life because the Capitol and District 13 both manipulated Panem to get the population on their side, and today the media manipulates consumers to get them to buy their product. The Hunger Games trilogy may be a science fiction novel, but it relates to present day remarkably.