Narrative Criticism

The Beatles song "Revolution" is a well written song inspired by the politics of the era.  It is presented in a way that tells a story about the internal and external struggles of an individual dealing with the war and the economic changes happening.  The song is offering a story as a way to teach audiences a new way to see the world, or possibly to reinforce the way they are already thinking,  It also presents a challenge to the American government to work to keep the people happy. 

The setting of the song is America during the Vietnam war.  Although the themes of the song could be reflected onto the views of American's during most of the wars we have been involved in.  The characters of this story are "you" and  "I". The narrator is John Lennon singing the song literally, but figuratively is it the audience member listening to the song.  It is written in a way to make them think they are telling the stories and feeling the emotions being described.  This builds a deeper connection to the audience. 

"You" are yourself in this song, a functioning character.  As yourself, Lennon calls listeners out on different worldviews and opinions that all line up with his views.  "I" is Lennon as a character.  He uses his power of influence to stir emotions and expose truth to his listeners.  I also believe that by using his words, Lennon switches the "you" character to imply to be other people as well.  An example of this is when he says:

"You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head"

At this point in the song, Lennon is referring to politicians as the "you".  It could be presidents, senators, or anyone else with political power.  The next line of the song is:

"You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You'd better free your mind instead"

At this point in the song, "you" is now the listener again, who is questioning the government and is ready to open up to new things.  This smooth transition between characters works as a glue to build cohesion and pull the story together. 

The audience for this story is citizens worldwide who are ready for a change.  The audience members could not realize they are ready for change until hearing the song, which may inspire that feeling in them.  For other audience members, the desire for change may already be instilled and this song is reinforcing and expanding their currents views.  The Beatles hit people worldwide with their music, so their audience held no limits. 

The theme of this story is to stand up for what you believe in.  Multiple references are made about this.  The first one that pops into my head is the line "Well you can count me out".  This is significant because there is not question in that line that the narrator, Lennon, does not want to give his money and time to something that he does not believe is righteous and good.  The theme is advising listeners to do the same. 

For my final paper, I will be focusing on Narrative Criticism in regards to the Beatles song "Revolution".  I will begin with an introduction to the song, its general meaning, and background information on the narrators.  The first section will also consist of an explanation of why this artifact is significant and relevant to society and this type of critic.

In the next section I will have a detailed analysis of the artifact.  I will go into detail about the objective of the narration, the settings, the audience, the narrator, and the theme of this piece.  Each of these sections will most likely have their own paragraphs for an explanation.  I plan to include specific song lyrics in each part to reinforce what I state.

My research question is, "Why was the song "Revolution" so influential when it was released and in the years to follow?" This will be referenced throughout the paper and my concluding paragraph will summarize my evidence to make a clear connection back to the research question.