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Pain & Anguish

"Jesus of Suburbia"

  • Song by American punk rock band Green Day
  • Co-written by Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tre Cool
  • First released by Green Day in 2004 as part of their "American Idiot" album.
  • In a 2004 MTV interview Billie Joe Armstrong says that he developed the character from personal experiences over the years but that it was set to the political and cultural climate of the time.

"Jesus of Suburbia"

Literary Devices

  • The album American Idiot was designed as a rock opera where the songs run together and tell a continous story.
  • "Jesus of Suburbia" is divided into 5 parts.
  • Part 1: Jesus of Suburbia- Introduction to the character and describes his life in suburbia.
  • Part 2 : City of the Damned- Takes place in a 7/11 and a shopping mall where he reflects on the lies that make up his life.
  • Part 3 : I Don't Care - presents Jesus of Suburbia as an outsider who rebels against the hypocrisy of his life.
  • Part 4: Dearly Beloved- Character reveals insecurities
  • Part 5: Tales of a Broken Home - The character decides to run away after revelations

Literary Devices

Lineation

The song is filled with enjambed lines. There is little punctuation to be found. There is some use of commas, questions marks and exclamation points.

ex: "Oh, therapy, can you please fill the void?

Am I just retarded or am I just overjoyed?"

The song also ends with ellipses

ex: "You're leaving...(3x)

Ah you're leaving home..."

Letting the listener(s) contemplate the action the speaker ultimately decides to make and questions if the listener(s)

are ready to leave also.

Lineation

Themes

Disillusionment

"... The motto was just a lie/It says home is where the heart your heart is/ But what a shame/'Cause everyone's heart/ Doesn't beat the same..."

-" I lost my faith to this/This town that don't exist.."

  • Speaker is starting to realize that his life is not as good as he once viewed it and distancing himself.

Coming of Age

"And I leave behind/This hurricane of of fucking lies/And i walked this line/A million and one fucking times/But not this time"

  • Speaker realizes that he has attempted to walk a straight line his whole life but its time to find his own way.

Themes

Self-Awareness

-"Nobody's perfect and I stand accused/ For lack of a better word, and that's my best excuse"

-" I don't feel shame, I won't apologize/When there ain't nowhere you can go.."

- "And there's nothing wrong with me/ This is how I'm supposed to be"

  • Speaker knows he is not perfect, is able to acknowledge it, and is unapologetic because that is who he is.

Themes Cont'd

Self-Destruction

- "On a steady diet of/Soda pop and Ritalin"

- "To alcohol and cigarettes/And Mary Jane/To keep me insane,/

Doing someone else's cocaine"

  • speaker is trying to self-medicate using drugs and alcohol.

Themes Cont'd

Denial

- " I don't care if you don't/

I don't care if you don't / I don't care if you don't care"

  • character is trying to convince himself that he doesn't care about how he feels because everyone is telling him to that they don't care about him.

Connections

Possible Connections between Speaker and co-writer Billie Joe Armstrong

1. When Billie Joe was 14 his mother remarried and the relationship with his step-father was strained.

In "Jesus of Suburbia" the speaker says, "The living room or my private womb/ While the Mom's And Brad's are away/ ", suggests that the speaker had a step-father.

2. Billie Joe has struggled with drug and alcohol addiction since an early age. In a newspaper interview in 2013 he said that he grew up seeing alcoholism in his home.

In "Jesus of Suburbia" the speaker also struggles with drug and alcohol abuse.

Possible Connections to Society

1. "We are the kids of war and peace/From Anaheim to the middle east"

- War against the Middle East after 2001.

2." On a steady diet of/Soda pop and Ritalin", "Oh, therapy, can you please fill the void?"

- The growing use of Ritalin and therapy focused on children at the start of late 1990s.

3.The character "Jesus" representative of how society expects him to be "normal" and if he doesn't fit the mold he is an outcast that won't get anywhere in life.

-"And there's nothing wrong with me/ This is how I'm supposed to be/ In a land of make believe/ That don't believe in me."

Possible Connections to Society

"One Day I Wrote her Name"

  • Sonnet 75 in a series of 89 sonnets
  • Volume was published in 1595
  • Speculated that Sonnet 75 was written between 1592-1594.

