Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date
Literature Comprehensive Analysis
“The Sound of Silence”
Sound of silence art song was composed and released in 1964 by Paul Simon and Garfunkel; it is one of the most iconic recordings in the history of rock-and-roll. The song was integrated into a film “the graduate” where the film director (Mike Nichols) used it as a work track, and later it became the perfect song for the film after its tone fitted properly with the theme of the film. Simon demonstrated most of his principles, which the music did not react initially. He later returned to integrate the doo-wop vocal harmony after becoming obsessed with teenage street music in the 1950s. The song is an oxymoron, which is the incorporation of words with the opposite meaning. For instance, the heading of the song “the sound of silence” explains the communication difficulties among people about their lives.
Although it is uncertain about the kind of vision, the singer speculates on injustices, manipulations, brainwashing, and oppression. Without bothering what is behind “while I was sleeping” and “a flash of neon,” he slowly connects all these icons of the world to form a broad picture. He is the only one who sees a mass of people oppressed and systems unjust to them, but he still ignores them. The neon light represents a deceitful life that prevents us from realizing the value of our life.
The singer in the song wanted to tell about his dream up after waking up on a night. He addresses the darkness as the available friend at that moment as he had done it before to another person (Lukas 26). He describes an incident that occurred while he was sleeping that the vision left its seeds, and it was deeply rooted in his brain. He had no words to describe the vision, which he could only realize. The singer Simon has restless dreams that wake him up to walk alone under a streetlight in narrow stresses. When he turns his collar, he would experience a reflection of neon light flash, making a daylight scene that explained the meaning of silence and that everyone is indulged in bad condition. The flash of light he would see tens of thousands of people expressing thoughts without using voice, the neon light representing something has come to distract him and get him occupied like the others. Although they received sounds, they were not attentive to hearing, composing songs that nobody was singing, and none could “break the silence.”
The speaker in his dream says silence is like cancer, and the people are fools; they did not respond to his request to hold arms and listen to his advice. His words were like raindrops and did not influence them as they worshiped their neon god instead. The neon lights had to follow the commands of the producers, who painted their products on subway walls and in a large building to advertise them, which the light showed without a voice. The sound of silence has five irregular stanzas used to present battle between the material and spiritual value in the modern world. The persona uses his visions to warn against a lack of spiritual firmness amongst the modern people. The persona begins the poem by addressing the darkness by saying that he had come to talk to darkness. The reason for addressing is that a vision had planted its seeds in his mind while sleeping, and the vision remains there as a sound of silence.
The poet experiences restless dreams that wake him up to walk alone in the darkness to a place where he finds many people hearing without listening and talking without speaking while composing songs that do not shave voices and no one attempts to break the silence (Ajmal et al. 2338). The persona requests them to listen to him and hold his hands, but his words cannot be heard. The poem is a bitter satire concerning the affinity the modern people have towards material things. The modern people have lost the real value and meaning of life by struggling for luxury and prosperity of material. They were gathering a lot of material wealth, which does not make them happy. They have ignored the true meaning and value of life, causing them to diverge from true happiness and peace. They engage in fights and conflicts daily as they watch and listen to worthless things. This is why the poet persona refers to talking without speaking and hearing without listening.
According to Paul Simon, international companies, industries, and the capitalists have occupied the place of God on earth by directing and dictating peoples’ goals, needs, and choices through their profitmaking advertisements. The neon lights and signs have taken over the places of Holy Scriptures in walls and subways; they are dictated to listen to and see what the adverts say and work according to what they want. The people neither own a choice nor voice about the advertisements they can only choose among the presented goals and work towards achieving them according to the industrialist. They cannot hear the voices telling them their purpose; it is the dominance of the money-oriented waves that defeat the voices calling them to hold the persona’s hand. The people again are unwilling to listen to such voices, and if they listen, it isn’t elementary for them to follow.
“The Breaking Bird”
Based on the breaking bad overall its first episode courses, the story is based on a complex narration of a character-driven man. Due to his cancer situation, the man starts various business such as selling and cooking meth to provide for his beloved family. Through the creator of the show Vince Gilligan, he had profound writing staff who helped him to manage and build the show that attracted many people significantly. The literature review will be based on the “Breaking Bad movie sequel to review what happened to chemistry, which is so timid decided to break bad.
In reference to the Breaking Bad first episode, we encounter a chemistry teacher named Walter White; the teacher is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. His brother Hank Schrader discussed with him when he finds out that cooking and sale of the meth had significant returns. He decided to join the business after he teams up with Pinkman, who was his former student. The whole first episode of Breaking Bad is based on Walter, a chemistry teacher; he lived a simple life to survive and sustain his family, regardless of his cancerous status. However, the life Walter was turning out to be mysterious, since his wife Skylar was pregnant, and he was sick. Besides, apart from both parents being ill, their son was also managing the cerebral palsy disease. When Walter was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the teacher decided that once he was gone, he would ensure that he secures his family’s financial problems. Although Walter started a simple business of selling and cooking meth facilitated by his student, the teacher had diversely grown topping among the drug lords outside and inside Mexico. As he progressed through his life, friends and family started moving away from Walter due to his unpleasant behavior. According to various art scholars, the show had the best outstanding features, making it the best show among the modern-day created series.
