“Animal I have Become-Three Days Grace” Analysis/Interpretation

Three days Grace- Animal I have Become

I can't escape this hell
So many times I've tried
But I'm still caged inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
I can't control myself

Someone if you can see
The dark inside of me
Noone would ever change this animal I have become
Help me believe, It's not the real me

Somebody help me tame this animal (this animal x's 2)

I can't escape myself
So many times I've lied
But there's still rage inside
Somebody get me through this nightmare
I can't control myself

Someone if you can see
The dark inside of me
Noone would ever change this animal I have become
Help me believe, It's not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal I have become
Help me believe, It's not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal

Somebody help me through this nightmare
I can't control myself
Somebody wake me from this nightmare
I can't escape this cell

This Animal x's 7

Someone if you can see
The dark inside of me
Noone would ever change this animal I have become
Help me believe, It's not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal I have become
Help me believe, It's not the real me
Somebody help me tame this animal

This animal I have become.

SONG ANALYSIS/INTERPRETATION

The theme for this song is to visualize an angry man locked up just like an animal. This might give the imagery of a man in a jail surrounded by other dangerous men. The animal that he has become is the reason behind him being locked up in a cell. The speaker to this song is angry at the decisions he made in life and is regretting them. The theme describes his feeling of fury for the times he could not control his actions. He relates himself to being in a nightmare of his own. A nightmare that is so real to him that he cannot escape the feeling of reality. He wants to believe that what he has done is not really him. The audience believes that it might be his alter ego self. The speaker describes the feeling of his actions as being animal-like because it is not like him to behave like this. This song interprets how a man is feeling like an animal because of the times he has lied and the dark side of him. For example, “I can’t escape myself/ So many times I’ve lied/ But there’s still rage inside/ Somebody get me through this nightmare” incorporates his feelings of remorse for his actions.

The literary devices used in this song are metaphors and imagery. Throughout the song, the speaker repeats “animal I have become” to show the connection between himself and an intimidating animal. The metaphor compares the speaker to an animal because of the speaker’s way of behaving. The speaker behaves like an animal because he can not control himself. Animals are wild and can get out of hand. The imagery in the introduction relates the speaker to be “caged inside”. This defines that the speaker is like an animal by being literally locked up in a cage. This quote describes that he may possibly be in a jail cell. “Animal I have Become” by Three Days Grace is a great song that describes how a man feels like an animal because of his animal-like behavior. The speaker makes the connection that he is not the same. He has changed for the worst by doing things that was not like him. The animal he has become was his way of saying that his behavior made him feel like an animal. An animal that is unjust and wild that is in a cage. The lyrics to this song are simple and straightforward. It is easily understood by the audience because everyone can relate to someone being at their lowest point in life.

Literary Devices

1. “Father’s hands are lined with dirt from long days in the field” (Nickelback).

This is an example of imagery because the listener can visualize his father working long days in the field.

2. “But there’s still tomorrow, forget the sorrow” (Lost Prophets).

This is an example of rhyme because ‘tomorrow’ and ‘sorrow’ rhyme.

3. “Patrollin’ and tryna catch me ridin dirty” (Chamillionaire).

This is an example of diction because he uses a different word choice, ‘tryna’ is substituted for ‘trying to’.

4. “So, why can’t I turn off the radio?” (Ne-Yo).

This is an example of a rhetorical question because it is not supposed to be answered.

5. “I’m fast as lightning bro ya better use ya Nike’s bro” (T.I.).

This is an example of a simile because he is comparing himself to be fast as lightning.

6. “He worked so hard his bones are breaking, he wore them down but long ago he lost the feeling” (Smile Empty Soul).

This is an example of imagery because the listener can visualize his father working so hard that his bones are breaking.

7. “And now the ring that’s on my hand was given to me by her” (Nickelback).

This is an example of symbolism because the ring symbolizes marriage.

8. “Circling your, Circling your, Circling your head contemplating everything you ever said” (Trapt).

This is an example of repetition because ‘circling your’ is repeated.

9. “Cause every day we’re getting older and every day we all get colder” (Lost Prophets).

This is an example of rhyme because ‘older’ and ‘colder’ rhyme.

10. “All good friends, they stood by you and one at a time, one at a time they fall down. They fall down” (Burden Brothers).

This is an example of repetition because ‘one at a time’ and ‘they fall down’ is repeated.

“Once Upon a Mattress” Critique

The Fort Dorchester Students performed brilliant by singing and dancing in this musical performance. I enjoyed watching them perform onstage. The male performers were funny and spiteful. The students that had singing parts were on key and carried the right tone. I was surprised that the male students did such a good job singing and dancing. The costumes were amazing and just like wardrobes from a royal kingdom. I liked how the students were acting as if they were honorable people of importance. The dances from the performance were energetic and simplistic.

