ARISTOTLE's PRINCIPLES of GOOD LIFE in RACHEL PLATTEN and the SCRIPT's SELECTED SONGS Beserta Perangkat Yang Diperlukan (Bila Ada)
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ARISTOTLE’S PRINCIPLES OF GOOD LIFE IN RACHEL PLATTEN AND THE SCRIPT’S SELECTED SONGS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By BONAVENTURA DWINDA SATYA Student Number: 154214042
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2019
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
ARISTOTLE’S PRINCIPLES OF GOOD LIFE IN RACHEL PLATTEN AND THE SCRIPT’S SELECTED SONGS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra in English Letters
By BONAVENTURA DWINDA SATYA Student Number: 154214042
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS FACULTY OF LETTERS UNIVERSITAS SANATA DHARMA YOGYAKARTA 2019
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STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY
I certify that this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been previously submitted for the award of any other degree at any university, and that, to the best of my knowledge, this undergraduate thesis contains no material which has been previously written by any other person except where due the reference is made in the text ofthe undergraduate thesis.
July, 24 2019 ~ Bonaventura Dwinda Satya
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LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLlKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Universitas Sanata Dharma
Nama : Bonaventura Dwinda Satya Nomor Mahasiswa : 154214042
Demi pertimbangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang beIjudul
ARISTOTLE'S PRINCIPLES OF GOOD LIFE IN RACHEL PLATTEN AND THE SCRIPT'S SELECTED SONGS beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengolahnya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikan secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin kepada saya maupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. .
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta Pada tanggal24 bulan July 2019
Yang menyatakan
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”We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is not an act, but a habit.” - Aristotle
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For my beloved family
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Firstly I would like to express my highest gratitude to Jesus Chirst because without his blessing and love, it is impossible for me to finish this last assignment. Secondly to my whole family, my parents, my brothers, Mbak Tanti, and Gyandra, thank you for being such a good family and thank you because for always supporting me in every situation. I would like to express my gratitude and thank for my thesis advisor, Drs. Hirmawan Wijanarka, M.Hum., and my reader Dra. Theresia Enny
Anggraini Ph.D..for being very patience lecturers in helping and also for giving suggestion and advice to the process to my thesis for all this time.
I want to say thank for my friends who I consider as my lecturers outside the university, Danny Gunawan and Junus Rifandy because they are the ones who gave me an inspiration to write this topic, the pursuit of good life which is pursuing happiness without always feeling happy. I want to also express my appreciation to my beloved friends that I have met for the first time I studied in Sanata Dharma, Rizky, Ardhia, Lintang, and Zetly. Thank you for the great time that we all have been through, for being my friends who always accompany me in attending every class and sharing moments together. And all my friends that I made in Selfie, Elcomfest, Majelis Kelas, HMPS, Seasons of Love, KKN Ngrunggo, and the fifteen batch specially the trah trump family, that because of working together and knowing all of you, I can get so many experience that taught me to be a good person. And lastly, for all my friends and my lectures who I met in this lovely university that I cannot mention one by one. Thank you for the experience, thank you for the knowledge, and the great moments. It is been a pleasure to know all of you. This four years of living has been such a good life.
Bonaventura Dwinda Satya
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE ...... ii APPROVAL PAGE ...... iii ACCEPTANCE PAGE ...... iv STATEMENT OF ORIGINALITY ...... v LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH .. vi MOTTO PAGE ...... vii DEDICATION PAGE ...... viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... x ABSTRACT ...... xii ABSTRAK ……………………………………………………………………………xiii LIST OF TABLE ……………………………………………………………………xiv
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ...... 1 A. Background of the Study ...... 2 B. Problem Formulation ...... 3 C. Objective of the Study ...... 3 D. Definition of Term ...... 3 CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ...... 4 A. Review of Related Studies ...... 4 B. Review of Related Theories ...... 7 1. Theory of Lyric ...... 7 2. Theory of Figurative Language ...... 9 a. Metaphor ...... 9 b. Hyperbole ...... 9 c. Personification ...... 10 d. Simile ...... 10 e. Synecdoche ...... 10 f. Anaphora ...... 10 g. Symbolism ...... 11 h. Juxtaposition ...... 11 3. Theory of Theme ...... 12 4. Theory of Good Life (Eudaimonia) ...... 13 C. Theoretical Framework ...... 20 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY ...... 21 A. Object of the Study ...... 22 B. Approach of the Study ...... 22 C. Method of the Study ...... 23 CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS RESULT AND DISCUSSION ...... 24 A. The Theme of Rachel Platten and The Script’s selected songs ...... 24
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1. Rachel Platten’s Fight Song ...... 24 2. Rachel Platten’s Stand by You ...... 30 3. The Script’s Hall of Fame...... 36 4. The Script’s Superheroes ...... 43 B. How The Four Songs Reflected The Principle of Good Life ...... 48 1. Rachel Platten’s Fight Song ...... 49 2. Rachel Platten’s Stand by You ...... 51 3. The Script’s Hall of Fame...... 52 4. The Script’s Superheroes ...... 54 CHAPTER V: CONSCLUSION ...... 57
REFERENCES ...... 59 APPENDICIES ...... 61
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LIST OF TABLE
No. Table Page ______
1. Table 1. Aristotle’s 12 Moral Virtues 16
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ABSTRACT
SATYA, BONAVENTURA DWINDA. (2019). Aristotle’s Principles of Good Life in Rachel Platten and The Script’s Selected Songs. Yogyakarta: English Letters Department, Faculty of English Department, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
This undergraduate thesis discusses songs by two different singers. The first is Rachel Platten’s songs entitled “Fight Song” and “Stand by You”. The next is the songs by The Script’s songs entitled “Hall of Fame” and “Superheroes”. The purpose of the study is to find the philosophy of good life that are described in these songs. Good life can have different meanings in many people’s mind. For most people, living a good life is a matter of feeling good, pleasure, or happy. But it turns out that good life is not just about feeling happy. These songs want to tell what good life is really about.
There are two objectives in this study. The first objective is to find the meaning of the songs. And the second objective is to show the philosophy of good life that is reflected in the song lyrics.
The study uses the moral philosophical approach in analyzing the song lyrics. And the researcher uses the theory of figurative language and the theory of good life as the guidance to show the meaning of good life that is conveyed by the songs. There are two sources that are used in the study. The first sources are the primary sources which are the song lyrics themselves and the secondary sources are obtained from related books, journal, and internet articles.
From the analysis, the researcher discovers two points. The first point is that all the four have the same meaning the writers want to convey which is keep chasing the happiness that they want despite having unhappy situation. The second discovery is that the four songs reflect the principle of good life. That good life is not just about feeling happy or feeling pleasure. But it’s about an action of becoming a better person in the world.
Keywords: Good life, Happiness, Eudaimonia
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ABSTRAK
SATYA, BONAVENTURA DWINDA. (2019). Aristotle’s Principles of Good Life in Rachel Platten and The Script’s Selected Songs. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. Skirpsi ini membahas lagu-lagu oleh dua penyanyi yang berbeda. Penyanyi yang pertama adalah Rachel Platten dengan lagu-lagunya yang berjudul “Fight song” dan “Stand by you”. Selanjutnya adalah lagu-lagu yang dinyayikan The Script yang berjudul “Hall of Fame” dan “Superheroes”. Tujuan dari studi ini adalah untuk menemukan filosofi tentang kehidupan yang baik. Kehidupan yang baik dapat memiliki makna yang berbeda dalam pikiran banyak orang. Bagi kebanyakan orang, menjalani kehidupan yang baik adalah masalah merasa senang atau bahagia. Tetapi ternyata hidup yang baik bukan hanya tentang merasa bahagia. Lagu-lagu ini ingin menceritakan apa arti dari kehidupan yang baik sebenarnya. Ada dua tujuan dalam studi ini. Tujuan yang pertama adalah menemukan makna lagu. Dan tujuan kedua adalah untuk menunjukan makna filosofi dari kehidupan baik yang tercermin dalam lirik lagu-lagu tersebut. Studi ini menggunakan pendekatan filosofis moral dalam menganalisis lirik lagu. Dan peneliti menggunakan teori bahasa kiasan dan teori kehidupan baik sebagai pedoman untuk menunjukkan makna kehidupan yang baik yang disampaikan oleh lagu-lagu. Ada dua sumber yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini. Sumber pertama adalah sumber utama yang merupakan lirik lagu-lagu itu sendiri dan sumber kedua diperoleh dari buku-buku yang berkaitan, jurnal, dan artikel internet. Peneliti menemukan bahwa semua lagu benar-benar ingin menceritakan tentang kehidupan yang baik. Dari analisis yang dilakukan, peneliti menemukan dua poin. Poin pertama adalah bahwa keempat lagu tersebut memiliki makna yang sama yang ingin disampaikan oleh para penulisnya, yaitu terus mengejar kebahagiaan yang mereka inginkan meskipun mengalami situasi yang tidak menyenangkan. Poin kedua adalah bahwa keempat lagu mencerminkan prinsip kehidupan yang baik. Kehidupan yang baik itu bukan hanya tentang merasa bahagia atau merasakan kesenangan. Tetapi ini tentang tindakan menjadi orang yang lebih baik di dunia.
Kata Kunci: Good life, Happiness, Eudaimonia
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
The first reason why the researcher chose these song lyrics as the object of study is because there is a valuable lesson about life that these four songs have. Many people only consider a literary text as a long story that tells about something or someone. But the truth is literary text is more than that.
Literature is a creation by someone at some time in history, and it is intended to speak to other human beings about some idea or issue that has human relevance. Its greatness comes from the fact that when the wisest, most cultivated, most sensitive minds bring all their information, experience, and feeling to contemplate it, they are moved and impressed by its beauty, by its unique kind of knowledge, and even by its nonaesthetic values.(Guerin, 2005, P. 17).
Guerin tries to say that a literature is a human creation consisting a story about something and through the work, the author tries to explain about the ideas and messages to the readers. Plato and Horace also support this idea. Plato said that literature must exhibit moralism and utilitarianism and Horace said that literature should be delightful and instructive (Skylar, 2018, para.5). Therefore, it means that literature should teach us a valuable lesson that we can apply in our life.
The second reason is because these songs reflect a philosophy of the good life.
As we all know, people in this world have their own definition of good life. Some people define a good life as living in a luxury lifestyle, having a lot of money, having fame, or helping other people. Simply most people define a good life as a happy life.
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When they are happy, it means that they have a good life. But a good life is not always about being happy. Because being happy is a matter of feeling or a mental state of mind. So by feeling happy does not mean that we are living a good life. But it is about something else we can all do: commit which is also same as the lyrics in these songs have.
