Car Radio, By Ishmael Beah: Song Analysis
In the memoir, A Long Way Gone Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, by Ishmael Beah, music plays a significant role in Ishmael’s life. There are several songs that have lyrics that relate to the book. My favorite song, “Car Radio”, by Twenty One Pilots, has lyrics that relate to this book and Ishmael’s life. The lyrics, “Sometimes quiet is violent / I find it hard to hide it / My pride is no longer inside / It's on my sleeve / My skin will scream reminding me of / Who I killed inside my dream / I hate this car that I'm driving / There's no hiding for me / I'm forced to deal with what I feel / There is no distraction to mask what is real”, are important to me and they relate to the book. These lyrics are very influential and meaningful to me. These lyrics
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In the song, Tyler Joseph states, “Sometimes quiet is violent / I find it hard to hide it / My pride is no longer inside…”, “I'm forced to deal with what I feel / There is no distraction to mask what is real…”, and, “And now i just sit in silence”. In the book, Ishmael is alone with his thoughts because there is nothing to distract him. He’s sitting in the silence of his thoughts and is forced to deal with it because he has no one to talk to him and be with him. In the book, Ishmael remembers his father saying,“ “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.” (page 72) This saying is something that Ishmael uses to remember that he should never give up and that he should have ambition. The lyrics, “There’s faith and there’s sleep / We need to pick one please because / Faith is to be awake / And to be awake is for us to think / And for us to think is to be alive”, also support the theme of having ambition and not giving up. Music plays a very significant role in Ishmael Beah’s life. The song, “Car Radio”, by, Twenty One Pilots, is a song that relates to the book, and Ishmael’s life. Themes of loneliness and despondency are seen throughout the book and the song. Similar to how I related to this song, I conclude that Ishmael would be able to relate to it like I
In the song, Tyler Joseph states, “Sometimes quiet is violent / I find it hard to hide it / My pride is no longer inside…”, “I'm forced to deal with what I feel / There is no distraction to mask what is real…”, and, “And now i just sit in silence”. In the book, Ishmael is alone with his thoughts because there is nothing to distract him. He’s sitting in the silence of his thoughts and is forced to deal with it because he has no one to talk to him and be with him. In the book, Ishmael remembers his father saying,“ “If you are alive, there is hope for a better day and something good to happen. If there is nothing good left in the destiny of a person, he or she will die.” (page 72) This saying is something that Ishmael uses to remember that he should never give up and that he should have ambition. The lyrics, “There’s faith and there’s sleep / We need to pick one please because / Faith is to be awake / And to be awake is for us to think / And for us to think is to be alive”, also support the theme of having ambition and not giving up. Music plays a very significant role in Ishmael Beah’s life. The song, “Car Radio”, by, Twenty One Pilots, is a song that relates to the book, and Ishmael’s life. Themes of loneliness and despondency are seen throughout the book and the song. Similar to how I related to this song, I conclude that Ishmael would be able to relate to it like I