The scene from the ball before Princess Winnifred’s good nights sleep was fun to watch. Queen Aggravain invented a dance that was especially tiresome and wacky. She intended on Princess Winnifred to dance all night which would cause her to become tired. When the actors and actresses were dancing in pairs, Princess Winnifred accidentally dropped her mic from underneath her costume. I noticed this right away because the pair was dancing center stage and it was easily observed that a black string was hanging and she was holding a black box. The mic also got caught in her hair while Prince Dauntless was making a turn. After the ball, Princess Winnifred passed the mic to a lady in waiting. The lady in waiting was standing near the right section of the stage and she carefully snuck back stage to put the mic away.

My favorite character was Princess Winnifred played by Caitlyn Oenbrink. Caitlyn was the perfect student to play this princess who is witty and humorous. She had the voice to sing all of the solo parts. Princess Winnifred was the main character that danced with everyone. Caitlyn did a good job acting and singing in this musical. Even though, there was a minor issue with the mic falling out of her costume, the play was still a success.

This musical was a good performance overall. The students trained consecutively and practiced on their songs. The dances were incorporated with the songs perfectly.

“Once Upon a Mattress” Summary

“Once Upon a Mattress” is the modern day version of “The Princess and the Pea” with the intentions of a prince trying to find a real princess in hopes of marrying her. The prince, Prince Dauntless has been searching for a princess for the twelfth time. Twelve princesses have been eagerly waiting to meet Prince Dauntless. He has found many hopeful applicants but, has only been turned down because of his mother Queen Aggravain. Queen Aggravain believes in testing the princesses to find out if they are real princesses. Real princesses would pass the tests and prove they deserve to be with Prince Dauntless. Prince Dauntless wishes that his mother would not make up silly tests because the princesses always seem to fail which, leaves him with nobody. Queen Aggravain’s real motive for quizzing the princesses these ridiculous tests is because she does not wish her son to marry a princess that will be apart of the throne. She wants her son to be patient in finding someone that will soon be with him for the rest of his life.

Other characters in the play were The Minstrel, The Wizard, Lady Larkin, The Jester, Princess Winnifred, and Sir Harry. The Minstrel was the narrator and a stand off character that made observations on the scenes. Lady Larkin and Sir Harry were in a relationship; Lady Larkin has been pregnant during the play. The Wizard, The Jester, and Prince Dauntless’s father King Sextimus were the three characters who exhibited the comical lines. However, King Sextimus has lost his voice due to a curse put on him. He can only gain his voice back if a mouse seizes a lion. The Jester has found a princess for Prince Dauntless; a princess who is from the swamps of the land. Queen Aggravain already disapproves of Princess Winnifred; she believes she is not suitable to marry her son. Princess Winnifred is the witty character with an extraordinary personality. She has a keen sense of humor and is liked by most of the ladies and gentlemen of the court. The Minstrel and the Jester are destined to match Princess Winnifred with Prince Dauntless because they are tired of searching for other princesses. In order, for them to succeed in their task, they have to be knowledgeable of the test Queen Aggravain will give to Princess Winnifred. The Minstrel knew that the Wizard and Queen Aggravain have been talking and deciding on which test to give to her. Queen Aggravain decides to test her on sensitivity. She plans to have about twenty mattresses on top of a single green pea. And if the so-called princess can feel the pea under the twenty mattresses, then, she would be suitable for the prince. After her long, restless night of sleeping, Princess Winnifred has passed the sensitivity test because she did not sleep at all. In conclusion, Prince Dauntless had yelled at his mother which caused King Sextimus to speak again. The Jester explained that the mouse (Prince Dauntless) had seized the lion (Queen Aggravain). The gentlemen and the ladies of the courts revealed the true reason behind Princess Winnifred’s restless night. Under all the mattresses, there has been armor and hard objects which caused her to feel them throughout the night. “Once Upon a Mattress” has been a delightful musical to watch with humorous changes to the original fairy tale.

“Miss Fort Dorchester 2008 Pageant” Critique

I attended the Miss Fort Dorchester Pageant with my friend Nikki Newsome. It was fun going with a friend because we made side comments about every contestant as they walked across the stage. Most of the contestants did a great job performing onstage and with their talent competition. The audience could sense the contestant’s stage presence and nervous feeling. The casual competition was judged on the girls’ outfits they had chosen before. Some of the outfits were casual and some were like dressy casual. Casual dress can mean a sundress or dress slacks and a nice top. I would think that casual means the outfits a person would wear to school, which usually consists of jeans and a nice shirt. None of the contestants wore jeans as casual wear. The talent competition was my favorite part of the pageant. I enjoyed watching the girls dance to some extent. Most of the girls danced to a soft music in the background or Hollywood. I wanted at least someone to dance to the style of hip hop. Hip hop is so much fun to watch. Some of the talents, I did not consider a talent. For example, a soccer presentation was just a girl drippling a ball and speaking about her experience as a soccer player. Then, another contestant had a PowerPoint with pictures of herself and her friends and spoke about her life in high school. The judges chose Caitlyn Oenbrink as Miss Fort Dorchester 2008. Caitlyn was overall the best contestant because of her experience on stage and outgoing personality. She has confidence when she is performing in front of people. Some of the girls carried a fake smile as they walked which made them seem like they just wanted to get off stage.