These four songs in this study want to tell about one common thing which is when we find the reason or the purpose why we were born and live in this world, we must commit to do that no matter what happens, no matter what people say about life, no matter what problems we have. Because by doing it, it means that we are living a good life.
Therefore, it is necessary to study philosophy of good life because philosophy of a good life will teach us how to deal with all our life problems or the real world. Philosophy of a good life is finding a good way for people to live. If people do not know what the meaning of their existence, they will not know what to do when they face so many problems in their life.
B. Problem Formulation
In order to make a clear and organized discussion, the researcher has formulated the problems as follow:
1. What are the themes of the songs?
2. How is the principle of good life reflected in these songs?
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C. Objectives of the Study
In accordance with the problems above, this undergraduate thesis is aimed at discovering some points. Firstly, what the four songs want to tell. Secondly, how the principle of good life is reflected in the songs. The process of identifying how the principle of good life is essential in this research.
D. Definition of the Terms
The main term that is used in this undergraduate thesis is good life. The definition
of good itself is taken from the Aristotle’s book entitled Nicomachean Ethics. He said
that good is what everything or what everyone in this world aims. And the good in
end is happiness. Therefore happiness is the highest level of good. Happiness itself is
called as eudaimonia in ancient Greek time. Aristotle stated that human can be happy
(Eudaimonia) or living a good life if they can be excellence or virtues. Therefore,
Aristotle does not talk about happiness is just about a sensation of just feeling pleasure.
He defines happiness as live well and do well.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
This chapter consist of some theories used in this study. There are three parts: review of related studies, review of related theories and theoretical framework. The review of related studies discusses articles and journal that cover a similar topic to this study. The review of the related theories covers the theory of song lyric, figurative language, and the theory of good life. The theoretical framework explains how each theory contributes to its important point for the analysis to solve the problem formulated in this study.
A. Review of Related Studies
In this part, the researcher uses some references of other related studies or article that discuss about the same approach and related study which is the definition of good life. The first study is an undergraduate thesis that is done by Verlin Maria K, a student of Sanata Dharma University in 2005. Her thesis entitled A Study of
Philosophical of Good Life in Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump. The aims of her study are to find the characteristic of Forrest Gump, and also to show his life experience. And the last aim is to find the meaning of life through Forrest Gump’s characteristic and life experience. The approach of the study that the researcher uses is moral philosophical approach.
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Verlin tries to show that all people want to live a good life, but most of the time they do not know what a good life is. In the story of the study, Gump was seen as a useless person because his IQ was below the standard IQ. Because of this opinion, during his life most of the time people treat him badly, but he never paid attention to them, because he himself who understood his own life. In the end, he could find his true happiness.
Gump showed that even though he had a lot of money, but he did not feel happy. The truth was money made him lose his freedom and he could not do anything he liked anymore. From Gump’s experience, we could see that money could not buy our true happiness. The true happiness for Gump was when he could do anything that he liked without having to listen to other people’s opinions (Maria K, 2005, p. 43).
The meaning of good life for Gump is when he could find something that could last forever. When he could understand himself, he could dig up all the potentials inside himself without letting other people’s opinions form his personalities.
The other related article is done by Ruth Chang, an American professor of philosophy at Rutgers University entitled The Good Life Isn’t About Being Happy. In the article, she said that being happy is having a positive mental state, most broadly, a positive feeling that all is well with the world and with our place in it. In short, happy life is about the feeling. And today people can get happy feelings by taking pharmaceuticals or pills. But by only feeling happy, does not mean that we are living a good life. We also can have a good life without being happy all the time.
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People with good lives are often happy. If you’re feeling happy, chances are, good things are happening in your life. But you can have a good life without being happy. Mother Teresa, who wasn’t an especially happy individual, had a perfectly good life. We all know grumpy people who are not very positive in their feelings and outlook but who have good lives (Chang, 2016, para. 6). Therefore, according to Ruth Chang, A good life is the committed life. The meaning of commitment itself is a willingness to do something that we believe in no matter what happens and whether we like it or not. It is the exercise of an under- appreciated human capacity, the capacity to put ourselves behind an idea, cause, person, or course of action. Commitments are more than intentions or promises to do things.
When we commit to someone, we put our very self behind our beloved’s needs and interests.
The next related study is an article entitled Eudaemonia, The Good Life by
Martin Seligman. In the article, Martin explains what good life is about. This article also supports the idea of the good life by Ruth Chang in the previous related study that said good life is not about feeling happy. Some great philosophers define good life as eudaemonia.
The second one is eudaemonia, the good life, which is what Thomas Jefferson and Aristotle meant by the pursuit of happiness. They did not mean smiling a lot and giggling. Aristotle talks about the pleasures of contemplation and the pleasures of good conversation. Aristotle is not talking about raw feeling, about thrills, about orgasms. Aristotle is talking about what Mike Csikszentmihalyi works on, and that is, when one has a good conversation, when one contemplates well. When one is in eudaemonia, time stops (Seligman, 2004, para. 9).
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Therefore according to Martin, a good life is not about having happy feeling or activity that indicates happiness such as smiling and giggling. It is about pursuing the happiness. It is about an activity to achieve the good.
This undergraduate thesis focuses on different aspects compared with other studies that are discussed previously. Although the researcher also focuses on the moral-philosophical value and uses the same approach. In this research, the objects of the study are song lyrics that are released in modern era which song lyrics are also considered literary work. And this study also uses the theory of good life by different philosophy which is Aristotle. It is different with the previous study by Verlin Maria
K. who used the theory of good life by Socrates.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theory of Lyric
A lyric is also called a literature because the definition of the lyric itself is a short poem. According to Oxford Dictionary, a lyric is a poetry or a lyric poem that expresses the personal thoughts and feelings of the person who wrote it (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p.
885). The function of a lyric is also to represent the idea that the writer wants to give to the people. The definition of the lyric is also explained in Abram’s book entitled The Glossary of Literary Terms.
In the most common use of the term, a lyric is any fairly short poem, consisting of the utterance by a single speaker, who expresses a state of mind or a process of perception, thought, and feeling. Many lyric speakers are represented as musing in solitude. (Abrams, 1985, p.146).
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But even though the creator of the song lyrics are the writers, it does not always mean that the expressions and feelings are from and for the writers themselves, such as the subject “I” does not always refer to the writers but it could be the people who read the lyrics.
Although the lyric is uttered in the first person, the "I" in the poem need not be the poet who wrote it. In some lyrics, such as John Milton's sonnet. "When I consider how my light is spent" and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "Frost at Midnight," the references to the known circumstances of the author's life make it clear that we are to read the poem as a personal expression. (Abrams, 1985, p.146).
According to Raymond in his book entitled The Introduction of Poetry, a lyric also is simpler in term of style, briefer, and also more emotional than other groups which means a lyric could make this kind of literary work is easier to be understood.
The first group, then, will be formed of the song lyrics, those which are fitted by nature musical utterance. These are more purely emotional than those of other groups, more spontaneous and rapid utterance, more simple in style, and are likely to more brief. (Raymond, 1909, p.62)
In Lina Elmusa’s article entitled “Music Lyrics As Literature”, she said that a song lyric could also be considered as a literary work because it also can have meanings that it wants to convey just like in the poetry. Song lyrics have some sort of intention, they are often filled with figurative language and more often than not, they have layers of meaning (Elmusa, 2016, para. 2)
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2. Figurative Language
Figurative language is very important in a literary work like poetry. Because it will give imagination that beyond the literal through imaginative process.
The most important and largest aspect of the imaginative concreteness of poetical style is its use of what is called figured or figurative language, language turned, by what are also called tropes or turnings, from its literal meaning to something allied to that meaning through an imaginative process (Raymond, 1909, p.142).
In this study, the researcher will discuss some of the kinds of the figurative language. a. Metaphor
A metaphor asserts the identity, without a connective such as “like” or a verb as appears, of terms that are literally incompatible. Christina Alm Arvius’s book entitled
Figures of Speech, said that to understand about metaphor is based on analogy.
This way of explaining the nature of metaphor is typically felt to agree with our intuitive conception of such language uses. In fact, also Aristotle described metaphor in a similar way. More specifically, Aristotle pointed out that appropriate metaphors would be based on analogy (Arvius, 2003, p.20).
b. Hyperbole
Exaggeration is very common in language, and hyperbole is the term used for this kind of figure of speech. Occasionally the synonym overstatement is used in
Hyperbole. For example, I’ve been working my fingers to the bone, and we are all ears. The reason for constructing and using this kind of trope is of course rhetorical: to make people really listen and remember the message (Arvius, 2003, p. 135).
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c. Personification
Personification is an attribution of human characteristics to something non- human, or the representation of an abstract quality of human form.
Personification can be achieved by collocating words or expressions representing the things personified with lexical units that can strictly speaking be used only to describe human beings and their behaviour, experiences, and other characteristics (Arvius, 2003, p. 129). d. Simile
Simile is a trope which like metaphor describes one thing by comparing it with
another, suggesting similarities between them, although they are also clearly
different. However, we distinguish similes from metaphors, because the former
contain an explicit indication of the comparison, while it is merely implicit in a
metaphor. The word like in the next two sentences, which seems closest to being a
preposition, is one example of an overt indicator of comparison, and the correlatives
as like in the sentence Oh My Luve’s like a red, red rose (Robert Burns 1796, ‘A
Red, Red rose’), Gary dancing like a polar bear with its paw in a splint. (The Times,
17 Feb 1995:35), and she was as sweet as honey (Arvius, 2003, p. 124). e. Synecdoche
Synecdoche is the type of figurative language that uses the part for the whole.
Leech noted that synecdoche is abstract property for possessor of abstract property.
Synecdoche is a meaning shift in the use of a lexeme or a longer expression within a part-whole. More specifically, a synecdochical meaning change can proceed from either of these meronymic perspectives: a more comprehensive whole can be described by means of a language label that primarily denotes just a part of it, or a designation for the whole thing can be used about one of its parts (Arvius, 2003, p. 163).
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f. Anaphora
It is the repetition of a word or phrase, usually at the beginning of a line. An article from Writingexplained entitled What is Anaphora? Definition and Examples of
Anaphoric Literature said that the repetition that anaphora creates is emphatic and forceful. And a good writer knows this and uses this device in order to help him communicate his argument. For example, toward the end of the speech, Dr. King repeats “I have a dream” as the opening clause of eight successive statements
(Wiritingexplained, 2019, para. 6). g. Symbolism
Symbolism is the serious and relatively sustained use of symbols to represent or suggest other things or idea. A symbol may be roughly defined as something that means more than what it is. Symbolism could be associated with connotations.
