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James Chappell Professor Dr. Sterling ENGL 1302 21 March 2017 Rise The song rise is Danny Gokeys most recent song and album. Rise was released on

January 13, 2017. Danny Gokey was born on April 24, 1980 in , Wisconsin. In 2008

Gokeys wife passed away due to complications of congenital heart disease surgery. In 2009

Danny tried-out for and finished 3rd place in season eight of the competition. In

2012 Gokey married his present wife and now the couple have a son. In a video uploaded by

Danny Gokey on YouTube the singer discusses the story behind the song Rise. Gokey starts out with talking about the passing of his wife years back and how that really brought him to a very low place in his life. Meanwhile, Danny was struggling with depression and not eating. Gokey also says in the video, “…I remember I lost about 15-20 pounds, I lost my appetite, I felt like I couldn’t control my mind, it got so bad to a point my wife had to hold me in bed and she would have to speak encouragement…I felt like I was going to die…”

The hit song Rise is about overcoming obstacles in your life and pushing forward no matter how hard or impossible it might seem. Even when all hope may seem lost we can always come back stronger and rise from the situation that we are in. The song also talks about how when in dark times we don’t let our creator in our life. When in fact God wants our hearts and wants to unlock the door for us to seek greatness and restore the glory in our lives. Gokey also sings in the song, “Shut the door on yesterday Leave what happened in the grave You were made to rise You were made to shine”, stating that we were made to come back and shine even brighter than before. Towards the end of the song Danny sings that we are an “army of hope, Bringing the Chappell 2 world a radiant light”, corresponding to the meaning earlier in the song that we are in fact a light in the world that is meant to be radiated even brighter.

Rise is arguing that in the darkest times of life when all of hope is lost we should remind ourselves that we are meant for more than this and to be patient. Not everyone will agree with this statement. They’re cases with people dealing with a mental illness and it almost is impossible for them to remind themselves to have an optimistically mindset. This becomes a conflict with Man Vs Self, when someone is dealing with an illness or just a strong amount of negativity it really does seem impossible to look at the positive and remind ourselves that there is still hope for a better tomorrow. Now all cases are different with people, when you have friends and family for mental support it can seem less challenging to overcome the situation.

Unfortunately, assuming every single person has friends is false and for someone who may not have friends makes the situation more challenging to face.

Fortunately, the song is side by side with society. In a world where there is a vast amount of chaos and darkness, mankind is surrounded by lots of positivity. The conflict scenario Man

Vs. Society comes into play because, all over the song Gokey is talking about the action of rising from hard times. Throughout the internet, T.V., and other means of communication there is an extraordinary amount of encouragement and positive feedback from others who may share the same story or people who naturally enjoy helping others. At the same time there remains a massive wave of negativity and evil on social media, news, and other types of communication.

For someone who looks to the world for the positive reminder it may seem childish due to the amount of mean and harsh words throughout society.

In a case where a person is being bullied from another person through cyber connections or verbal and physical abuse face to face, this becomes a man vs. man conflict and their mind get Chappell 3 trapped in the bully’s word. Back to the portion of the melody when Danny sings, “But your heart's paralyzed, you're so stuck, you're past the point of trying again, you're defeated, you're defeated”, he is stating what almost everyone in a situation like someone bulling another person it seems hopeless to fight back against the harsh words from the other man or woman.

Throughout the tune, Danny is expressing we must rise from the occasion and to be mindful that

God is always there with us and will guide us through the darkness in our lives.

In the grand scheme of things when we are bothered by something that is weighing down on our shoulders, it is one obstacle in front of plenty more to come. This is a real situation of

Man vs. Nature. Life is hard and what we do right now or what is being done to us maybe unbearable at times, but if we keep moving forward the reward of it is greatness with-in us.

“Breaking the dark, piercing the night”, this phrase in Rise is portraying that we can break the chains, look away from all the negativity from it, and face everything head on with a fierce heart.

The moral of the song gifts us the solution when expressing that it is when we are going through a rough patch in life it’s just one chapter of many more to come. What will we tell ourselves twenty, thirty, or forty years after the darkness. Will we be able to say that we fought hard and stayed persistent for our life or not be able to say anything at all because we are either still alive struggling or we are dead.

When all of hope may seem lost we should remind ourselves that we are meant for more than this and to be patient knowing of a possible bright future. The song “Rise” reminds us that no matter what the storm is, it’s a good idea to be mindful that there is something waging inside of us and that something is a candled that is born to burn bright. Life is a storm, you will bask in the sunlight one day and be shattered on the rocks the next. We are brought on this Earth to stand up and rise from the evil and look at in the face and say, “do your worse, as I will do mine”. Chappell 4

WORKS CITED IMDb Inc. "Biography." IMDb. IMDb.com, 1990. Web. 22 Mar. 2017. Freeccm. "Behind The Song: Danny Gokey Shares The Heart Behind His Song “Rise”." Freeccm.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2017. "Go to Bing Homepage." Rise+danny+gokey+lyrics - Bing. JOSH BRONLEEWE, DANNY GOKEY, BENJI COWART, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017.