Tracy Chapman is a singer\/songwriter known for her heavy and meaningful material.\u00a0 In her song, “The Rape of the World” she discusses the wrongs of humanity against Mother Nature.<\/p>\n
“The Rape of the World”<\/em><\/p>\n Mother of us all<\/em> Within this first stanza, Chapman has only described who she is addressing, and vaguely what is happening.\u00a0 She says that what is happening is “the rape of the world”\u00a0 and goes on to implant the idea that this action is “the most heinous of crimes, …the deadliest of sins, the greatest violation of all time.”\u00a0 This gives the audience a predetermined view on what is to come; moreover, the crime itself.<\/p>\n The rhyme scheme for this stanza is very soft, including the slight rhyme of aside, crimes, and time.\u00a0 This slight rhyme puts an emphasis on these words.\u00a0 \u00a0Chapman made this emphasis to make her message more pointed.\u00a0 It is well accomplished.\u00a0 It is a juxtaposition of Chapman’s soft voice.\u00a0 It almost makes the audience feel guilty already, before hearing the accusation and the crimes with detail.<\/p>\n Mother of us all<\/em> In this verse, Chapman goes on to tell what all the persons being addressed has witnessed and is witnessing such as the “her stripped mined.”\u00a0 This is a reference to mining and it’s negative effects on Earth.\u00a0 It is a violation that was previously mentioned in the last stanza.\u00a0 The next action witnessed is the sound of “bombs exploded underground.”\u00a0 This is another reference to mining.\u00a0 It is a harsh way to clear Earth out beneath the crust.\u00a0 Chapman goes on to say that “You know the sun shines hotter than ever before.”\u00a0 This is a reference to global warming and the breaking down of the atmosphere and Earth’s natural UV shield.<\/p>\n Between each line, the piano adds a dramatic riff.\u00a0 This clarifies the solemn message and shows the audience that Chapman is serious about the issue at hand.<\/p>\n Mother of us all<\/em> In the third stanza, she claims that some people are hypocritical in the situation being presented by claiming to place Mother Earth on a pedestal but then living in big cities that are hazardous to Earth.\u00a0 They claim her as a queen, but no queen is treated in such a manner.\u00a0 This is to say that there is no glory or honor bestowed upon the earth and therefore what will result from “the rape of the world”, or the mistreatment of the earth.\u00a0 As mentioned in the first stanza, this mistreatment is the beginning of the end.\u00a0 Put simply, we the audience, are killing the our home, Earth.<\/p>\n Mother of us all<\/em> In the second to last stanza, Chapman reiterates her original question, “How can we stand aside and watch the rape of the world?”\u00a0 She goes on to describe what the audience would experience and understand if they stopped and paid attention .<\/p>\n “If you care, you will stand and testify and stop the rape of the world,” this is a call to arms.\u00a0 This is a call to stand up and make change to better help the Earth and not to cause so much damage to it.<\/p>\n Stop the rape of the world<\/em> The very last stanza is a repetition.\u00a0 “Stop the rape of the world” is one last call for humanity to stop their harmful ways.\u00a0 Chapman goes on to repeat the phrase, “mother of us all.”\u00a0 Tracy Chapman repeats this phrase a total of four times.\u00a0 This is to drive the guilt home.\u00a0 All throughout the song, the phrase “Mother of us all, place of our birth” is repeated at the beginning of each verse.\u00a0 This phrase is to make humanity realize that Earth is not just a planet but our home, mother, and birthplace.\u00a0 This is another guilt-trip tactic.\u00a0 This is to say that driving the whole song home with “mother of us all” repeated at the end is the mother of all guilt trip.\u00a0 Who would hurt their mother so badly?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tracy Chapman is a singer\/songwriter known for her heavy and meaningful material.\u00a0 In her song, “The Rape of the World” she discusses the wrongs of humanity against Mother Nature. “The Rape of the World” Mother of us all Place of our birth How can we stand aside And watch the rape of the world This … Continue reading “Tracy Chapman’s “The Rape of The World””<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5916"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5916"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5916\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5946,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5916\/revisions\/5946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPlace of our birth<\/em>
\nHow can we stand aside<\/em>
\nAnd watch the rape of the world<\/em>
\nThis the beginning of the end<\/em>
\nThis the most heinous of crimes<\/em>
\nThis the deadliest of sins<\/em>
\nThe greatest violation of all time<\/em><\/p>\n
\nPlace of our birth<\/em>
\nWe all are witness<\/em>
\nTo the rape of the world<\/em>
\nYou’ve seen her stripped mined<\/em>
\nYou’ve heard of bombs exploded underground<\/em>
\nYou know the sun shines<\/em>
\nHotter than ever before<\/em><\/p>\n
\nPlace of our birth<\/em>
\nWe all are witness<\/em>
\nTo the rape of the world<\/em>
\nSome claim to have crowned her<\/em>
\nA queen<\/em>
\nWith cities of concrete and steel<\/em>
\nBut there is no glory no honor<\/em>
\nIn what results f<\/em>rom the rape of the world<\/em><\/p>\n
\nPlace of our birth<\/em>
\nHow can we stand aside<\/em>
\nAnd watch the rape of the world<\/em>
\nIf you look you’ll see it with your own eyes<\/em>
\nIf you listen you will hear her cries<\/em>
\nIf you care you will stand and testify<\/em>
\nAnd stop the rape of the world<\/em><\/p>\n
\nMother of us all<\/em>
\nMother of us all<\/em>
\nMother of us all<\/em>
\nMother of us all<\/em><\/p>\n