Symbolic associations can be either culturally established or the result of personal experiences or fantasies. Especially the latter type of symbolic associations can also be spoken of as connotations (Arvius, 2003, p. 139). h. Juxtaposition
Alex Stephens in his article entitle “What Is the Definition of “Juxtaposition?”
, said that juxtaposition is a writing device in which two things (places, ideas, or characters and their actions) are put side by side in the prose or poem in order to compare or contrast them with each other (Alex, 2017, para.1).
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3. Theory of Theme
According to Emily Chen in her article entitled “The Elements of Literature”
The theme is the main, underlying idea of a piece of literature. In order to find the theme, we need to paraphrase each of the literary work. Ajanta Bhattacharyya in her article entitled An Explanation of the Key Elements of Literature. Theme is a prime element of literature, which contains the central idea of all literary forms. It reflects innocence, experience, life, death, reality, fate, madness, sanity, love, society, individual, etc. Thus, it reflects the society as a whole (Bhattacharyya, 2018, para. 5).
Literarydevices’ article entitled Theme said that there are two kinds of theme in literary work. There are major and minor theme. A major theme is an idea that a writer repeats in his literary work, making it the most significant idea in the work and a minor theme is an idea that appears in a work briefly, giving way to another minor theme. Examples of theme in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice” are matrimony, love, friendship, and affection. The whole narrative revolves around the major theme of matrimony. Its minor themes are love, friendship, affectation (Literarydevice, 2019, para. 2).
Also it is stated that we can understand the main idea of the theme through the feeling, thoughts, and also the experience of the character in the literary work.
A writer presents themes in a literary work through several means. A writer may express a theme through the feelings of his main character about the subject he has chosen to write about. Similarly, themes are presented through thoughts and conversations of different characters. Moreover, the experiences of the main character in the course of a literary work give us an idea about its theme. Finally, the actions and events taking place in a narrative are consequential in determining its theme (Literarydevice, 2019, para. 4).
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4. Theory of Good Life (Eudaimonia)
Every action that is made in this world always aims some good or something that brings desire or pleasure. It could be anything. And each thing or man has their own purpose. In Aristotle’s book entitled Nicomachean ethics translated by F.H. Peters, it is said that is the good that everything in this world aims.
Every art and every kind of inquiry, and like-wise every act and purpose, seems to aim at some good and so it has been well said that the good is that at which everything aims (Peters, 1893, p. 1).
He also adds that there many kinds of action in this world such as arts, sciences, and war. Every action in this world is unique. Therefore they also have many kinds of different results that come from the actions.
Now since there are many kinds of actions and many arts and sciences, it follows that there are many ends also; e.g. health is the end of medicine, ships of shipbuilding, victory of the art of war, and wealth of economy (Peters, 1893, p. 1).
But he also stated that after we reach certain goods, we always seek for more.
For example, when someone achieves certain level good in art. He does not just want to stop in there, he wants to go beyond that and become the master of art (Peters, 1893, p. 2). Therefore according to Aristotle, what we search in this world always has an end.
And the end is the good. But what is the highest good then? Because it seems that there is no end in aiming the good. He said that the highest good is happiness.
What is the highest of all realizable goods? As to its name, I suppose nearly all men are agreed for the masses and the men of culture alike declare that it is happiness, and hold that to “Live well” or to‘ do well ” is the same as to be ‘‘ happy” (Peters, 1893, p. 5).
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But it is not like the happiness that what most people think. Most people think that happiness is only about a state of mind or feeling. Aristotle defines the good of man is an exercise of his faculties in accordance with excellence or virtue (Peters, 1893, p. 17). And he continues in the lines that said in order to be become virtuous persons, we should practice for a long period of time. Because by only applying it once will not bring a change to us.
But there must also be a full term of years for this exercise, for one swallow or one fine day does not make spring, nor does one day or any small space of time make a blessed or happy man (Peters, 1893, p. 17).
Veronika Huta, in her journal entitled “Eudaimonia” explained that in Ancient
Greek, happiness has its own term which is called eudaimonia. Eudaimonia is often translated as happiness, and thus might be mistaken for enjoyment or pleasure; however, it is better translated as flourishing or excellence (Veronika, 2013, p. 2).
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy in its article entitled Virtue Ethics said that there is no pointless action according to Aristotle. For him, some actions are done for their own sake and some actions are for the sake of other things.
Aristotle recognizes that actions are not pointless because they have an aim. Every action aims at some good. For example, the doctor's vaccination of the baby aims at the baby's health, the English tennis player Tim Henman works on his serve so that he can win Wimbledon, and so on. Furthermore, some things are done for their own sake (ends in themselves) and some things are done for the sake of other things (means to other ends) (Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2019, para. 31).
But it is not just about being excellence, it is also about being excellence in accordance with virtue. But being only good once in virtue is not enough. It needs to be done in action just like he gave an example in the Olympic game.
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For it must show itself in acts and in good acts. And as at the Olympic games it is not the fairest and strongest who receive the crown, but those who contend, so in life, too, the winners are those who not only have all the excellences, but manifest these in deed (Peters, 1893, p.20).
This what Aristotle means with the definition of happiness in human being. It is doing things accordance to the virtue for a long period of time or doing virtuous things as out habit.. For Aristotle, a eudaimon life is pleasant, but it is not the pleasure that makes the life eudaimon. Because to achieve happiness, it is not just about doing a happy thing. In his book, Aristotle also describes being the best in our virtue is not an easy task.
Again, to fight with pleasure is harder than to fight with wrath. And virtue, like art, is always more concerned with what is harder; for the harder the task the better is success. For this reason also, then, both virtue or excellence and the science of the state must always be concerned with pleasures and pains; for he that behaves rightly with regard to them will be good, and he that behaves badly will be bad (Peters, 1893, p.40).
In James Fieser’s article entitled “VIRTUES” said that there are twelve moral virtues that Aristotle describes in his book, he describes twelve virtues in particular that follow this model. Each virtue and vice arises in reaction to some specific appetite or desire we have (Fieser, 2017, para.12). His analysis is summarized in this table:
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Aristotle’s 12 Moral Virtues
No Desire Vice of Deficiency Virtuous Mean Vice of Excess
1 Fear of danger Cowardice Courage Fearlessness
2 Pleasure Insensibility (Void of Temperance Over-indulgence sensibility) (Profligacy) 3 Small giving Stinginess Generosity Extravagance (Illiberality) (Liberality) (Prodigality) 4 Great giving Pettiness (Meanness) Magnanimity Conceit (Vulgarity) (Magnificence) 5 Honors Timidity(Little- Self-confidence Conceit mindedness) (High-mindedness) (Vanity) 6 Achievement Under-ambition Ambitious(Problem Too ambitious (Unambitious) ambition) (Over-ambition) 7 Anger Impassivity Good temper Temper (Wrathless) (Wrathless) (Gentleness) 8 Truth False Modesty (Iron) Truthfulness Boasting (Boastfulness) 9 Amusement Boorish Witty Buffoonery (Humorlessness) (Wittiness) (No proper name) 10 Social life Unfriendliness Friendliness Flattery (Quarrelsome) (Flatterer) 11 Fear of disgrace Shamelessness Modest Excessive shame
12 Resent injustice Malice Righteous Envy indignation
Aristotle said being a good person must reflect this kinds of virtuous characters.
He said that we as the ones who control ourselves need to understand that it must be
done neither too much or too little. It should be done in a proper way. He said that the
key point here is doing it at the right times, and on the right occasions, and towards the
right persons, and with the right object, and in the right fashion.
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For instance, it is possible to feel fear, confidence, desire, anger, pity, and generally to be affected pleasantly and painfully, either too much or too little, in either case wrongly; but to be thus affected at the right times, and on the right occasions, and towards the right persons, and with the right object, and in the right fashion, is the mean course and the best course, and these are characteristics of virtue (Peters, 1893, p.46).
But he said that not all actions or all passion must be done in moderation. There are some that are some that have already been bad and should not be done that imply badness such as stealing or killing people (Peters, 1893, p. 47).
And the virtues are not the same in each person. Each person is unique. And it is up to us to decide which kind of persons we will become.
Therefore virtue depends upon ourselves: and vice likewise. For where it lies with us to do, it lies with us not to do. Where we can say no, we can say yes. If then the doing a deed, which is noble, lies with us, the not doing it, which is disgraceful, also lies with us. But if the doing and likewise the not doing of noble or base deeds lies with us, and if this is, as we found, identical with being good or bad, then it follows that it lies with us to be worthy or worthless men (Peters, 1893, p.74).
Also in order to be virtuous persons is not easy. Because not everyone is willing or wants to do the actions in their life. Therefore it is reason why only the people who are able to the actions and become excellence in the virtue are rare. And they are considered noble, and praiseworthy (Peters, 1893, p. 55).
We can see that living a life of virtues does not mean living is not a pleasure thing to do and certainly is not a life of avoiding pain. According to Oxford Dictionary, pleasure is a state of feeling or being happy or satisfied (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p.1113). And pain is the feelings that we have in our bodies when we have been hurt or we are ill. (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p.1049). Although pain is an unpleasant thing,
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pain is the part of living with virtues to make a good life. He gives an example of how to apply one of the virtues in life which is courage.
Men are called courageous for enduring painful things. Courage, therefore, brings pain, and is justly praised; for it is harder to endure what is painful than to abstain from what is pleasant (Peters, 1893, p. 89).
Aristotle explains this thing in one example. He tells that living a good life means living with the goal that brings pleasure to us, but it does not mean that in order to achieve the happiness, we also feel happy or pleasure in the process.
Boxers, for instance, have a pleasant end in view, that for which they strive, the crown and the honours; but the blows they receive are grievous to flesh and blood, and painful, and so are all the labours they undergo; and as the latter are many, while the end is small, the pleasantness of the end is hardly apparent (Peters, 1893, p. 90).
But courageous does not mean that we always seek for the painful things or something that can give us. We also need to make our decision according to our intellectual virtue too. Because what it is like stated before every person has their own level of how to be virtuous.
Still there is, perhaps, no reason why men of this character should not be less efficient as soldiers than those who are not so courageous, but have nothing good to lose; for such men are reckless of risk, and will sell their lives for a small price (Peters, 1893, p. 90).
Aristotle concludes that living a good life as living the virtuous life. When we become excellence or become the best version of ourselves in the virtues, we will in the end achieve the highest level of good which is happiness or eudaimonia.
In the article of Kevin Binz entitled “An Introduction to Ethical Theories”, he describes what life of eudaimonia is.
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A life of eudaimonia is a life of striving. It’s a life of pushing yourself to your limits, and finding success. A eudaimonistic life will be full of the happiness that comes from achieving something really difficult, rather than just having it handed to you (Kevinbinz, 2017, para. 17).
But in order for us to be a virtuous persons, we need other people. We cannot just be good in our virtue just by being alone without having social interaction.