Author

Edmund Spenser

(1552/1553-1599)

Author

  • English poet
  • Came from poor family
  • Attended University of Cambridge from1569 to 1574 where he was classed as a sizar—a student who, out of financial necessity, performed various menial or semi-menial duties. He received his BA and MA
  • His first volume of poetry, The Shepheardes Calender was published in 1579.
  • Most known for The Faerie Queene, a major English epic
  • Sonnet 75 is included in Amoretti and Epithalamion, a sonnet sequence dedicated to his second wife, Elizabeth Boyle.

History

  • Literary culture was behind compared to smaller nations at the time such as France, Italy and Scotland.
  • Very few notable poets in England in the early to mid 1500s
  • Prominent literary critic of 16th century, Sir Philip Sydney states that England has little to offer in terms of the history of their literature
  • In order to resolve the deficiency Edmund Spenser set out with Sydney to bring the literary culture that england was missing

History

Literary Devices

  • Meter: Perfect Iambic Pentameter except for line 5

- 'Vain man,' said she, "that dost in vain assay,"

- The author stressed this line to bring it to the attention of

the listener.

  • Rhyme Scheme: 14 line sonnet has an ABAB BCBC CDCD EE rhyming scheme which was Edmund Spenser's own invention- Spenserian Sonnet.
  • Alliteration

- Line 2: "But came the waves and washed it away:"

- Line 5: "But came the tide, and made my pains his prey."

Themes

Immortality/Mortality

The speaker is trying to immortalize his lover's name. Yet he cannot escape mortality.

Ex: "To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:/ My verse your vertues rare shall eternize,"

Themes

Love

The speaker is in love with his lover and feels that their love deserves to be eternal and last until the end of time.

Ex: "Where whenas death shall all the world subdue, /Our love shall live , and later life renew."

Theme Continued

Pain and Anguish

The pain and anguish feeling he is getting comes from the inevitable loss of his loved one.

Theme Continued

Compare and Contrast

Compare and Contrast

Comparison

The Speakers in "Jesus of Suburbia" and "One Day I Wrote her Name" both experience pain and suffering by external forces trying to conform them.

Ex: " At the center of the Earth/ In the parking lot/Of the 7-11 where I was taught/ The motto was just a lie/ It says home is where the heart is/ But what a shame/ 'Cause everyone's heart/ Doesn't beat the same/ Its beating out of time"

- The Speaker is talking about how society is trying to conform everyone to march to one tune, but his heart is beating out of time, beating against societal conformity.

Ex: " One day I wrote her name upon the strand;/ But came the waves and washed it away:/Again I wrote it with a second hand,/ But came the tide,and made my pains his prey."

- The Speaker is fighting against the laws of nature, unable to prevail but finds a way to work around them.

Compare and Contrast

Contrast

"Jesus of Suburbia" is speaking to a wider audience.

Ex: "Everyone is so full of shit/Born and raised by hypocrites/Hearts recycled never saved/From the cradle to the grave/ We are the kids of war and peace/ From Anaheim to the middle east/We are the stories and disciples/ Of the Jesus of suburbia"

- Its trying to rebel against the status quo. Instead of following the beliefs held by people before them, he is trying to make people wake up and find who they are and could be.

" One Day I Wrote her Name" is speaking to one person- The speaker's lover.

Ex: 'Not so,' (quod I) "let baser things devise/ To die in dust, but you shall live by fame:/ My verse your vertues rare shall eternize,/ and in the heavens write your glorious name:"

- The speaker is only trying to persuade his loved one to his way of thinking.

Critical Guiding Questions

"Jesus of Suburbia"

1. Using evidence describe how the "Jesus" displays the view that if you aren't questioning everything (about yourself, society) you aren't living life but merely existing.

2. When the speaker says, "Dearly Beloved are you listening?", who is he addressing?

3. Why does the speaker address himself as "Jesus"?

4. Who are the possible listeners that are being targeted?

" One Day I Wrote her Name"

1. What connections can be found between the Speaker of the poem and Edmund Spenser?

2. If the speaker is trying to immortalize his lover's name then why is it never mentioned in the poem?

3. What is the importance of the speaker giving his lover a "voice" in the poem?

4. Do you agree with the argument presented in the poem?

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