When Jesse and his crew had started selling out the newly created batch of meth, Emilio and Krazy-8 snatched up the deal. However, when they meet Jesse, they demand and force him to show them a place where they have been operating with Walter and perhaps taking all their materials. Unfortunately, Walter, in which Krazy-8 was able to survive, and Walt had no otherwise poisoned the two; instead, he had to kill who used to deal with meth.
When they are back at the opening, Walter is seen looking at the road; when he resolves not to commit suicide, he instead pulls the trigger while pointing the gun in his head; fortunately, he realizes that the safety is already on. After some time, some siren is heard from far, in which they were fire trucks, not the police cars have alleged. The appearance of the Jesse confuses Walter, who vomited in the road.
According to the Breaking Bad show Walter White who is the main protagonist in the show, the narration revolves around Mr. Walter, who has been tasked with the aspect of controlling the show environs (Couch and Godly 14). The show has maintained its plot literarily, which means that the creativity applied in breaking bad shows is what outstands its uniqueness, among other current shows. The show is much concerned with human life; this is seen where Walter, the protagonist, is having his questionable behaviors with his character of shifting his normal behavior. Symbolism and foreshadow genre are what the creator majored on, which turn incorporated all the societal aspects in American society and grant a chance to the viewers to check on their darkness and fail darkness’ in life. Through this engagement is when the viewers get the opportunity to predict the outcomes of the show based on the aspect of the suburban.
In conclusion, the theme of morality in the Breaking bad show is expressed and configured by all the character and their consequences. However, although many people judged the setting of the play, they finally accepted that the thematic concerns addressed by the play were helping society significantly. In the sound of silence, when people lack religion, they try to find the meaning of life elsewhere unknowingly; they find their belongings instead of finding their purpose. The last phrase elicits people’s incomplete conditioning in pitiable environments when they can recognize the exposure of their lives to doom. The Poet presents a terrifying image of the ruined world by a lack of spiritual sustenance and the true meaning of life. It is the call of the voice of the visionary, calling people to be more concerned about their life goal and the true essence of their life.
Integration
Sound of silence art song was composed and released in 1964 by Paul Simon and Garfunkel; it is one of the most iconic recordings in the history of rock-and-roll. Simon demonstrated most of his principles, which the music did not react initially. The song is an oxymoron, which is the incorporation of words with the opposite meaning. For instance, the heading of the song “the sound of silence” explains the communication difficulties among people about their lives. However, In reference to the Breaking Bad first episode, we encounter a chemistry teacher who goes by the name Walter White; the teacher is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. He decided to join the business after he teams up with Pinkman, who was his former student. The Breaking Bad is based on Walter, a chemistry teacher; he lived a simple life to sustain his family, regardless of his cancerous status. The life of Walter was turning out to be mysterious, since his wife Skylar was pregnant, and he was sick. Besides, apart from both parents being ill, their son was also managing the cerebral palsy disease. When Walter was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the teacher decided that once he was gone, he would ensure that he secures his family’s financial problems. The two literature pieces express the theme of personality and perception of a particular aspect based on individual beliefs.
The Poet’s persona is disturbed by how community people live their lives; society does not listen to him. Similarly, Walter White is also disturbed, marginalized, and bullied by his community people. Both characters face rejection, and no one listens to them. For instance, in the poem, the persona asks the people to listen to him and hold his hand to help them, but no one listens to his request. On the other hand, Walter is a brilliant teacher, but he is passionless in his life because of being bullied by everyone around him. The communities on both sides are mad at the two characters Walter has no peace of mind just like the Poet in the poem who wakes up after sleeping because of restless dreams concerning society’s well-being. The people in the poem have lost their meaning of life because of the neon god.
The Poet foreshadows a doomed ending of the human race due to negligence of spiritual matters; people are more concerned with material gain and wealth. They worship the neon god painted on walls and subways instead of seeking spiritual nourishment, which gives them meaning and value. Similarly, in the breaking bad, Walter id diagnosed with lung cancer, and the doctors give him guidelines to follow that helps him live for two years as the doctor had predicted.
Work Cited
Ajmal, M., Rubab, I., Khan, M. B., Kumar, T., & Nukapangu, V. Cognitive Stylistic Analysis of Simon’s “The Sound of Silence.” International Journal of Future Generation Communication and Networking, 13(3), 2020: 2336-2345.
Couch, A., & Godly, C.. ‘Breaking Bad’: 10 Most Mind-Blowing Episodes. The Hollywood Reporter. 2015 Retrieved 18 August 2015, from 18 http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/gallery/breaking-bad-10-mind-blowing-636623/1-season-1-ep-1-pilot
Gilligan, Vince. (2007-2013). Breaking Bad. Produced for American Movie Classics (AMC) by High Bridge Productions, Gran Via Productions, and Sony Pictures Television.2013 87
Lukas, G. The sound of silence: an analysis of selected songs by Simon and Garfunkel/vorgelegt von Georg Lukas (Doctoral dissertation, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz). 2016: 20-39.