Friendship is really important for Aristotle, he even wrote two books about it. There are three kinds of friendships that Aristotle explained in his work. Gregory Sadler summarized them in his book entitled “Types of Friendships in Aristotle’s
Nicomachean Ethics books 8-9”. The first is the Friendship of usefulness which is based solely on usefulness of people and there are benefits provided to each other. For example, friendship that is built because the people are working in the same company or the students who go in the same school. The second is friendship of pleasure which is based on the pleasure which the people can and do provide to each other. For example, people who have the same hobby such as go fishing or do a sport activity together. This two kinds of friendship are the same because they focus on each other’s sake. But the last kind of friendship is the one which is different with the other two kinds of friendship that have been mentioned. Because it does talk about sake of each other, or even for pleasure or utility purpose. This kind of friendship is based on respect, appreciation for each other’s qualities, and a strong will to assist the other person (Sadler, 2019, p.2).
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3. Theoretical Framework
The title of this thesis is “Aristotle’s Principles of Good Life in Rachel Platten and The Script’s Selected Songs”. There are two problems formulation that are formulated in the study. The first question is what the songs mean. And the second question is how the principle of good life reflected in the songs.
In order to answer these questions, there are four theories that are uses in this undergraduate thesis. The first is the theory of lyric. This is a theory to define what lyric is about. The theory that is used is by Abram.
The second theory is a theory of figurative language. This theory is used to help the researcher finding the meaning of the songs since the songs have meanings that beyond literally meanings.
The third theory is a theory of theme. This theory is used to help the researcher to find main idea that is found of each songs.
And the last theory is a theory of good life by Aristotle. This is a theory that defines what good life is. This theory is used to show how the principle of good life by
Aristotle described in these songs.
The theories of good life, lyric, theme, and figurative language are used to analyze the philosophy of good life that occur in the song lyrics. Using the theories of good life by the philosopher, Aristotle, and also the theories of lyric, figurative language, and theme the researcher could give clear description about what good life is from the songs.
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CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the study
There are four songs in this research. The title of the first song is “Fight song”.
It is written by Rachel Platten herself and was released on February 19, 2015. This song has got big nominations such as Teen Choice Award for Choice Summer Song and
Billboard Music Award for Top Selling Song. This song represents about her personal story. The reason why the song written is because her parents and friends were worried about Rachel and asked her to come home and find a new occupation. And this song was her responds of it. The second song is also written by Rachel Platten entitled
“Stand by you”. “Stand by you” was released on September 11, 2015. This song peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100, making this her second consecutive top-40 song. “Stand by You” reached the top of the Adult Top 40 chart in February
2016. In this song, Rachel is telling someone that she will through a hard time that they may be going through. She will not leave and that they will go through the mess together.
The title of the third song is “Hall of Fame” by The Script. The Script is an Irish pop band formed in 2001 In Dublin, Ireland. They first released music in 2008. The band has won three Meteor Ireland Awards and two World Music Awards and two Brit
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Award Nominations. The song was released on August 20, 2012. It debuted on the Irish Singles Chart at number one. The song stayed at number 1 in Ireland for four weeks. This song was voted as one of the top 11 Irish songs. In Australia, the song peaked at number 4. This songs wants to tell that we as human being can be anything that are great as long as we dedicate ourselves in the things that we are doing. The title of the fourth song is “Superheroes”. This song was released on July 22, 2014. This song wants to show about the unsung heroes out in the world which these heroes are the people are going through the hardest of times but can keep their heads high facing tough situations. The songs were chosen based on the meanings. Even though the songs were written by different writers, the songs want to talk about the same things which are struggle, greatness and especially what good life is.
B. Approach of the study
In order get the philosophy of good life from these two songs, the researcher uses the moral philosophical approach. Guerin stated that the larger function of literature is to teach morality and to probe philosophical issues. Moral philosophical approach is an approach that analyzes literary work from moral philosophical point of view. It is focusing on moral messages or philosophical messages that the songs tell, or in other words, moral philosophical approach’s aim to get the moral messages that are stated in a literary work. Therefore, this approach will help to show the meaning of philosophy in the songs.
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The moral value in literary work is the most important things. Guerin stated that moral philosophy is more important in work of literature than the form, figurative language, and other aesthetic consideration applied in literary work, because the main function of literature is to teach morality and investigate issues related to morality.
(Guerin, 2005, p. 78)
C. Method of the Study
This undergraduate thesis used the library research method. In order to support the thesis, the researcher collected the data from the library. There were several steps that the researcher used. The first was to find songs that reflected the same moral value.
The second step was to read the song lyrics. The next step was to figure out the problem formulations and find the suitable approach in this thesis. There were two problems formulation that the researcher used as the frame of this research. The first was what view of life the songs presented. And the second was how the principle of good life reflected in these songs. After reading the lyrics and figuring out the problem formulations, the researcher would paraphrase each stanza of the song lyrics in order to find the meaning of each songs. After paraphrasing the meaning of each song, the last step was relating the meaning of the songs with the philosophy of good life.
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
In this part of the study, the researcher will explain the answers to the problem formulations. This chapter consists of two parts. The first part is finding the meaning of the lyrics by paraphrasing each stanza of the songs. And the second part is showing the principle of good life that is reflected in the four songs.
A. The Theme of Rachel Platten and The Script’s selected songs
The first analysis will be the analysis of the song lyrics by Rachel Platten entitled
“Fight song”, followed by “Stand by you” and “Hall of fame”. And the last one will be analysis of the song lyric of “Superheroes”. In this song, the researcher will analyze the meaning after quoting every stanza.
1. Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song”
Like a small boat On the ocean Sending big waves Into motion Like how a single word Can make a heart open I might only have one match But I can make an explosion (Platten, stanza 1, lines 1-8)
This stanza uses figurative language of simile. There are two similes found in the stanza. It is seen by the use of word Like. The first simile is when she describes her
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life as a small boat on the ocean in beginning of the song found in the first line
Like a small boat, On the ocean (Stanza 1, line 1-2). As we can imagine, a boat is a small vehicle for traveling in the water. Its size is already smaller compared to a ship.
And even it is already small, she wants to emphasize as a very small thing by adding the word small to describe the boat. And in the next lines Sending big waves, Into
Motion (Stanza 1, lines 3-4), we can see here that she also creates an antonym between the word small from the first line (Stanza 1, line 1) to describe the boat and the word big to describe the ocean. She says that even though it is a small boat, it can move a big ocean. If we think literally, it is impossible for a boat to do that. Usually it comes from the thing that is huge like a ship. But this wants to show a comparison that even small things can have a chance to make big impacts.
The second simile is when she compares her life with a single word found in the lines Like how a single word, Can make a heart open (Stanza 1, lines 5-6). But even though it is just a word, it can make a heart open means it can change a person’s feeling.
Sometimes it is very hard for us to imagine how a word that is said can affect people’s mood. Because for example, if a student just gets a news that there will be no class tomorrow from his/her friend since the teacher cannot come, he/she will get excited.
But the news that is delivered is not expressed by only a word, it is usually expressed by sentences. Even if the news that comes from a digital message, it will not change the person’s feeling. At least it must be delivered a sentence. This is also a personification because a word cannot actually open a heart which also literally cannot
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be opened. This just wants to show that the word that is said has an influence to the feeling. Once again she wants to show even though a word or a small thing can create a big influence.
And in the next lines I might only have one match, But I can make an explosion
(Stanza 1, lines 7-8), we can find a symbolism. She said that she only has one match, but she can make an explosion. As we all know, a match is a little thing which is a thin piece of wood light a fire. People usually use this to light a cigarette. Its size is not big compared to fire from the torch, but once again she just wants to symbolize that a single and small thing that can create huge and big impact.
And all those things I didn't say Wrecking balls inside my brain I will scream them loud tonight Can you hear my voice this time? (Platten, stanza 2, lines 1-4)
This stanza uses the figurative language of metaphor. It is seen from the first and the second lines (Stanza 2, lines 1-2). A comparison is made between all of the words she never said to wrecking balls in her head. Wrecking ball means a heavy metal ball swung from a crane that is used when doing construction work. And the function of it is to destroy and demolish buildings. It just means the things that have not been said have become burdens and weighs on her mind. It becomes destructive to her. They become regret and pain. But in the next two lines (Stanza 2, lines 3-4), she decided to say or do the things that she should have done in the past and weighs her all this time.
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This is my fight song Take back my life song Prove I'm alright song My power's turned on Starting right now I'll be strong I'll play my fight song And I don't really care if nobody else believes Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me (Platten, stanza 3, lines 1-8)
Here she clearly states that this song is about her fight. This stanza uses the figurative language of personification that is found in the line My power’s turned on
(Stanza 3, lines 4). The word Turned on is usually referred to physical especially electrical things like turning on the phone or television. And it means an action to start operate them. According to Oxford Dictionary, power itself is the strength or energy contained in something (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p. 1136). This means she realize that she has determined to perform to do her best with strength and energy. And because she becomes so powerful, therefore from that she is determined to be commitment. She does not care about what other people said. Other people perhaps do not believe in her, but she keeps believing in herself.
After that in the end of the stanza, she said that she did not care if nobody believes in her dream or in what she is doing. Because she still has a lot of fight in her meaning that she is still struggle in her life and still chooses to keep doing the process
(Stanza 3, lines 7-8).
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Losing friends and I'm chasing sleep Everybody's worried about me In too deep Say I'm in too deep (in too deep) And it's been two years I miss my home But there's a fire burning in my bones Still believe Yeah, I still believe (Platten, stanza 4, lines 1-9)
This stanza uses the figurative language of personification and symbolism. The personification can be found in the line Losing friend and I’m chasing sleep (Stanza 4, line 1). Sleep is not a physical person that we can chase. It just means she lacks of sleep and feeling tired because she is too focused doing her things. And since she is very focused on doing her things, she starts to lose some of her friends, and everyone around her starts to be worried about what she is doing (Stanza 4, line 2). In the next lines
(Stanza 4, lines 3-4), the word too deep means become too obsessed. According to
Oxford Dictionary, the word deep itself means having a large distance from the top pr surface to the bottom (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p. 382). Her friends, family, or her surrounding saw her as a very obsessed person.
And the next one is a symbolism found in the line There's a fire burning in my bones (Stanza 4, line 7). As we can imagine and think literally, bones are the part of human beings. They are the part of our bodies. And if our bodies sense fire, it will be not a good for us. We will painful and in a moment we will be dead because we got burned by the fire. Therefore it does not mean that she literally feels hot and gets burned
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because of the fire. The word fire here symbolizes feeling powerful and enthusiasm. It does not talk about physical body but rather it represents the feeling or passion.
