In reading Us and Them by David Sedaris, I felt disgusted. First off,  David Sedaris described his childhood. He talked about his experiences in his new home, including his strange neighbors, the Tomkeys. Although Sedaris was just a child, it was still extremely creepy that he stalked his neighbors. This is seen when Sedaris states, “I began peering through the Tomkeys’ windows…I would creep into their yard and hide in the bushes beside their fence,” (Sedaris 1).  This level of creepiness makes me uncomfortable because I would never imagine doing that to someone else, even if I were to be young again.

Regarding the theme, I enjoyed the overall message that Sedaris attempted to convey. I felt as though he made an excellent point in trying to help out others as selflessly and as much as possible. Sedaris conveyed his message by “[tearing] off the wrappers and began cramming the candy bars into [his] mouth,” (Sedaris 1). Sedaris’ purpose for eating all of his candy was so the Tomkey children wouldn’t get any. Then, Sedaris’ mother found him covered in chocolate and was appalled by his acts. I agree with Sedaris here because of the situation. Just because the Tomkeys were not as culturally aware does not mean that they can’t learn. Since Sedaris’ younger self was not aware of that, he took their situation for granted and ultimately caused issues for everyone.

I like the perspective of this story. Seeing this through the eyes of a child, I found it very easy to understand and follow. Also, since the latter part is about candy, it is also interesting to read because of the appeal of candy to myself. Personally, at the age of Sedaris in the story, I can’t relate to what he did. I never really liked candy that much when I was younger, so if I were in a situation like he was, I would have been more than happy to given my candy away. In fact, I probably would have felt bad for the Tomkeys given their situation.

Lastly, my opinion has changed about television after reading this essay. At first I thought it was very odd that the Tomkeys didn’t watch television. However, as I read more, I began to wonder how much better life would be without television. Half of the world’s body issues and life style choices would be gone since there would be no television telling them what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.

Works Cited

Sedaris, David. “Us and Them.” NPR, NPR, www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2004/jun/sedaris/usandthem.html.

Bastille, a widely popular band known for their hit single “Pompeii” consistently bring together powerfully messaged, and lyrically and instrumentally beautiful songs through their use of pathos. In particular, one of their songs “Icarus” tells the story of the famous Roman mythological story “Daedalus and Icarus” which also teaches society about the mistakes we make and how they should learn from them and should be aware of every decision they make. This mythological story is about a father, Daedalus, and his son, Icarus, who attempted to escape an island by making wings made of feathers, held together by wax. While they flew away, Icarus flew too close to the sun and thus melted the wax and unfortunately ended his life shortly. From the instrumental and deep introduction, to the fast paced and upbeat drum in unison with the listener’s heartbeat, the song brings an overall powerful message about learning from past mistakes.

To establish their argument, it is important to know Bastille’s credibility. Bastille is a British band who specializes in alternative style music. Bastille is an alternative band because of their stray from popular, or “pop”, music, implementing lessons into all of their songs. They are composed of four members: Daniel Smith, the main singer, Kyle J Simmons, the guitarist, William Farquarson, the pianist, and Christopher Wood, the drummer. Smith, the main songwriter for the group, gained his education at Leeds University, and obtained a bachelor’s degree in English Language and Literature. With that degree, Smith certainly knows how to implement metaphors, pathos, and arguments into each and every one of Bastille’s songs.

Beginning with the first ten seconds of the song, Bastille introduces “Icarus” with a singular voice who seems as though he is determined to find his true self based off of his mistakes. The singular up-roaring voice in the beginning, with little background instrumentals, crawls down the listener’s spine immediately. His chilling voice effectively uses pathos to get the audience to listen. This part truly affects the listener’s emotions because of the attention to the main singer. This would be the equivalent to a singular man’s life, but no singular one in particular. Following that, is a drum beating, like the way a human heart does. This causes the audience to feel like they are the man, Icarus, like in the song. The first words of the song are, “look who’s digging their own grave.” Right away, Bastille triggers the listener’s pathos. By saying this, the listener feels as though they should look at their life and question if what they are doing could cause not a death in a physical grave, but a death in a spiritual and overall well-being grave.

More simply, the opening lines scare the listener to reevaluate their life. Bastille continues to explain right after, “that is what they all say, what will you have left?” which references the mindset that people get when making a new decision on their own. They may not notice it, but others might; by making a new decision alone, people are vulnerable. They are vulnerable to mistakes; they are vulnerable to pain; they are vulnerable to judgment. However, other people may see the person’s mistake before they do, for “that is what they all say.” The continuous references to a death, or more appropriately, a poor change in lifestyle due to some burden, continue to chip away at the listener’s emotions.

To succumb this metaphorical death, Bastille metaphorically suggest that their audience fly away from their emotions through their wings. Once they escape this burden on their life, they, with the wings representing new beginnings, would be free forever. However, they did not read the warning label. People can only put in so much effort; birds can only fly so close to the sun. So, according to Bastille, the people as birds flew far too close to the sun. The people did not perform a test flight, their life “has only just begun.” Due to this new beginning, Bastille’s main audience is for younger people encountering a new chapter in their life. That chapter could be anything, but Bastille is trying to get their young audience to realize the importance of looking at all of the consequences and outcomes before encountering a new experience. “Icarus” isn’t targeted towards older people for they have more wisdom and knowledge than younger people. Not once in the song was Daedalus, Icarus’ father, mentioned. Icarus’ father knew the consequences of flying too close to the sun, and he knew what could happen if he abused his power of flight. So, in real life, older people understand the consequences of new opportunities and know how to handle them properly.

