Friday, March 28, 2008

Song Project Based on Treatment of Native Americans

Based on the previous history of the Native Americans in the US, we have analyzed the lyrics of the song "Imagine", by John Lennon and relate it to the unfair treatment they received by the White Men. Sumit Pal and myself, have worked on the following work you will see below.

NOTE: All the notations are in [BRACKETS] and in PURPLE FONT for each stanza.

“Imagine”, by John Lennon
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
[Repetition: Imagine, world
“Imagine all the people”
“I’m a dreamer”“But I’m not the only one”]
[The beginning of “The World
on the Turtle’s back”,
by Iroquois took place in the sky.]
-----------------------------------
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
[Alliteration:
“It isn’t…”
“Living life...”]
-----------------------------------
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
[Alliteration:
“… only one”
“…world will…”]
-----------------------------------
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
[The lines “Imagine all the people” “Sharing all the world” express Chief Joseph’s concept of sharing the Nez Perce’s land with the white men to avoid conflict.]
-----------------------------------
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
[Alliteration:
“…world will…”]
[Personification:
“And the world will live as one”
The world can’t live, but humans can.]
-----------------------------------
Analysis Paragraph:

“Imagine”, by John Lennon expresses a significant reflection on Native Americans of the past. “Imagine all the people” “Sharing all the world” clearly expresses Chief Joseph’s concept of sharing of sharing land with the “white men”. This similarly relates to “Imagine all the people” “Living life in peace”, which was Chief Joseph’s dream. This song is also very appropriate because it expresses the idea of “no countries”. If there are no countries, then there are no boundaries, and if there are no boundaries then there would be no reason for people to fight, which means no war. Chief Joseph would also want for a day to come where the white men could “join” them in “living as one”.
-----------------------------------
Picture Analysis:





The Native Americans were a group of people who always wanted to live in peace and harmony. This picture resembles the unity that they wanted to experience. The animals in this picture could represent them, the Native Americans, because they consider the animals to be very sacred as a part of their living. As you can see in the picture, animals of different types are together in one place without fighting, which represents the unity the Native Americans wanted to have between them. The fact that there are no boundaries in the land, explains how the Native Americans wanted to live with the white men "Living all as one".
Throughout history the Native Americans were seen as inferior people to the whites. Many tribes and groups were forced to leave their homes due to the expansion of the U.S. According to Chief Joseph the Nez Perces were a group of Native Americans which wanted to live in peace with the white men. Unfortunately the U.S. government ignored this plea to live in peace and continued their expansion. The U.S. was willing to kill the Nez Perces if they wouldn’t leave from the territory that was soon to be acquired. This picture shows a group of Native Americans who are traveling west to find a new home. The picture reflects the second stanza of this song which states that there should be “Nothing to kill or die for”, this is something that the Native Americans believed in. Without something to kill or die for the Native Americans would have kept their homes. The lines “Imagine all the people” “Living life in peace” reflect the attitude of the Native Americans towards the white men. The Native Americans wanted to live in peace so that no blood would be shed. John Lennon conveys the idea that he wants to see the world in peace so incidents like the Native Americans losing their homes and being forced to move wouldn’t happen again.

Sources:
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)