“Fight song” by Rachel Platten tells a story about a person’s journey in achieving her goal in life. She always believes in things that she does even though no one believes in her. The minor themes of this song are fighting, loneliness, struggle, regret and greatness. The theme of fighting is shown in stanza 3 where she mentions the word fight for three times. We can see the theme of the song is loneliness from the line Loosing friends and I’m chasing sleep (Stanza 4, line 1). Here it shows that some of her friends started to leave her because perhaps they did not believe in what she is doing. Also the theme of struggle can be seen in the words too deep (Stanza 4, lines 3-4). It means that she is in the process of achieving her dream. And also it shows the theme of regret from her. We can see it from the line Wrecking balls inside my brain (Stanza 2, lines 2). It is a comparison with the words that she should have said in past. Those things now become a burden and become destructive for her. Also the last one is theme of greatness. It shows greatness in the beginning of the song where she compares her life with a small thing that can make a huge impact. It is shown in the lines Like a small boat, On the ocean (Stanza 1, lines 1-2), Like how a single word, (Stanza 1, lines 5), and I might only have one match (Stanza 1, lines 7).
The major theme of this song is commitment. We can see that she is being commitment from the last five lines (Stanza 4, lines 5-9). It is stated there she has been fighting for two years, and she missed her home already. She wants to go to her old
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new life, but instead of going back to her hometown, she decided to not surrender and keep believing to herself.
2. Rachel Platten’s “Stand by you”
Hands, put your empty hands in mine And scars, show me all the scars you hide And hey, if your wings are broken Please take mine so yours can open too Cause I'm gonna stand by you (Platten, stanza 1, lines 1-5)
This stanza uses the figurative language of symbolism (Stanza 1, lines 1-2). The first two lines talk about body parts, Hands and Scars. Hands are the body parts what we usually use to hold something. And empty hands mean there is not a thing that we hold. But here empty hands having nothing at all. And the writer wants to offer a help to the person. And the next symbol is the scars. As we imagine, a scar is a mark that is left from a healed wound. But this song does not just tell about a single scar but scars which mean there is more than just one. We usually got scared because of hitting something sharp or perhaps we just got an accident. And it felt painful when we got the wound at the first. Therefore scars here represent something painful. It could be the bad experience that the person had in the past. And the writer wants the person to show the scars instead of hiding or feeling ashamed of it.
The next is the figurative language of symbolism found in the line if your wings are broken (Stanza 1, line 3). Humans do not have wings. But if we see the meaning of wings that animals have like birds. Wings are very vital for them. If they do not have
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wings, they cannot fly. So wings here something that is very important for the persons.
And Rachel offers to help the person.
Oh, tears make kaleidoscopes in your eyes And hurt, I know you're hurting, but so am I And love, if your wings are broken Borrow mine so yours can open too Cause I'm gonna stand by you (Platten, stanza 2, lines 1-5)
This stanza uses the figurative language of symbolism (Stanza 2, line 1). We can see it from the first line Oh, tears make kaleidoscopes in your eyes. According to Oxford
Dictionary, kaleidoscope means a toy consisting of a tube that we look through with loose pieces of coloured glass and mirrors at the end. When the tube is turned, the pieces of glass move and form different patterns. Here kaleidoscope represents anything that changes constantly (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p.808). Instead of crying feeling sad, the writer wants the person to change he/her mood. Therefore, this means to escape or make bad things gone.
And in the next line And hurt, I know you're hurting, but so am I (Stanza 2, line
2), it shows the Rachel also feels pain whenever the person is also in feels pain. This shows how sympathy Rachel is to her beloved one.
Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you Love, you're not alone, cause I'm gonna stand by you Even if we can't find heaven, I'm gonna stand by you Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you Love, you're not alone, cause I'm gonna stand by you (Platten, stanza 3, lines 1-6)
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This stanza uses the figurative language of hyperbole (Stanza 3, line 1) and symbolism (Stanza 3, line 2). The first line Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through uses the figurative language of hyperbole. We usually use the word breaking down when we describe our vehicle that is suddenly stop and will not function anymore. The phrase breaking down here wants to emphasize that if the relationship is in the peak level of bad situations, and if they go even further, it can be the end. And after that, this line uses the words break through. Break through means an important development that may lead to an agreement or achievement. It is like saying enough is enough, and the persons will make enormous decisions and start doing new patterns or habit in their life. What the writer wants to say is that even though she has gone through bad times with her beloved ones that seems will be the end, she believes that they will find a way out from it.
And the next is the symbolism found in the line Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you (Stanza 3, line 2). Hell represents painful experience.
According to Oxford Dictionary, hell is a very unpleasant experience or situation in which people suffer very much (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p.696). It means that she cares about the person so much that even if they are going through hard times like hell in their life. She would still go through difficult time with the person. Therefore she still accompanies the person in every situation including painful situation, not just in a good situation, Heaven. According to Oxford Dictionary, heaven is a place or a situation n which we are very happy. (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p.693)
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Yeah, you're all I never knew I needed And the heart, sometimes it's unclear why it's beating And love, if your wings are broken We can brave through those emotions too Cause I'm gonna stand by you (Platten, stanza 4, lines 1-5)
This stanza uses the figurative language of hyperbole and symbolism. The sentence You’re all I never knew I needed is just too long in use (Stanza 4, line 1).
Therefore it is called hyperbole. Basically it tells about that she really needs the person.
This wants to emphasize how important the person really is for her. And in the next line
And the heart, sometimes it's unclear why it's beating (Stanza 4, line 2). It is a symbol of emotion. Sometimes the cause of our heart can beat suddenly is because anxiety, stress, or feeling panic. Those feelings are the triggered of why the heart is beating.
Oh, truth, I guess truth is what you believe in And faith, I think faith is helping to reason No, no, no, love, if your wings are broken Borrow mine so yours can open too Cause I'm gonna stand by you (Platten, stanza 5, lines 1-5)
This stanza uses the figurative language of personification (Stanza 5, line 2). The word helping means the act of doing a favor to someone else. And according to Oxford
Dictionary, faith is a strong religious belief (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, 527). Therefore faith here represents the attributes of human characteristic.
The first two stanzas want to continue about what have been said in the beginning of the songs which it talks about the person’s painfulness that are represented by the words empty hands and scars (Stanza 1, lines 1-2).. Even though, it is real that
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the person has a painful experience, she wants to say he/she should not believe to the truth and not let faith to disturb him/her. Because in the next line she says no for three times to emphasize what she means meaning that Rachel did not want truth and faith to define the person’s life.
I'll be your eyes when yours can't shine I'll be your arms, I'll be your steady satellite And when you can't rise, well, I'll cry with you on hands and knees Cause I I'm gonna stand by you (Platten, stanza 6, lines 1-4)
This stanza uses the figurative language of hyperbole (Stanza 7, line 1) and metaphor (Stanza 7, line 2). According to Oxford Dictionary, shine means to produce or reflect light, especially brightly, for example the sun is shining. (Oxford Dictionary,
2006, p. 1349). If we translate literally, it does not make sense that our eyes can produce light. Therefore for the writer, the eyes of the persons are described just like sunshine or something that represents and reflect cheerful thing.
And the writer uses some metaphors to describe her feeling to her beloved ones
The first line means that she will be the guide for her beloved one even though the person’s eyes cannot shine. It is also the same thing in the next lines which are being the arms and satellite for the person (Stanza 7, line 2). Arms and eyes are vital body parts for human and so is satellite for the earth. The earth’s natural satellite which is the moon is important and so is the human-made satellite that is very important to communicate and get information. This means she wants to be the important part in the person’s life. This stanza tells that she is really empathy with the persons and want to
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accompany them in every experience. Cause I’m gonna stand by you (Stanza 7, line 4) means that no matter what they go through in their relationship, she is always going to be by his/her side and be there to support the person.
“Stand by you” by Rachel Platten tells about having commitment when facing problem with our friends, family, or our lover. So despite having bad times with our beloved ones, we can always figure the way out to solve the problem. The minor themes of this song are love, pain, relationship, sympathy, and struggle. We can see theme of love from the lines that show and mention it such as And love, if your wings are broken
(Stanza 2 line 3), Love, you're not alone, cause I'm gonna stand by you (Stanza 3, line
3). And the theme of pain is showed in line Even if we can’t heaven, I’ll walk through hell with you (Stanza 3, line 2). We also can find the theme of relationship in the lyric.
Because this song shows the experience and feeling that is convey by Rachel to someone that she really loves and cares. The theme of sympathy is showed in the lines
I’ll be your eyes when yours can’t shine, I’ll be your arms, I’ll be your steady satellite,
And when you can't rise, well, I'll cry with you on hands and knees. (Stanza 6, lines 1-
3). It shows that Rachel really cares about the person, and always wants to be in the person’s side. And the last minor theme is struggle which is showed in the line Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through (Stanza 3, line 1). This wants to show how struggle and hard relationship. Sometimes or in most cases the relationship could make us to do some efforts to make it become right again.
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And the major theme of this song is commitment. We can see it from the overall experience and feeling that she shows in the lyrics and the title itself. She always accompanies the person even though they have been through bad times. She even wants to sacrifice herself, so that her beloved ones can be happy as well.
3. The Script’s “Hall of fame”
Yeah, you can be the greatest You can be the best You can be the King Kong banging on your chest (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 1, lines 1-3)
This stanza uses the figurative language of metaphor (Stanza 1, line 3). There is a comparison that is made between the words you and King Kong. King Kong has an image of a big and powerful creature. And here it describes the behavior the King Kong that banging on its chest means it’s in the peak level of its level of enthusiasm and to some great things.
You can beat the world You can beat the war You can talk to God, go banging on his door (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 2, lines 1-3)
This stanza uses the figurative language of hyperbole (Stanza 2, lines 1-3).
Because this cannot literally happen. It is impossible for us as human beings to talk directly to God which in Christianity believe, it is the creator and ruler of the universe, or the Supreme Being. Or even we cannot bang on his door, just like we imagine if we go to the toilet in hurry, we will bang on the door for we have been waiting for the person in a long time. And the word war here does not mean that we usually imagine a
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war between two large groups of people such as a war between two countries or two tribes. Or even the world that is full of people. It just represents we can do enormous within ourselves.
You can throw your hands up You can beat the clock You can move a mountain You can break rocks You can be a master Don't wait for luck Dedicate yourself and you go find yourself (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 3, lines 1-7)
This stanza also uses the figurative language symbolism (Stanza 3, lines 1-2).
The symbol is found in the word clock. Clock is a thing that shows the time in our life.
Without it, it is very hard us to manage our activities in a day. According to Oxford
Dictionary, time means what is measured in minutes, hours, or days but it also could be an amount of time work or rest. (Oxford Dictionary, 2006 p. 1549). And here it represents that we can control our life. Because beating means that we can defeat something. And the next one, throwing our hands up represents an action that we usually do when we finally achieve something great.
