Society's Child Essay Analysis

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Society’s Child A lot of things were happening in the 1960’s America. There was the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and of course the Civil Rights Movement. During this time, millions of American citizens went on the streets to protest against war and for equal rights. And then there was Janis Ian, a young girl from New Jersey, who wrote a song to clear her thoughts, without even realizing how violently some people would react. Janis Ian’s autobiography “Society’s Child” was released in 2009. It is named after Ian’s 1967 hit single of the same name. The song was written by Ian herself at the tender age of thirteen. The song is about an interracial relationship between two teenagers, which is heavily frowned upon by the girl’s mother, as well as her peers and school teachers. Ultimately, the girl decides to end the relationship. Because of the song’s topic, it was banned from several radio stations. To make a song about an interracial love affair was a pretty big deal in the 1960’s America, since it was still a big taboo, and also because it came from a young white girl. This excerpt of the book focusses on a specific event around 1966, when Ian performed at a sold-out concert hall in Encino, California. Even though Janis Ian was very young at the time, she still had to deal with every aspect of being famous. That includes the hate mail and death threats as well. At this peculiar appearance, a woman started yelling “Nigger lover!” at Ian during her performance of Society’s Child. Soon one person became a group of people “chanting as though they were at a religious service” (P.7.ll.16-17), as she describes it. The yelling made it hard for her to sing and play, and eventually she started crying. “I was singing for people who wanted me dead. I was fifteen years old.” (P.8.ll31-32.) The situation is obviously described from Ian’s point of view, so we also get a
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