PORTFOLIO 10: LITERARY ESSAY

"All the girls love Alice", "They dance Alone" and "Where the streets have no names": The dichotomy of feeling an alien in Earth.

Lucas Zalazar

Language and Written Expression IV

Professor Saubidet

July 12, 2018

Have you ever said "I'm different"? Have you ever said "I don't agree"? Have you ever said "No"? Nowadays, everyone would be expected to believe that these expressions are common and should be easily accepted. However, reality is far different from that. Feeling in a different way or thinking in a different way, has a high cost. This is expressed, among others, in these three songs: "All the girls love Alice" by Elton John, "They dance alone" by Sting and "Where the streets have no name" by U2. These pieces of art clearly expose the difficult, and sometimes tragic, reality of those who are different from the rest of society and show their ominous fate: to be bereft of all hope.

In Elton John's song "All the girls love Alice," the rejection the protagonist suffers for feeling in a different way, drives her to live secretly, which in turn leads to a  miserable end. According to the song, Alice is "raised to be a lady by the golden rule" (1). However, she finds herself in a context she does not belong to, evidently shown by the fact "she couldn't get it on with the boys . . . " (6). Being left out, Alice secretly surrounds with other girls who are in the same position as she is, having hopes of feeling better. This futile attempt, and her tragic outcome, is a product of how society wants people to be: stereotypes.

 Manifesting publicly and silently does not alter significantly the lives of those in need, as shown in the song "They dance alone". Torn apart by the Pinochet regime, these Chilean women express their suffering through a public dance. The songwriter poses reasonable questions about how to react to this situation but finding no answer. The soldiers' "faces fixed like stone" showing that they "despise" them, proves beyond doubt that these women are left alone (4-5). Trying to look for empathy with words does not work as expected either. The damage they received cannot be alleviated and there is no way of mitigating their pain but to dance alone with their beloved husbands, fathers and sons.

The division present in society in terms of sexual, political, religious and ethnic affairs have a terrible effect on both sides, as seen in "Where the streets have no name." Whatever attempts to build unity among different people is eventually wrecked and whatever plans are designed to find a consensus are eventually dismantled:

We're still building

Then burning down love

Burning down love

And when I go there

I go there with you

It's all I can do

(15-20)

These discrepancies do not favour anyone whose desire in life is to live according to their personal beliefs. In the end, they are "beaten and blown by the wind"(23).

All in all, we have considered diverse aspects of the reality of this society directly concerned with group minorities. It has been proved that whatever path  that has been taken in order to survive in this modern society, has only brought more problems, more despair and more distance. And clearly this fault is on humankind, who is constantly inventing more and more ways of hurting others. Are we doomed to destroy one another? Who is going to find the cure for this terrible disease? If the answer to this question is humankind, then we already know the outcome for us: to be bereft of all hope.

Bibliography:

Bono (1987). "Where the streets have no name".

John, E. (1973). "All the girls love Alice".

Sumner, G. (1987). "They dance alone".