The next figurative language is the hyperbole (Stanza 3, lines 3-4). Because once again it is impossible for human to literally move a mountain. Perhaps humans can move stone, but rocks are something that are very difficult to be moved. This just wants to tell we can do anything great that seems impossible.
Also this stanza uses the figurative language of personification (Stanza 3, line
6). Luck cannot be waited. Because we cannot literally wait for luck, it is not something
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that is alive. Luck means something that happens in our life without our expectation or happens without the action that we do. This part wants to tell that we should not wait until something good happens to us. Instead of waiting and just hoping, we should just start doing and dedicate ourselves in order to create that good things to happen by ourselves.
Standing in the hall of fame And the world's gonna know your name Cause you burn with the brightest flame And the world's gonna know your name And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 4, lines 1-5)
This stanza uses the figurative language of personification (Stanza 4, line 2) and symbolism (Stanza 4, line 3). The world itself cannot literally know a name. This part wants to tell that after we dedicated ourselves and become commitment to achieve the goals. And people will start knowing us because of what we have done. Burn with the brightest flame (Stanza 4, line 3) once again does not mean that we will burn ourselves or our bodies with fire. But it means showing that we should stand out from the rest and that we should always push ourselves to do better in life. And the next metaphor is the sentence walls of the hall of fame (Stanza 4, line 5). We will not be put in the walls literally. It just means that we will be very well known by the society because we have done something that can create an impact to them. For example, if we go to the museum, usually the picture of the persons who are very honorable in the society will be put in the walls.
You can go the distance You can run the mile
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You can walk straight through hell with a smile (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 5, lines 1-3)
This stanza uses the figurative language of symbolism (Stanza 5, line 3) which is the use the setting hell. As we know and imagine, hell is a not a place where there will be cheerful experience. But here hell is only a symbol because how could possibly a person walking through the painful place and still smiling that indicates the sense of joy of going through the experience. Hell represents painful experience. According to
Oxford Dictionary, hell is a very unpleasant experience or situation in which people suffer very much (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p.696). This is just a symbol of things that give painful feeling. And the word smile here means the kind of expression that we make when we feel pleasure or joy.
You can be the hero You can get the gold Breaking all the records they thought never could be broke (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 6, lines 1-3)
This stanza uses the figurative language of metaphor (Stanza 6, lines 1-2). Hero and gold refer to greatness. According to Oxford Dictionary, hero means a person, especially a man, who is admired by many people for doing something brave or good.
(Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p. 700). And gold can be translated as money, jewelry that is made of gold, it could also be a medal.(Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p.640) Therefore, hero himself/herself means someone who gives an impact in other people’s life and gold means something which is valuable in the world. And the last line wants to persuade that we can do great thing that perhaps it has not been done in the past.
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Yeah, do it for your people Do it for your pride How are you ever gonna know if you never even try? (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 7, lines 1-3)
In this stanza, the word do is started to be used in the lines Yeah, do it for your people, Do it for your pride (Stanza 7, lines 1-2). This wants to emphasize the reasons why we should be doing the things and to be commitment. And the last line wants to persuade us to be brave in taking actions because are too fear we will know about what could happen.
Do it for your country Do it for your name Cause there's gonna be a day (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 8, lines 1-8)
This stanza uses the figurative language of synecdoche and anaphora. Name
(Stanza 8, line 2) here does not just mean a name literally. But it represents ourselves as human beings, it could be also our integrity or the great that has been done by us.
And this stanza also uses the figurative language of anaphora because it uses the word do in the beginning for second times. This is a repetition that want to emphasize about the reasons why we should keep doing the things.
Be a champion, Be a champion, Be a champion, Be a champion On the walls of the hall of fame (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 9, lines 1-2)
Be students Be teachers Be politicians Be preachers
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(Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 10, lines 1-4)
Be believers Be leaders Be astronauts Be champions Be truth seekers (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 11, lines 1-5)
Be students Be teachers Be politicians Be preachers (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 12, lines 1-4)
Be believers Be leaders Be astronauts Be champions (Danny, Mark, and Bimbo, stanza 13, lines 1-4)
These stanzas use the figurative language of anaphora. This part always uses the word be in the beginning of the lines for many times. This wants to emphasize that we can achieve greatness by become anything that we are dedicated to. This part mentions certain occupations such as student, teacher, preacher, astronaut, and politicians. And it does not mean that by doing these things then we could achieve greatness. These things only show as the representative. Therefore this also mentions about being believer, truth seeker, leader, and a champion which are referring to the persons who could be great.
“Hall of Fame” by The Script is about a persuasion to us as the listeners or the readers of this song lyric, that we can be anything in life, we just have to be dedicated and commitment in achieving the purposes. The minor themes of this song are dedication, greatness, passion, legacy, and struggle. The theme of dedication in the
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line Don’t wait for luck, Dedicate yourself and you go find yourself (Stanza 3, line 6-
7). This means in life in order to be great, instead of waiting for luck or something good to happen, it is better for us to be dedicated and pursue the good by ourselves. The other minor theme is greatness. We can see it from the lines You can be the greatest, You can be the best, You can be the King Kong banging on your chest (Stanza 1, lines 1-3). This lines want to persuade us that we can do great things in our life. The next one is the theme of passion. We can see it from the lines Be students, Be teachers, Be politicians,
Be preachers (Stanza 11, lines 1-4). This lines show some of the occupations in the world. This represent passion or something that we like to do when we live. The next minor theme that is found in the lyric is legacy. We can see it from the title itself and the line Standing in the hall of fame, And the world’s gonna know your name. (Stanza
4, lines 1-2). This lines show legacy which means after we dedicate ourselves in what we do, in the end we can make a big impact in the world. And all people will start knowing us for what we have done. And the last minor theme is bravery. We can see it from the line How are you ever gonna know if you never even try? (Stanza 6, line 3).
This line wants to tell in order to know everything we have been seek or something we really want, we need to have a bravery to act.
The major theme of this song is commitment. This can be seen that by overall themes that have been stated. This song wants to show, we are able to do such a great thing in this world, no matter what our occupation is. But in order to do that, we need to dedicate ourselves and have this courageous action that will lead to achieve the good, instead of just waiting for the good to come to us by itself.
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4. The Script’s “Superheroes”
All the life she has seen All the meaner side of me They took away the prophet's dream For a profit on the street Now she's stronger than you know A heart of steel starts to grow (Danny & Mark, stanza 1, lines 1-6)
This stanza uses the figurative language of symbolism (Stanza 1, lines 3-4) and personification (Stanza 1, line 6). According to Oxford Dictionary, prophet means a person sent by God teach the people and give messages from God. (Oxford Dictionary,
2006, p. 1165) It could be a church that perhaps has been taking down, and changed to build somethings that can make a profit or money. Taking away the prophet’s dream symbolizes the dream or the good that the person’s wants have been taking away by some other people for their own sake. And this is considered a lost to them. This stanza also has a personification because a heart cannot actually grow literally. This same line
A heart of steel starts to grow (Stanza 1, line 6) is also occurred in the next stanza.
All his life he's been told He'll be nothing when he's old All the kicks and all the blows He won't ever let it show Cause he's stronger than you know A heart of steel starts to grow (Danny & Mark, stanza 2, lines 1-6)
This stanza uses the figurative language of Personification (Stanza 6, line 3) and symbolism (Stanza 6, line 3). As it stated before, a heart cannot literally grow. And steel is described as a hard thing. It is even harder and stronger than iron. A heart of steel
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starts to grow (Stanza 6, line 3) means that he or she is not swayed or shake by any emotion just like a steel. They have a heart that can stay put and cannot be wrecked by society’s words and opinions.
And the next is about symbolism which is found in the words the kicks and the blows. As we imagine, getting kicked and blow is a painful experience. And this is been done by people with a purpose not by accident. But this is not literally the person’s got kicked and blow physically. This just represents that persons get disgraced and underestimated by the society. But instead of showing the pain, the persons change the pain to be strong be strong persons.
When you've been fighting for it all your life You've been struggling to make things right That's how a superhero learns to fly Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power (Danny & Mark, stanza 3, lines 1-4)
This stanza uses the figurative language of symbolism (Stanza 3, line 3).
According to Oxford Dictionary, superhero means a character in a story, film/movie who has unusual strength or power and uses it to help people or it also can be a real person who has done something unusually brave to help somebody. (Oxford Dictionary,
2006, p. 1484). A Superhero such as Superman that we see from a fictional movie can do a thing that humans cannot do which is flying. By having this ability, he is able to become a protector for the world and helping many people. All people are proud of him and see him as an inspiration. But what most people do not know is in the beginning,
Superman cannot fly immediately, he failed many times. He kept failing, but he did not
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give up. When he was falling down, he got up and tried again until he is successful in flying. Therefore the word superhero symbolizes bravery, strength and power within. It is a comparison for us, that in order to achieve great things in life, instead of avoiding the pain and failure, we should overcome it but always being commitment which doing it in a long period of time.
And this stanza wants us to show by doing great and right things over and over again, it will make us just like a superhero learns to fly.
When you've fighting for it all your life You've been working every day and night That's how a superhero learns to fly Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power (Danny & Mark, stanza 4, lines 1-4)
This stanza uses the figurative language of hyperbole (Stanza 4, line 1). This is a hyperbole because we cannot actually work every day and night. There are twenty four hours in a day and we would pass out from exhaustion or need food and sleep. In this sentence, they overstated it so it can put an emphasis on an individual being hardworking person.
There is also a figurative language of juxtaposition (Stanza 4, line 4). This is a juxtaposition because there are two things placed together with a contrasting effect. Pain is to be weak and fragile. And power is to be strong, brave, and have control. They put this contrasting effect to show the difference hard work will make. It means we must turn our suffering into strength.
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All the hurt, all the lies All the tears that they cry When the moment is just right You see fire in their eyes Cause he's stronger than you know A heart of steel starts to grow (Danny & Mark, stanza 5, lines 1-6)
This stanza uses the figurative language of anaphora (Stanza 5, line 1) and symbolism (Stanza 5, line 4). This is an anaphora because they repeated the word all to emphasize more of the struggles. This is made so they can get the message of all the pain they suffered through in their lifetime. The next is the word fire is a symbol (Stanza
5, p. 4). Besides it has a meaning as the flames that are produced when something burns,
Oxford Dictionary also defines fire as a very strong emotion, especially anger or enthusiasm. (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p. 554). Therefore it does not mean fire literally and they burn themselves in their eyes. It means that person is very enthusiasm and motivated.
