Other Related Text : Tracy Chapman - Belonging Essay

Tracy Chapman - Fast Car

Release Date : June 1988
Title : Fast Car
Composer : Tracy Chapman
Type Of Text : Song
Source : School Handout

Synopsis Of Text:
Tracy Chapmans Fast Car tells the story of a young girl with big hopes and dreams looking to make a good life for herself. Her father is an unstable alcoholic with no job. Her Mother left them in search for a better life. This girl wants to pursue her goals and dreams but due to her sense of duty and responsibility to her Father cares for him. She dreams of a high-paying career, a big house in the suburbs and a family but quickly finds herself pregnant after   and on the way to becoming a single parent. The fast car in this text can be represented   as not only the speed in which the car can travel but also in the speed she can escape her old life and family and start a new.

Ideas Relevant to "Belonging" :

1.   The girl feels as though she belonged whilest driving in the city.

2. The girl decides to not belong to her boyfriend.

Techniques used to present relevant ideas:

1. "The city lights lay out before us" representing her new life before her. The girl wants to belong to that new life as it has good connotations of hope of a new beginning. The following qoute "And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder" has good connotations. "And i had a feeling that i belonged" is said showing her accecptance of that new life. The repitition used in "And i had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone" emphasises her belonging whilest driving in the city.

2. The girl starts to realise that her life is following that of her mothers as her boyfriend is becoming like her father which can be seen in the qoute "You stay out drinking late at the bar / See more of your friends than you do of your kids" as he becomes an alcoholic.   This has negative connotations with the following line "I'd always hoped for better".
Throughout the entire song during the verse "(we) gotta make a decision /...