Tennessee by Arrested Development (1992)

What connections (either direct or indirect) do you see between themes and images in the lyrics and video and themes and images in Beloved and the ongoing nature of history (i.e., history)?   Annotate on the side of the lyrics.

Lord I've really been real stressed

Down and out, losing ground

Although I am Black and proud

Problems got me pessimistic

Brothers and sisters keep messin up

Why does it have to be so damn tough

I don't know where I can go

To let these ghosts out of my skull

My grandma's passed, my brother's gone

I never at once felt so alone

I know you're supposed to be my steering wheel

Not just my spare tire (home)

But Lord I ask you (home)

To be my guiding force and truth (home)

For some strange reason it had to be (home)

He guided me to Tennessee (home)

Take me to another place

Take me to another land

Make me forget all that hurts me

Let me understand your plan

Lord it's obvious we got a relationship

Talking to each other every night and day

Although you're superior over me

We talk to each other in a friendship way

Then outta nowhere you tell me to break

Outta the country and into more country

Past Dyersburg into Ripley

Where the ghost of childhood haunts me

Walk the roads my forefathers walked

Climbed the trees my forefathers hung from

Ask those trees for all their wisdom

They tell me my ears are so young (home)

Go back to from whence you came (home)

My family tree my family name (home)

For some strange reason it had to be (home)

He guided me to Tennessee (home)

[Interlude: Aerle Taree]

Eshe, she went down to Holly Springs

Rasadon and Baba, they went down to Peachtree

Headliner, I challenge you to a game of horseshoes, a game of horseshoes

Now I see the importance of history

Why my people be in the mess that they be

Many journeys to freedom made in vain

By brothers on the corner playing ghetto games

I ask you Lord why you enlightened me

Without the enlightment of all my folks

He said cause I set myself on a quest for truth

And he was there to quench my thirst

But I am still thirsty

The Lord allowed me to drink some more

He said what I am searching for are

The answers to all which are in front of me

The ultimate truth started to get blurry

For some strange reason it had to be

It was all a dream about Tennessee

Headliner, I won the game of horseshoes

Now you owe me a watermelon

Let's go climb trees and skip over rocks

Do like they do below the border

Speech's hair

Don't it look like the roots of the tree that the ancestors were hung from

But that's okay, get it cause he's down to Earth

1. Choose a character from Beloved who is pulled in conflicting directions. Identify the forces of conflict and explain how this illustrates the meaning of the novel as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

2. The setting of a literary text often has special significance for the development of characters, plot, and/or theme. Write an essay in which you analyze the significance of the setting (Sweet Home, 124, Cincinnati, the North/South, the river, etc.) of Beloved and its effect on the meaning of the novel as a whole. Avoid mere plot summary.

3. No act of violence exists without a specific purpose or intention. Choose one such scene from Beloved, and write a well-organized essay in which you identify the violence and analyze its significance to the meaning of the novel as a whole. Avoid plot summary.

4. The quest for power is a strong human drive. Choose a character from Beloved who either seeks to gain power over another or seeks to free himself or herself from the power of another. Write an essay in which you illustrate how this power struggle is essential to the meaning of the novel. Avoid mere plot summary.

5. Select a character from Beloved who serves as the instrument for the suffering of others and analyze how this action contributes to the meaning of the novel as a whole. Do not merely summarize the plot.

6. Choose a character from Beloved who has to deal with guilt. Identify the situation and analyze how effectively the character deals with his or her struggle. Relate this situation to the meaning of the novel as a whole, avoiding mere plot summary.

7. Select a character from Beloved who demonstrates irrational behavior. In a well-organized essay, analyze how this behavior can be considered reasonable and relate the behavior to the text as a whole.