“Miss Fort Dorchester 2008 Pageant” Summary

The Miss Fort Dorchester 2008 Pageant contained eighteen talented contestants all competing to be named Miss Fort Dorchester 2008. These contestants were in different grades: four freshmen, five sophomores, two juniors, and seven senior girls. They all were performing in an opening number. The opening number involved an arrangement of everyone dancing onstage. The Mistress of Ceremonies announced all of the girls and the judges’ background information. The entertainment of the pageant involved the former Miss Fort Dorchester 2007 dancing and singing to a song which was her talent portion last year and other Fort Dorchester Dancers performing their original pieces of work. The eighteen contestants competed in competitions like casual wear, talent, interview, and evening gown competition. The talent competition involved girls dancing, singing, presentations like monologues and photography. Each girl was talented in their own unique way. The interview competition was not seen by the audience because it was before the pageant started. Other guests that were featured in this pageant were visiting queens. The visiting queens were queens from relay for life.

After the entertainment and the competitions, the awards ceremony and crowning was the finale. The Mistress of Ceremonies presented the girls with trophies, plaques, and crowns. A People’s Choice award was presented to the contestant that had the most votes by other students and faculty. This pageant was entertaining to watch because of the contestant’s talents and their own personal style of clothing.

“The Wizard of Oz” Critique

This children’s play was perfect for a younger audience. I enjoyed watching the elementary school children act as munchkins in the beginning of the play. The munchkins were cute and fun to watch. They behaved by singing little children’s songs and having small parts in this performance. In the scene, where Dorothy first discovers she is in Munchkinland, she hands over the dog, Toto to a little boy munchkin. When the munchkin was holding Toto, Toto lets out a yelp and the Good Witch took the dog. I thought that was really adorable.

When the group arrived at Oz and was waiting at the gate, the gate had slowly begun to fall. The Cowardly Lion noticed the gate falling and saved it by holding it up. He quickly ran towards that gate while it was falling. He had to spur out lines like “Ohhh, that was scary!” Then, the gate fell down completely a second time. Dorothy had burst into giggles and laughter when the gate fell down. Throughout, the play the actors and actresses incorporated lines about the gate falling down. For instance, the Wizard of Oz mentioned he wasn’t sure he should grant them wishes since they ruined his gate. The adlib lines and sudden comical scenes was a good cover up to something like this happening.

The performance was funny to watch because of the actors and actresses in the play. They are very talented and theatrical performers who made a children’s play a big success. The presentation of “The Wizard of Oz” was different from the book and the movie. Hocus and Pocus were introduced as new characters. And Ogma The Wizard’s Secretary and Ozma were used as helpers for the Wizard. The Wizard was not really a magical person with powers. I liked how the ending of the play was different than expected. Everyone expected the Wizard to be powerful with his voice and intimidating personality. Then, he appears onstage to be a small, short man with no powers at all to grant them there wishes. He did grant them their wishes, but, in a different way.

“The Wizard of Oz” Summary

Dorothy is a young girl who lives in Kansas with her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Then, suddenly a tornado is about to appear in Kansas. Aunt Em tries to yell for Dorothy to get inside. Suddenly, Dorothy is awakened to be in a village. She realizes that the house is now on top of a pair of red sparkly shoes with striped socks. Dorothy is surprised and confused on where she is; she realizes she is not in Kansas anymore. She discovers from the munchkins that she is in a small village called Munchkinland. Then, Glinda The Good Witch arrives magically to welcome Dorothy. She speaks to Dorothy and tells her that she has killed the Wicked Witch of the East. Dorothy did not mean to kill the Wicked Witch by the house falling on her. Glinda tells Dorothy that she must wear the ruby red shoes and follow the yellow brick road to Oz.

Along her voyage to the Land of Oz, Dorothy meets friends like Mrs. Crowe the Scarecrow, Mr. Woodman the Tinman, and Mr. Lyon the Lion. The Scarecrow does not have a brain and would like to go to Oz hoping that the wizard would give him a brain. The Tinman does not have a heart and joins the group to seek for a heart. The Cowardly Lion would like to become scary since, he is a lion. This group travels to Oz by following the yellow brick road. During their journey, the Wicked Witch of the West and her two sidekicks Hocus and Pocus try to prevent Dorothy and her friends from seeing the wizard. The witch tries to capture Dorothy because she wants to have the ruby red shoes. She sends Hocus and Pocus to bring the group back to her place. Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Lion have all been poisoned by the flowers. The flowers make people drowsy which caused them to sleep. After they escaped the witch and managed to kill her; the group continues to follow the yellow brick road to the Land of Oz.

Once, they arrive in the Land of Oz, they ask to speak with the wizard. The wizard seems to grant the Scarecrowe, the Tinman, and the Lion’s wishes. He grants them in a different way than expected. He does reveal that he does not have magical powers. Dorothy was left without her wish to go back to Kansas. The Wizard did not know how to bring Dorothy back to Kansas. Then, Glinda the Good Witch appears and advises Dorothy to tap the red shoes together and say ‘There’s No Place like Home’ three times. This apparently works and brings Dorothy back to Kansas.