When you've fighting for it all your life You've been working every day and night That's how a superhero learns to fly Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power Every day, every hour turn the pain into power Every day, every hour turn the pain into power (Danny & Mark, stanza 6, lines 1-6)
In this stanza, it also uses the figurative language of anaphora which the writer uses in the beginning in last there lines (Stanza 6, lines 4-6). This wants to emphasize that we should not just the action for one day or once, but we must do it every day as our habit.
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She's got lions in her heart A fire in her soul He's a got a beast In his belly that's so hard to control Cause they've taken too much hits Taking blow by blow Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode (Danny & Mark, stanza 7, lines 1-7)
This stanza uses the figurative language of symbolism (Stanza 7, lines 1-4). This is a symbolism because she does not actually have lions in her heart or fire in her soul.
That is not literally possible. They mean that she has a brave heart like a lion and has a determination in her soul. Fire is another way to say determined and to say the person is feeling enthusiast. It also applies in the next symbolism which it is literally not possible to have a beast in a person’s belly. They have been taking too much pain in their life, and soon after enduring this pain, they will achieve greatness.
“Superheroes” by The Script tells a story about different kind the people who are struggle in their life. We can see it why it is a story of different kinds of people from the pronouns that are used. There are he, she, they, and you. Even though, they deal with many painful things, they know that the pain that they feel in the moment will only last temporarily and make them great in the end. The minor themes of this song are pain, power, people, and struggle. The first theme that this song wants to show is pain. We can see from the lines All his life he’s been told, He’ll be nothing when he’s old, All the kicks and all the blows (Stanza 2, lines 1-3), All the hurt, all the lies, All the tears that they cry (Stanza 5, lines 1-2). These lines show the painful actions and experience that the persons get and represent the things that make the persons feel hurt.
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The second theme is the theme of power. We can see it from the lines Now she’s stronger than you know, a heart of steel starts to grow (Stanza 1, lines 5-6) , Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power (Stanza 3, line 4), Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode (Stanza 7, line 7). And the next theme is people because it talks about a life of different kinds of people. There are some pronouns that are mentioned in lyrics such as in the lines All the life she has seen, All the meaner side of me (Stanza
1, lines 1-2), All his life he’s been told (Stanza 2, line 1), You’ve been struggling to make things right (Stanza 3, line 2), Cause they’ve taken too much hits (Stanza 7, line
7). And the last minor theme is struggle. It is shown in the lines When you have been fighting for it all your life, You’ve been struggling to make things right (Stanza 3, lines
1-2),
And the major theme of this song is commitment. This song wants to show that even though we feel pressure and pain, we must always be strong. And instead of letting the pain suffer and control us. We need to change it to make us grow better. And after that, we should do it not just once. But we need to do it in our everyday life.
.
B. How The Four Songs Reflected The Principle of Good Life
The researcher found that these four songs have one common major theme which is commitment. The definition of commitment itself according to Oxford
Dictionary is the willingness to work hard and give our energy and time to a job or an activity (Oxford Dictionary, 2006, p. 290) And Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it
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as an agreement or pledge to do something in the future. These four songs reflected a same theme with The Good Life theory that the researcher uses in this study.
1. “Fight song” by Rachel Platten
In this song, Rachel is really being commitment in pursuing her dream. It represents the same action just like Aristotle means about eudaimonia which is about life of thriving and achieving something that is difficult (Kevinbinz, 2017, para. 17).
This song shows some of Aristotle’s virtue such as friendliness, courageous, self- confidence, and good temper. And also it shows one of the Aristotle’s principles of good life which is habit.
The line Loosing friends and I’m chasing sleep (Stanza 4, line 1) means some of her friends start to leave her do not believe in her and she feels very tired because lacks of rest since she really spends her time to do the things that are needed to make her dream comes true. This implies that when we are in doing the thing act that is right according us, there are some people who do not like us or not sure in what we are doing.
This is what also Rachel experiences. Rachel realizes that in the journey, she will not be friend with all the people she met.
The lines I will scream them loud tonight, Can you hear my voice this time?(Stanza 2, lines 1-4), My power’s turned on and Starting right now I’ll be strong
(Stanza 3, lines 4-5) show the virtue of courageous. These lines mean that she might feel pain or regret, but now she has decided that she will use the pain as the turning point to be strong. She knows that in the past, she should have done something that is
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right. But she chose to not do it because she was too scared and it becomes a regret now. But after that, she notices it. And does not want have any regret anymore.
The line And I don’t really care if nobody else believes (Stanza 3, line 7) shows the virtue of self-confidence. It shows that she does not care about people’s opinion, she does not care if there is no a single person in the world has belief in her. Because the most important thing is having belief in herself. Rachel knows what she must do.
Therefore it is not timidity. Also it is also not conceit. Because in the song lyric, it is only shown that she is being focused to achieve to her dream, not having an attitude of thinking she is better than the others.
And the last virtue is good temper. It is shown by the lines It’s been two years and I miss my home (Stanza 4, lines 5-6) followed by the lines There’s a fire burning bones and I still believe (Stanza 4, lines 7-8). This lines show that even though she is angry of her experience and therefore she wants to surrender or give up because of the tough situation, she keeps going and refuse to stop chasing her dream.
This song also shows how commitment Rachel is. It is written in the lyric that she has been fighting for two years, and she misses her home. She misses her old life and wants to surrender her dream. Because even though she has been fighting for a long time, she still cannot get positive result. But eventually she refuses it and she still believes that she is able to achieve the things that she wants one day. This is just like one of the principles by Aristotle that said virtuous actions must be done in a full term of years because only doing it once is not enough (Peters, 1893, p.17)
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2. “Stand by you” by Rachel Platten
Here Rachel wants to show about how a good relationship is built. There are some virtues that this song has such as good temper and trustfulness. And this song definitely and clearly the third kind of friendship which is the best kind of friendship according to Aristotle.
The lines that show the clear meaning of the virtue of good temper are Even if we can’t find heaven, I’ll walk through with you (Stanza 3, line 3). Hell here represents a painful time and experience. And for sure we will not feel pleasure in having the moment, perhaps we feel anger. We can see it from the life of some people around us.
When they are faced by some bad experience or some problems, they choose to just leave the relationship instead of facing and solve it. Leaving or running away from the problem is an easy thing to do. It does not take us any effort. But once again it is about commitment. Instead of avoiding the pain, we need to overcome it just like what
Aristotle said in his book Nicomachean Ethnics about a boxer that also feels pain, but he chose to keep striving because he realizes that he will have a pleasant end eventually.
(Peters, 1893, p.89).
And it shows the virtue of truthfulness. It can be found in the beginning of the songs in lines Hands, put your emptied hands in mine and Scars, show me all the scars you have (Stanza 1, lines 1-2). Even though it is true that the person has bad experience,
Rachel wants the person to be honest to her. Rachel wants him/her to stop hiding it.
Maybe the person chose not tell anyone about her/his bad part of life, because it only made it worse. But Rachel promises that she will be stand by him/her. Therefore
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trustfulness could also be honesty which means that we do not have to tell or gossip to other people about our friend’s bad experience. Instead of doing that, it is better to just keep it to ourselves and become sympathy to our friends.
And the last one is about the best kind of friendship according to Aristotle.
Rachel here really shows about unconditional love meaning she does not expect something in return. She even sacrificed herself for the person. We can see it from the lines And hey, if your wings are broken, please take so yours can open too (Stanza 1, lines 3-4), And love, if your wings are broken, borrow mine so yours can open too
(Stanza 2, lines 4-5). Wings as it represented before is something that is very important.
Therefore perhaps it could be helping it by giving money or doing the other important thing. Here Rachel wants to show that she does not care if she needs to sacrifice for beloved ones. As long as they are happy, she will do anything even if it means she needs to lose something that should belong to her.
3. “Hall of fame” by The Script
This first song by The Script talks about a persuasion for us that we can be anything that is extraordinary or giving big impact to the world as long as we dedicate ourselves. Aristotle, in his beginning of his book, Nicomachean Ethics, said that there is no pointless actions because every action always has an aim in the end. Some things are done for their own sake and some things are done for the sake of other things
(Peters, 1893, p. 1).
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This song shows the virtue of courageous, ambitious, honor and temperance. It shows that the journey is not an easy and a happy journey. It describes the journey as a hell. You can walk through hell with a smile (Stanza 5, line 3). Even though we fear or scared, we need to keep doing the things that are required. This shows the virtue of courageous which is not running away from the pain and fear, but choose to deal with them. Hell represents painful experience. According to Oxford Dictionary, hell is a very unpleasant experience or situation in which people suffer very much (Oxford
Dictionary, 2006, p.696).
The virtue of ambitious is represented in the lines imply we can do amazing and enormous things such as becoming a King Kong, talking to God, beating a war, moving a mountain, and breaking rocks. Doing these kinds of thing are not possible literally.
This wants to imply how ambitious a person in doing the actions.
The next one is the virtue of magnanimity that can be found in the lines do it for the people (Stanza 7, line 1) and do it for your country (Stanza 8, line 1). This means that we do this thing not for own sake, but for other people as well. This also shows the best kind of friendship by Aristotle which is virtuous friendship.
Also it shows the virtue of honor can be found in the lines do it for your name
(Stanza 8, line 2), do it for your pride (Stanza 7, line 2), the world’s gonna your name
(Stanza 4, line 4), and standing in the hall of fame (Stanza 4, line 1). It means by achieving it, we would be considered to be great and become honorable persons.
This song mentions the words dedicate yourself (Stanza 3, line 7) and don’t wait for luck (Stanza 3, line 6) because in the end we will be successful or just like the
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represents as Standing in the hall of fame (Stanza 4, line 1). We need to spend our time wisely. Playing, hanging out, or having this short term pleasure will not be bad for us.
But if we do it overtime, it is also not a good thing for us too. We need to be dedicated and sacrificed the short term pleasure for a long term one. And instead of waiting for a luck good things, we should make it happen by ourselves. Because as Aristotle said, it is up to us to make choice and decide what kind of actions that we should take. It is up to whether we want to be worthy or worthless persons (Peters, 1893, p.74).
4. “Superheroes” by The Script
The second song by The Script talks about life of different people. The songs mentions the subject she, he, they, you, and me. They are very struggle and feeling painful in their life. As Aristotle said, a life of eudaimonia is a life of striving. It is a life of pushing ourselves to the limits, and finding success. This principles of good life by Aristotle can be found in the meaning of the song. This song reflects some virtues such as courageous and good temper. And it also shows one of the principles of
Aristotle that said in order to live a good life, we must put or make our actions as our habit.