Furthermore, many people get into the mindset that nothing bad will ever happen to them, or the ‘you only live once’ mindset. When people obtain this mindset, they do crazy and things they would regret in the future, or would cause harm, such as flying too close to the sun. Next, Bastille tells the listeners that this is what it feels like to make a mistake, or “how it feels to take a fall.” The way Icarus is described as falling in the song is equivalent to when a person realizes they made a mistake. Back to pathos, Icarus is “falling towards an early grave”. This, keeping up with the bird metaphor, is the equivalent of the listener hitting rock bottom after a mistake.

Following the falling of Icarus, or the listener, is an upbeat hum, that is as if Icarus has learned from his mistake. This learning of the mistake causes the listener to think about mistakes they’ve made in their lives, both past and present.  Thinking about mistakes can be very uncomfortable and saddening, but it must be done in order to learn from those mistakes to become a better person. Thinking, also causes the listener to learn how they potentially misused and or abused their power. It even causes the listener to be more cautious in the future.

Once the listener is done realizing who they truly are and what mistakes they have, Bastille suggests they would be “standing on the cliff face” or facing their fears. This “near death” experience such as nearly falling off a cliff causes the listener has finally come to their senses and are ready to admit what they have done wrong in the past and are ready to break free. So, the listener “puts up [their] armor when [they] leave” because they are “certain of who [they] want to be.” The armor representing protection and comfort is put on by the listener in order to protect and comfort the listener in their future endeavors. Once the listener establishes this protection, or armor, they would be ready to take one more “flight.” The song then turns the originally dreary fall into a joyous fall. “THIS IS HOW IT FEELS TO TAKE A FALL” is the joy the listener would receive once they truly accept the mistake they have and uses that in the future to protect them further.

Overall, Bastille beautifully argues Icarus being the equivalent of younger people embarking a new and exciting journey, making many mistakes along the way. However, it is important to understand the main fallacy behind the whole song. Bastille uses scare tactics to influence the listener to be extremely cautious with many decisions they make in life. Literally scaring the listeners to death by “flying towards an early grave”, causes them to not want to make any mistakes. However, as a human being, it is important to make mistakes. Without mistakes, there would be no room for improvement and growth. In fact, without mistakes, there would be little to no advancements in technology the human race has grown up with today.

From the dreary and emotionally stabbing introduction, the conclusion of the song includes an exhausted, but accomplished shout. The drowsiness of the conclusion shout shows that not only has the listener realized their mistakes in the past, they have put exhausting work into doing so. Just like the song ends very abruptly, so does the transition back to life right after a downfall. Confusing as their message may appear to be, it is quite simple. Everybody makes mistakes, just like Icarus flew too close to the sun. But, it is important to not let those mistakes kill one’s self, much like the fall and drowning killed Icarus. If someone were to let those mistakes kill them, then they would end their psychological life early, much like Icarus’ life only just began, only to end abruptly due to his mistake. But, had Icarus listened, or had the listener not let their mistakes affect them, then there would be no need to worry about the past.

Works Cited

Bastille. Icarus, 4 Mar. 2013.

“Bastille | The Official Bastille Website. Visit for the Latest Updates.” Bastille | The Official                    Bastille Website.

Siculus, Diodorus. Daedalus and Icarus. circa 45 B.C.E.

“Icarus” is a song written by Bastille about the Roman myth “Daedalus and Icarus.” Bastille is an indie-pop / alternative band who have a recording label under Virgin Records, EMI, and Capitol Records. Bastille has four members of their band, including: Daniel Smith (the main singer), Kyle J Simmons (guitar), William Farquarson (piano), and Christopher “Woody” Wood (drums). Their unison of instrumental and vocal talent bring together a beautiful song every time they record a new record.

In particular, Icarus was released in 2013 along with their album “Bad Blood.” One of Bastille’s songwriters, Dan, got a degree in English Language and Literature at the University of Leeds, England. Because of this, they are an excellent candidate to use metaphors and arguments very strongly, just like they do in “Icarus”.

“Icarus” is intended primarily for younger people. This is because not only was Icarus a very young boy, Bastille makes constant references to their life having “only just begun”. Therefore, it is assumed that Bastille is arguing for younger people to listen up unless they wish to end up like Icarus, drowning. The song isn’t targeted towards older people as much since they have the wisdom and experience that they can see what would and wouldn’t cause a metaphorical death.

Specifically, I will argue that “Icarus” is a story of a young person who is embarking a new journey. That journey could be physical, such as beginning college, or emotional, such as a relationship or trying to rediscover who one person really is. Bastille mainly conveys this through pathos, for constantly scaring the audience into the inevitability of death, metaphorical that is, that could be caused by flying too close to the sun, or making a mistake. Referencing death triggers the audience’s emotions and causes them to think twice before going for a flight with new wings, or embarking a new journey. Bastille accomplishes this messages beautifully through their use of instruments, timing, and attention to lyrics.

There is one main fallacy that Bastille uses in “Icarus.” First, they use scare tactics. Although the audience won’t literally die by making mistakes, usually, they still are terrified of death. By implementing the theme of death on their audience, Bastille scares them into wanting to never make mistakes again. This could be hazardous because people are supposed to make mistakes. Making mistakes causes people to learn and grow from them. Without mistakes, as a society, we would be nowhere in society. So, this scare tactic is a major fallacy.

These days, many young people are getting ahead of themselves and don’t take a look at a situation before they approach it. By getting into a situation without thinking of the consequences first, that could cause many problems that could have been avoided had the person looked and learned first. Bastille implements this theme throughout “Icarus” thanks to their use of pathos.

[credit to: http://www.bastillebastille.com/ (their official website)]