Jay-Z- Decoded

Jay-Z, highly regarded as one of the best rappers of all time, has written an autobiography about his life on the streets and how he became a global success in the music industry. However his book 'Decoded' is not a typical celebrity autobiography about lifestyle and fame but more about literally decoding some of his most powerful lyrics. Jay-Z said one of the reasons why he wrote this book was to show that rap is a form of poetry. He also said that he wanted the book to tell the story of the struggle of his generation.

In his song 'Public Service Annoucement' Jay-Z ends with the words "No matter where you go/ you are what you are player/ And you can try to change but that's just the top layer/ Man, you was who you was 'fore you got here/ Only God can judge me, so I'm gone/ Either love me, or leave me alone." With these words Jay-Z is making the point that no matter who you are or what you do with your life, your identity will always be shaped by where you come from. Therefore, although Jay-Z goes from selling drugs on the streets to becoming so successful, he is still defined by his life as a hustler. Jay-Z says at another point in the book that for him; "Hustling is the ultimate metaphor for the basic human struggle: the struggle to survive and resist, the struggle to win and to make sense of it all."

Although Jay-Z believes a person's background inevitably shapes who they are, he does not believe that their identity cannot be reshaped. For example, if you make a sculpture out of clay, this sculpture can be remoulded using the same material. He says that "identity isn't a prison you can never escape from, but the way to redeem your past is not to run from it, but to try to understand it, and use it as a foundation to grow." In other words, referring back to the lyrics of 'Public Service Announcement', a person cannot run away from their past and hope to change because they would only be changing the top layer. However it is possible to embrace your past,and use it as a foundation to grow.

I haven't read very much of the book but it's very interesting and I'm going to continue reading it, foccussing on analysing specific lyrics and being able to refer to them as poetry in the exam on the struggle for identity.

Tennessee Williams- The Glass Menagerie

The Glass Menagerie is a dramatic reinactment of Tennessee William's life. The play is set in William's childhood home of St Louis, where the house he and his family occupy is in stark contrast to the upper class lifestyle they are used to. William's lives with his mother and sister, and these 3 people are the only characters for the majority of the play. In the second half a new character enters, and we are told by Tennessee in his monologue at the beginning that this character is the only realistic identity in the play, and the others are merely fantasies based on reality.

The play, although dramatised, is autobiographical and we are introduced into the troubled life William's lived as a child. His sister suffers from schizophrenia and keeps a 'glass menagerie', a set of glass animals that is extremely precious to her. His mother is often a humerous character who clearly wants the best for her children, however she persistently annoys Tom (Tennessee) with her constant claims that he 'shouldn't smoke so much' and that 'he doesn't eat properly.' In the second half the audience is introduced to Tom's friend Jim who is from the factory where they work. Jim is a honest, confident boy who has been brought home for supper in the hope he will fulfil their mothers dream of falling in love with her daughter, Laura.

The Glass Menagerie uses a lot of symbolism in the form of light and sound. For example red lighting to signify anger or jealousy and aggresive or passive music to show Tom's inner emotions. However the most interesting dramatic symbol for me was that of the glass menagerie. Whilst Jim is getting to know Laura he is shown her most precious glass menagerie and accidently drops and breaks her favourite object in the collection; a unicorn. The horn is broken off the unicorn but Laura claims it is okay because now he will be normal and able to fit in with the other horses. This shift from abnormality or normality in the form of the glass animal shows Laura's new found confidence in who she is despite her disability. However the audience then find out Jim is engaged and cannot be with Laura after all, and with his exit he takes the broken animal as a token of friendship and memory, and with this he is taking the only normal part of Laura she ever had.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner

"The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" is a short story written by Alan Sillitoe and published in 1959 as part of a collection of short stories under the same title. It's about a boy called Colin from a working class background in Nottingham who is sent to a Borstal (Young offenders institute) due to his partisipance in petty crimes.

Whilst in the Borstal Colin takes up running as a method of escape from both the emotional and physical state of his situation. The situation Colin finds himself in this story is similar to that of Offred in 'The  Handmaid's Tale.' Both characters are constantly having to hide their true feelings because otherwise they would be punished by the people above them. In Colin's case this is the Governer of the Borstal who is relying on Colin to win the Long Distance running competition in order to make himself look good.

Towards the beginning of the story Colin tells himself about the people who are running the Borstal: "They can spy on us all day to see if we're pulling our puddings and if we're working hard or doing our 'athletics' but they can't make an X-ray of our guts to see what we're telling ourselves." Although the Governer of the Borstal is confident Colin will win the race, he decides to finish as runner-up on purpose. This is an example of a feeling Colin has which is kept private because of the consequences. Similarly Offred uses thoughts to keep herself sane when she is reduced to just the role of a handmaid.

The Start

Hi, i'm Adam, and this is my blog.
I'm using this blog as a way of posting my wider reading for English A-Level. I am intending to read books, poems and articles all based around the theme of the Struggle for Identity. This blog is a way of expressing how I feel about the texts in relation to the theme and in general.
Hopefully I'll be keeping you posted! Thanks, Adam Rodgers Johns, the Charter School Sixth Form student.