Her finder du Studienets vejledning til analyse af uddraget fra selvbiografien Society's Child - My Autobiography af Janis Ian. Teksten har været brugt til den skriftlige eksamen i Engelsk A på STX den 30. maj 2013, hvor opgaveformuleringen lød således:
Write an essay in which you analyze and comment on the extract from Janis Ian's Society's Child - My Autobiography. Part of your essay must focus on the style of the text and on Janis Ian's message.
I denne study guide finder du al den hjælp til analyse af teksten, så du kan skrive et godt analytical essay om teksten.
Præsentation af teksten
Titel: Society's Child - My Autobiography
Forfatter: Janis Ian
Genre: Selvbiografi (2009)
Janis Ian (b. 1951) er en amerikansk sanger, sangskriver og forfatter. Som musiker blev Ian berømt i 1960'erne og 1970'erne, da folk music var meget populært. En af hendes første sange, "Society's Child", skabte en del kontrovers i USA, fordi den handlede om forbudt kærlighed mellem en hvid pige og en afro-amerikansk fyr.
Uddrag
Nedenfor kan du læse et uddrag fra webbogen, som også giver dig et indblik i tekstens sociale kontekst:
Social context
The social context of the story is American society in the 1960s. At that time, the Civil Rights Movement for African-American Rights campaigned strongly for equal rights in a society which still promoted racial segregation and discrimination, and banned interracial couples in many parts of the US. Furthermore, American society was also strongly influenced by the Cold War, and the government has held some people under constant surveillance, especially those whom they suspected of being communist sympathizers. Consequently, we can say the social climate was tense and that intolerance was encouraged across society.
In this context, young Janis Ian’s attitude was one of bravery and defiance because she released a song about interracial love. Her subsequent fear, as a result of death threats and aggressive attitudes at her concert, is understandable considering she was only fifteen years old. For a teenager, the pressure of fame together with becoming the target of racial prejudices would have been very overwhelming. Reflect on how you would have reacted in her situation.
