Society's Child – My Autobiography Analysis

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The story “Society’s Child – My Autobiography”, written by Janis Ian, an American folksinger and songwriter, is a book written in 2009. Ian was only 13 years old when she sold a single that was considered as refractory all over America. The reason for this was the racial problems it refers to in the song lyrics. Believing is what is getting Janis Ian through her concert in the 1960th, where the audience booed her down from the stage. In the extract from “Society’s Child – My Autobiography, we are being included, in her struggle against the spectators and the world, in order to express her opinion. In the excerpt we hear about a concert in Encino, California. Janis Ian is performing her song “Society’s Child” on the stage and at the same time …show more content…

She decided that she did not want to be afraid anymore. Ian did not expect her song to become a big hit. As she mentioned in the text, she only wrote it “to clear out my system” and then all of a sudden she has a responsibility. Seen from the perspective of a child, that must have been intimidating, but she grows with task. She is being faced with the issue and persuades to show her surroundings, that she is strong. The story Janis Ian tells us is in fact a retro perspective of her life. This argument is based on the fact that she writes in past tense through the entire story. She leads us through the story from a first persons perspective and makes the reader understand the feelings and atmosphere, which you can see here, “I felt like crying, but you can’t sing and cry at the same time so I tried to keep on going”. The words “Nigger lover” is being repeated several times. The meaning in these words is interesting. Cause, in fact, she is either a “nigger lover” or a “white lover”. She is in the middle. She is trying to convince her surroundings about her statement. She is trying to make the segregation

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