The lines When you’ve been fighting for it all your life (Stanza 5, line 1) and
You’ve been struggling to make things right (Stanza 5, line 2) show the virtue of courage. It means we have been fighting to do the right things in life. As we imagine doing a right sometimes or usually requires a willingness to act bravely. This song is shown for the people who are dare to act, not for the people who are very scared of
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doing and called cowardice or for the people who are fearlessness or act recklessly without thinking rationally. Courageous is not something or a kind of character that all people are willing to do. Just like what Aristotle said that these kind of people are very rare to be found (Peter, 1893, p.55).
And even though feeling painful is unpleasant, instead of being controlled by the anger, we need to control the anger feeling. So we should be in good temper. We can see it in the lines All his life he’s been told, He’ll be nothing when he’s old, All the kicks and all the blows, He won’t ever let is show, Cause he’s stronger than you know,
A heart of steel starts to grow (Stanza, 2, lines 1-6), and Turn the pain into power
(Stanza 5, line 4). Just like what Aristotle said in his book that a boxer who is courageous has an end view of happiness, but does not feel happy in the journey.
Because in the process, he also takes some blows and even blood (Peters, 1893, p. 90).
These lines represent some pains that the person gets that are represented in the words such as Blows and Kicks. As we imagine when we have these kinds of experience in our life, we will also feel pain or hurt, especially when there is someone or perhaps the society underestimate us and tell us that we will never achieve anything in our life. This could hurt our feelings and make us angry in a moment. But here the song wants to show that instead of choosing to be angry or temperamental because of what the society said, we change the pain into our power. We choose to be stronger instead of suffering because of the pain that we got.
And the next one is this song wants to tell us that we need to be patience in our process. We need to focus to improve ourselves and understand that good thing does
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not happen overnight. The line Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power (Stanza
5, line 4) shows that we do not just do it in one time, just like a superhero learns to fly but we do it continuously. And just like in of the Aristotle’s principles that said that for one swallow or one fine day does not make spring (Peters, 1893, page 17). It means to be great, we need to make our activities as our habits. Because by only doing once is not going to be enough. And we must put it in our action or apply that in our life just like what a man who will win the Olympic Games is the man who competes and not the man who only looks fairest or strongest. Therefore by only knowing what we should do is also not going to be enough to make our life difference. In order to become the winners, we need to manifest it in deed (Peters, 1893, p.20).
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
This chapter is the conclusion of the study. The researcher comes to the conclusions of the analysis of the philosophy of good life in Rachel Platten and The
Script’s selected songs entitled “Fight song”, “Stand by You”, “Hall of Fame”, and
“Superheroes”.
The first problem is finding the meaning of each song using the theory of figurative language. The researcher found all of these songs tell about we should do to achieve what good life is. The “Fight song” talks about story about the writer of the song herself, Rachel Platten. It is about her journey in achieving her dream. In her journey, she faces a lot of struggles and pressure from her surroundings, but she keeps being commitments to what she’s doing. She shows that small thing that is done greatly can create a huge impact. The next song by her entitled “Stand by you” talks about a relationship with someone that the writer’s really loves. The writer wants to show that even though they are in bad situations or facing big problems, she always stands by the person. The next song is by The Script entitled “Hall of Fame”. This song tells that we can be anything extraordinary in this world. It does not matter what it is as long as we are dedicated and commit to face the painful journey. And the last song is also by the same band entitled “Superheroes”. This song tells about a story of the people who are struggle and working very hard in their life. Although they feel pain and disappointed because of the society that underestimate them. But they do not give up. They turn the
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pain to power. They use this as their motivations to be commit in order to achieve what they want. Just like it stated before, good life is not about feeling happy, but it’s something that we all can do which is being commitment in everything that we do that is good in the world (Kevinbinz, 2017, para. 17).
Therefore, the researcher found that these four songs have one common theme and really represent the definition of what good life is which about commit to something that we believe and becoming the best ourselves, and although feeling painful in the journey, we use the pain as power to motivate us in order to grow to become better persons.
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REFERENCES
Abrams, M. H. (1985). A glossary of Literary Terms sixth edition. Orlando: Harcout Brace Jovanovich College Publishers. Alden, Macdonald, Raymond. (1909). An Introduction to Poetry. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Arvius, Alm, Christina. (2003). Figures of Speech. Sweeden: Studentlitteratur.
Azlyrics, June 2019. Retrieved from https://Azlyrics.com
Binz, Kevin. (2017). An Introduction to Ethical Theories. Retrieved from https://kevinbinz.com/2017/04/13/ethical-theory-intro/
Chang, Ruth. (2016). The Good Life Isn’t About Being Happy. Retrieved from https://journal.thriveglobal.com/the-good-life-isnt-about-being-happy- b0b4e8793c74. Chen, Emily. (2019). The Elements of Literature retrieved from http://www2.nkfust.edu.tw/~emchen/CLit/study_elements.htm Fieser, James. (2011). VIRTUES. Retrieved from https://www.utm.edu/staff/jfieser/class/300/virtues.htm
Guerin, Wilfred. (2005). A Handbook of Critical Approach to Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hamiltion, Burris. (2018). A Toolbox for Understanding Literature: Seven Critical Approaches. Retrieved from https://www.skylarb.com/single- post/2018/09/26/A-Toolbox-for-Understanding-Literature-Seven-Critical- Approa.Retrieches
Huta, V. (2013). Eudaimonia. In S. David, I. Boniwell, & A.C. Ayers (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Happiness (chapter 15, pp. 201-213). Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
Kucukuysal, B., Beyhan, E. (2011). Virtue ethics in Aristotle’s Nicomachean ethics. Retrieved from http://www.insanbilimleri.com/e
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Lombardi, Esther. (2019). How to Identify the Theme in a Literary Work. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/how-to-identify-book-theme-739101
Maria,Verlin. (2005). A study of philosophy of good life in Winston Groom’s Forrest Gump (Undergraduate Thesis). Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta
Merriam-Webster Dictionary, June 2019. Retrieved from https://www.merriam- webster.com//
Peters, F.H. (1893). The Nicomachean Ethics Of Aristotle. London. Oxford: Oxford University Press
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Stepehens, Alex. (2017). What Is The Definition Of “Juxtaposition?”. Retrieved from http://cornerpoetry.com/what-is-the-definition-of-juxtaposition/
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APPENDICES
Rachel Platten’s “Fight Song” Like a small boat On the ocean Sending big waves Into motion Like how a single word Can make a heart open I might only have one match But I can make an explosion
And all those things I didn't say Wrecking balls inside my brain I will scream them loud tonight Can you hear my voice this time?
This is my fight song Take back my life song Prove I'm alright song My power's turned on Starting right now I'll be strong I'll play my fight song And I don't really care if nobody else believes Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me
Losing friends and I'm chasing sleep Everybody's worried about me In too deep Say I'm in too deep (in too deep) And it's been two years I miss my home But there's a fire burning in my bones Still believe Yeah, I still believe
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Rachel Platten’s “Stand by You” Hands, put your empty hands in mine And scars, show me all the scars you hide And hey, if your wings are broken Please take mine so yours can open too
'Cause I'm gonna stand by you Oh, tears make kaleidoscopes in your eyes And hurt, I know you're hurting, but so am I And love, if your wings are broken Borrow mine so yours can open too
'Cause I'm gonna stand by you Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you Even if we can't find heaven, I'm gonna stand by you Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you Yeah, you're all I never knew I needed And the heart, sometimes it's unclear why it's beating And love, if your wings are broken We can brave through those emotions too 'Cause I'm gonna stand by you Oh, truth, I guess truth is what you believe in And faith, I think faith is helping to reason No, no, no, love, if your wings are broken Borrow mine so yours can open too 'Cause I'm gonna stand by you Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you Even if we can't find heaven, I'm gonna stand by you Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you I'll be your eyes when yours can't shine I'll be your arms, I'll be your steady satellite And when you can't rise, well, I'll cry with you on hands and knees 'Cause I (I'm gonna stand by you)
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Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through (come on) Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you Even if we can't find heaven, I'm gonna stand by you Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through hell with you Love, you're not alone, 'cause I'm gonna stand by you Love, you're not alone No, I'm gonna stand by you (Even if we can't find heaven, heaven, heaven) I'm gonna stand by you
The Script’s “Hall of Fame” Yeah, you can be the greatest You can be the best You can be the King Kong banging on your chest
You can beat the world You can beat the war You can talk to God, go banging on his door
You can throw your hands up You can beat the clock You can move a mountain You can break rocks You can be a master Don't wait for luck Dedicate yourself and you go find yourself
Standing in the hall of fame And the world's gonna know your name Cause you burn with the brightest flame And the world's gonna know your name And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame
You can go the distance You can run the mile You can walk straight through hell with a smile
You can be the hero You can get the gold Breaking all the records they thought never could be broke
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Yeah, do it for your people Do it for your pride How are you ever gonna know if you never even try?
Do it for your country Do it for your name Cause there's gonna be a day
Be a champion, be a champion, be a champion, be a champion Be students Be teachers Be politicians Be preachers
Be believers Be leaders Be astronauts Be champions Be truth seekers
Be students Be teachers Be politicians Be preachers
Be believers Be leaders Be astronauts Be champions And you'll be on the walls of the hall of fame
The Script’s “Superheroes” All the life she has seen All the meaner side of me They took away the prophet's dream For a profit on the street Now she's stronger than you know A heart of steel starts to grow All his life he's been told He'll be nothing when he's old
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All the kicks and all the blows He won't ever let it show 'Cause he's stronger than you know A heart of steel starts to grow When you've been fighting for it all your life You've been struggling to make things right That's how a superhero learns to fly Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power When you've fighting for it all your life You've been working every day and night That's how a superhero learns to fly Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power Oh-oh, oh, oh Oh-oh, oh, oh All the hurt, all the lies All the tears that they cry When the moment is just right You see fire in their eyes 'Cause he's stronger than you know A heart of steel starts to grow When you've been fighting for it all your life You've been struggling to make things right That's how a superhero learns to fly Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power When you've fighting for it all your life You've been working every day and night That's how a superhero learns to fly Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power (power, power, power, power, power) Every day, every hour turn the pain into power (Power, power, power, power) Every day, every hour turn the pain into power She's got lions in her heart A fire in her soul he's a got a beast In his belly that's so hard to control 'Cause they've taken too much hits, taking blow by blow Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode
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She's got lions in her heart A fire in her soul he's a got a beast In his belly that's so hard to control 'Cause they've taken too much hits, taking blow by blow Now light a match, stand back, watch them explode When you've been fighting for it all your life You've been struggling to make things right That's a how a superhero learns to fly Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power When you've fighting for it all your life You've been working every day and night That's a how a superhero learns to fly Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power (power, power, power, power, power) Oh, yes (power, power, power, power) Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power (Power, power, power, power) Ooh, yeah Whoa (power, power, power, power) Every day, every hour, turn the pain into power When you've been fighting for it all your life You've been struggling to make things right That's how a superhero learns to fly