Simone is obviously emotional about this topic, and how it is affecting her is shown throughout the first verse. When someone is upset by something, they often keep repeating it until the problem is resolved and in the first verse, there is a lot of repetition "Mississippi Goddam". This song was supposedly inspired by the shooting of the black rights activist, Medgar Evers, who was very crucial to the gradual gain of rights for blacks.

Writer is saying that if you leave a corrupted area and come back expecting change, you would be wrong. You can run from it, but if you return the situation will still be in critical condition, leaving everything as unfair as previously

Writer uses 'friend' to make the feel singer less impersonal to the audience

Writer directs this piece to a male based audience. This and having a male singer may help the piece be more relatable to desired audience.

Many tend to become resentful or disengaged from their surroundings when there change occurs, in this case the change was the spark of violence between South Korea and North Korea. The tension between NK and SK lead to the involvement of the US, and forced many to go to war. This line is quite eerie, and reminds me of a line from a Gotye song which reads 'we walk the plank with our eyes wide open', both writers are basically saying that many are denying/ignoring that the consequences to actions can be severe.

It is pretty obvious, that even from the start of the song, the writer was taking a more anti-war standpoint. Within the text, the author uses words that are very specific to the the violence that ensues during war, the text descriptive and uses relatively realistic/graphic words. The line ' you're old enough to kill but not for votin'", is the writer expressing his/her's negative opinion of the fact that individuals who were 18 could be at war, but needed to be at least 21 to participate in the political process. After this song was released, it sparked the debate over the voting law and whether or not it should be lowered, a few years later the age was changed to 18(to vote).

Writer is using pathos to attempt to help listeners relate to their perspective. They are asking if their listeners are as feared as they are, showing it is okay to be scared