Example Of Rhetorical Analysis Of A Slam Poem Essay

The aim of this essay is to present you with the analysis and the reflections drawn upon the reading of a slam poem. Slam poetry in general is considered to be a relatively new kind of poetry. It was born around the 90’s. It was in 1987 when the first National competition on Slam poetry was organized. There have been ongoing competitions ever since along with other events celebrating this poetry genre and making it known to a wider range of readers, listeners and poetry lovers. Slam poetry is poetry based on being recited. Poets recite their poems and the audience listens to them while the judge’s vote for each poem, as a means of showing the effect each poem has had on them. Slam poetry is the poetry that reflects the era within which it is created. The birth of slam poetry was the immediate result of heated debates and social issues of great concern that led people to be expressed through their verses and lyrics. As a result, slam poetry is a mirror upon which nowadays’ society is reflected. Slam poems speak to the hearts of their listeners, raising their interest and attracting their attention to social issues of great concern that have been asking for immediate action and /or appliance of effective measures. This paper will present you with the analysis of a specific slam poem. The poem you will be presented with in this paper is the poem titled ‘Cauz he’s black’. This poem was recited by Javon Johnson in the 2013 National Slam Competition. It immediately won people’s admiration and raised lots of comments and heated debate, since it dealt with a social issue of great significance. Javon Johnson addresses his audience with the aspect of racism which underlies a multicultural society.
The thematic core of this poem is discussion held between the poet and his nephew. Javon Johnson shares this discussion with his audience. The discussion begins when the nephew looks out of the window and he sees a police car. He turns to his uncle, who is the poet and asks him to hide. Johnson shares his thoughts with his audience. The moment he heard these words come out of his nephew’s mouth he realized that he is not at all happy with the way people seem to raise black boys. So, Johnson, brings his readers immediately face to face with the reality of the poem. It is a reality reflecting the existing racism. There still seems to be a need for a different way in people being raised up. Probably people demand a different way of being brought up according to their origins and color. It is clear that Johnson seems to be holding enough skepticism along with lots of oppositions as far as this difference is concerned. He admits to not accepting or agreeing with the fact that black boys seem to be raised in such a way that they end up being afraid or feeling endangered at the sight pf policemen. Attention should be paid to the words and language used by the poet himself. Javon Johnson does not use the word ‘policemen’ but he uses the word ‘cops’ in an effort to show that even the language used on behalf of black people is different from the language used by others. It seems that Javon Johnson wishes to highlight the fact that black boys are brought up within the borders of their race. They are brought up as a different racial group, of specific mentality and behavior. The language used and the communicational code is totally different form the ones of other social groups. Johnson seems to be willing to raise awareness to his audience. Racial differences still exist. These differences are even obvious in the language used by specific racial and social groups. White people may use the word ‘policemen’ but black boys and especially black youth prefers the word ‘cops’. Although this may seem as an insignificant difference, there is still lots of logical reason why such differences exist and what their representations are considered to be standing for in terms of their being rationalized and logically explained.
Johnson moves a step forward. Black boys seem to be brought up in such a way that they are afraid of authorities. These authorities may be the ‘cops’ but they may be some others, as well. The question though still remains. What is the reason why his nephew learned to be afraid of the cops before he leaned how to read? This is the indirect question risen and hanging over people’s head when they listen to the lyrics of the poem ‘I’ll be honestDon’t like the fact that he learned to hide from the cops well before he knew how to read.’ So, the poet highlights a significant social issue. Black boys seem to be brought up in such a way that they are afraid of authorities. They are taught on ways how to deal with authorities and how to get away with them, long before they are taught literacy or they lean how to read and write. This is an even more important point of the poem itself. Johnson seems to raise significant questions and he intrigues people’s interest and concern. People are brought up in such a way that they learn to depend their survival on their alleged fears instead of their knowledge. The poem raises this ‘why’ question on this specific issue. Johnson seems to wish to remind people that knowledge is so powerful that even the worst fears can be logically dealt with or be totally dispersed.
The poem goes on describing the reaction of the uncle. The poet cannot tolerate such a fear on behalf of his nephew. He uses logos and ethos in order to attract his nephew’s attention and deal with his illogical and shameful fear. ‘Get upn this car, in this family, we are not afraid of the law’ ‘Get up I yell at him. In this car, in this family, we are not afraid of the law’.
This is the most crucial moment of the confession of the poet. He asks his audience ‘I wonder if he can hear the uncertainty in my voice. Is today the day he learns that uncle is willing to lie to him, that I am more human than hero?’
So, Johnson focuses on the fact that the problem is much more complex that what everybody seems to be ready to accept. The poet himself is a grown up man who knows for sure what is right and what is wrong. It is wrong for racial differences to exist and to create a differentiated social behavior in terms of feeling socially equally. But even the poet himself feels that he has been brainwashed. There seems to be a vicious ongoing circle. Although people seem to know what is right and what is wrong, the same socially ugly situations still exist. There seems to be an ongoing game of racism in nowadays societies. The poem declares it in plain, clear words. The poet says ‘ it's not about whether or not the shooter is racist, it's about how poor black boys are treated as problems well before we are treated as people’
It is clear that the poem stigmatizes all forms of racism as existing nowadays. Mixed societies seem to be tolerating murders of people who dared to stand up for their social rights and their social role. But only ignorance and lack of interest were the immediate results.
The slam poem reaches its ending. The poet decides to take over the role of his nephew’s father. He is holding his hand and he is giving him valuable pieces of advice. ‘Be a boy and have fun, because this world will force you to become a man far more quickly than you'll ever have the need to. He lets go of my hand.And it scares me to know that he, like so many black boys, is getting ready for a war I can't prepare him for.’
The message put across on behalf of the poet is clear. There are social wars of inequality to be fought on behalf of young people. There are social wars underlying the social structures and norms of functioning. People ought to be alert and work towards the effective resolution of social issues which come against the social health and prosperity.
This poem is a slam poem characterized by high lyricism and emotion. There is no special metrical norms or schemes in rhyme. Slam poets use their poems to approach a wide range of social issues. Social equality is the issue which this poem by Javon Johnson approaches.
Social equality is one of these social issues of great concern and it is time people did something about it. It is time for people regardless of their experiences, their color, their origins and their social class to enjoy social prosperity and equal opportunities as members of a developing social environment.