Note: I used the uncut version of the video when I was doing this...that's why some things differ a tiny bit. Please don't kill me for it.
In today’s world, it has become commonplace to hear of violence in schools. Schools are supposed to be havens for learning; instead, it is not uncommon to hear of a student bringing a weapon to school to kill others as well as to take his own life. Most can only look at that student with hatred; it is rare for someone to examine the reasons behind the actions. Pearl Jam’s “Jeremy” attempts to do just this. The speaker in “Jeremy”reminisces on Jeremy's life, placing the blame for Jeremy's murder/suicide on Jeremy's parents and himself.
The video begins by phrases such as “3:30 in the afternoon,” and “64 degrees and cloudy.” 3:30 in the afternoon is around the time that students leave school. 64 degrees and cloudy describes the weather, which is cool and pleasant. Then, the lyrics begin by painting a picture of Jeremy’s feelings. “With him on top lemon yellow sun, arms raised in a V,” describes Jeremy’s sense of victory over all of those who hurt him, who “lay in pools of maroon below.” He is alone on top of the sun, showing that he feels alone in his life. His parents aren’t there for him; they don’t care about the things he did, and, perhaps to Jeremy, this means that they don’t care whether he lives or dies.
The song continues by switching to Jeremy’s life at school. The speaker describes teasing Jeremy, believing the child to be harmless. “Ohh, but we unleashed a lion.” This describes the surprise the speaker felt as Jeremy hit him in the jaw. “My jaw left hurtin’…ohh dropped wide open just like the day…oh, just like the day I heard.” This further explains the speaker’s surprise, this time at Jeremy’s final action that hurt a lot more people than just the speaker. The speaker believes that what Jeremy did was partially his fault; he believed that him teasing Jeremy, as well as Jeremy’s parents not being there for him, indirectly caused Jeremy to snap.
One of the most repeated lines in the song is “Jeremy spoke in class today.” This phrase does not refer to the fact that Jeremy, shown in the rest of the song to be a fairly isolated child, answered a question. Instead, the line refers to the fact that Jeremy’s actions spoke louder than any words he could have said; Jeremy killed his classmates and himself, shown in the video through newspaper clippings of school shootings as well as Jeremy placing a gun in his mouth. The speaker, after hearing about what Jeremy did, was remorseful. “Try to forget this….try to erase this,” shows that the speaker tried to forget about Jeremy. He tried to forget not only what Jeremy had done, but also what he himself had done to Jeremy. He tried to erase it from his memory so that he could forgive himself for it.
The video ends by showing the phrases “3:30 in the afternoon,” and “64 degrees and cloudy.” This shows that, although the speaker remembers Jeremy and believes that what he did was an antecedent to Jeremy’s actions, the rest of the world does not remember. To everyone else, life carries on. Jeremy’s speech means nothing to those who did not witness it, and if the world does not remember, will it ever really end?
The video begins by phrases such as “3:30 in the afternoon,” and “64 degrees and cloudy.” 3:30 in the afternoon is around the time that students leave school. 64 degrees and cloudy describes the weather, which is cool and pleasant. Then, the lyrics begin by painting a picture of Jeremy’s feelings. “With him on top lemon yellow sun, arms raised in a V,” describes Jeremy’s sense of victory over all of those who hurt him, who “lay in pools of maroon below.” He is alone on top of the sun, showing that he feels alone in his life. His parents aren’t there for him; they don’t care about the things he did, and, perhaps to Jeremy, this means that they don’t care whether he lives or dies.
The song continues by switching to Jeremy’s life at school. The speaker describes teasing Jeremy, believing the child to be harmless. “Ohh, but we unleashed a lion.” This describes the surprise the speaker felt as Jeremy hit him in the jaw. “My jaw left hurtin’…ohh dropped wide open just like the day…oh, just like the day I heard.” This further explains the speaker’s surprise, this time at Jeremy’s final action that hurt a lot more people than just the speaker. The speaker believes that what Jeremy did was partially his fault; he believed that him teasing Jeremy, as well as Jeremy’s parents not being there for him, indirectly caused Jeremy to snap.
One of the most repeated lines in the song is “Jeremy spoke in class today.” This phrase does not refer to the fact that Jeremy, shown in the rest of the song to be a fairly isolated child, answered a question. Instead, the line refers to the fact that Jeremy’s actions spoke louder than any words he could have said; Jeremy killed his classmates and himself, shown in the video through newspaper clippings of school shootings as well as Jeremy placing a gun in his mouth. The speaker, after hearing about what Jeremy did, was remorseful. “Try to forget this….try to erase this,” shows that the speaker tried to forget about Jeremy. He tried to forget not only what Jeremy had done, but also what he himself had done to Jeremy. He tried to erase it from his memory so that he could forgive himself for it.
The video ends by showing the phrases “3:30 in the afternoon,” and “64 degrees and cloudy.” This shows that, although the speaker remembers Jeremy and believes that what he did was an antecedent to Jeremy’s actions, the rest of the world does not remember. To everyone else, life carries on. Jeremy’s speech means nothing to those who did not witness it, and if the world does not remember, will it ever really end?
2 comments:
Alrighty, here is your lovely comment, posted by ME :]
P1: Good intro. I like the use of the word "commonplace". I don't really know why...kind of weird. Anyway, the thesis statement isn't flowing as well as the rest of the paragraph. it's like you're trying to squeeze everything into one sentence, which is essentially what you're trying to do, but I don't think it's supposed to sound like that..
P2: Good until the last sentence when you used "aren't" and "didn't" in the same sentence. Two different tenses.
P3: Nice para.
P4: Instead of "about it" in the last sentence, how about "for it".
P5: Nice wrap up. I like how you began and ended the essay with the same words, much like the video did.
Very good overall. You know you're a good writer already though :P Watch your tenses though.. And by reading your analysis, I realized that I definitely forgot to write about the tone..
Kudos to you.
I hate you. I love how you write, its like an article out of a magazine...i wanna fricken write like that. BUT is your thesis at the end of your intro? And Courtney's right about how well your conclusion was.
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