Binary Opposition The Hidden Meaning of “M.I.A.” through Deconstruction Analysis

The key to reveal the main character’s courage is written in the first line which says “Fight for honor, fight for your life”. It shows the main character’s life is with his family and friends. They become the main character’s courage in surviving the cruel war. Moreover, the faces of those he left appear in his mind strengthen his willing to come home alive. The courage that is gained by the main character leads him to the ability to kill the enemy soldiers as written to sixth stanza: So many soldiers on the other side, I take their lives so they can’t take mine Scared to make it out alive now, murder ’s all I know Nobody tells me all the reasons we’re here I have my weapon so there’s nothing to fear Another day, another life, but nothing real to show for Here, the main character faces a large number of enemy soldiers that he should kill in order to stay alive. Courage makes him able to do this action. However, his emotion of fear slightly arises, it also cannot match the courage he gets from his loved ones. On the contrary, fear is represented by the main character after war. Throughout the war, the main character is portrayed as a courageous and strong soldier. In the ninth stanza, the sense of courage and strength are not visible. The sense that emerges within this stanza is fear as following below: I walk the city lonely Memories that haunt are passing by A murderer walks your streets tonight Forgive me for my crimes, don’t forget that I was so young Fought so scared in the name of God and country It is clear that the main character finally makes his way home. The irony occurs in the first line, “I walk the city lonely”. It completely contrasts with the previous stanzas which show the struggle of the main character to come home alive. It is natural if someone gets what he wants, he will feel happy, but the main character is an exception. However, when he succeeds to come home, he feels “lonely”. Moreover, he is haunted by the images of the war which disturb him as mentioned in the second line, “Memories that haunt are passing by”. Then, the atmosphere gets darker when the main character says “A murderer walks your streets tonight” on the third line. Here, the main character sees himself as a murderer, not a hero. The second and third lines end up in fear because he has done terrible things. At this point, the sense of fear grows stronger. It leads the main character to look for forgiveness to get rid the unpleasant images during the war. Based on the analysis of the binary opposition in “M.I.A.”, it can be concluded that the song lyrics operates two binary oppositions. They are killervictim and fearcourage. The analysis designates “killer” and “courage” as the superior and the oppositions, “victim” and “fear” as inferior ones. Those binary oppositions become the basic concept to reveal the hidden meaning of “M.I.A.”. The researcher applies the next step proposed by Bressler 1999 which is inversing the binary oppositions that operate in the text. The inversion means that the inferior binaries become the important aspect in analysis rather than the superior ones. In other words, “victim” and “fear” are emerged to the surfac e and become basis in analyzing the hidden meaning of “M.I.A.”.

2. ContradictionsParadoxes

The story of a soldier in the war depicted in the “M.I.A.” may be perfect. It depicts the courage of a soldier who wants to return home alive no matter the hardships he should pass through. However, there is a contradiction within the text. Here, the theory of ambiguity proposed by Empson 1955 is applied in order to bridge the literal meaning and the hidden meaning by clarifying the contradiction in the lyrics. The researcher discovers that the lines written in parentheses contradict the single line before them. Those lines are taken from the third and fifth stanza: The Third Stanza …. I’m far from home and I’m fighting your war Not the way I pictured this, I wanted better things …. I shot a mother right in front of her son Take this from my consciousness and please erase my dreams The Sixth Stanza …. I take their lives so they can’t take mine Scared to make it out alive now, murder ’s all I know …. I have my weapon so there’s nothing to fear Another day, another life, but nothing real to show for The lines in parentheses clearly show the mind of the main character toward his own actions. By that mean, the main character’s actions are against his own mind. This finding contradicts the general idea of the lyrics which emphasizes on the courage of a soldier in the war. It leads to inconsistency that is done by Matthew Sanders as a poet. Based on the seven types of ambiguity from Empson, it is classified as the fourth type which occurs when the author is discovering his idea in the act of writing or not holding it all in his mind at once. Here, Sanders as the lyrics researcher reveals his idea in writing but results in the inconsistency of his own mind. If he wants to convey the lyrics to show the bravery of a soldier in the war, he should make it consistent that the soldier is strong, tough, and brave rather than he reveals the soldier’s other side as an ordinary human being. The second contradiction can be seen from the last line of the second stanza which says “Two million soldiers can’t be wrong” and the second line of the fourth and sixth stanza, “Pray to God that our side is right”. In the last line of the second stanza, the main character indirectly states that he is on the right side. It also shows that main character is confident and has courage since he knows that he fights for the right thing. Later, on the fourth and sixth stanza, the main character doubts if he is on the right side. The contradiction of what has been said by the main character earlier in the second stanza shows inconsistency within the text. It means that the doubt said by the main character weakens the sense of courage within him. It reveals that the main character possibly fights for the wrong side or reason. In Empson’s ambiguity, this contradiction belongs to the fifth type.

3. ShiftsBreaks

As suggested by Barry 2009, deconstructionist looks for shiftsbreaks in the text such as tone, viewpoint, tense, time, person, attitude, conflicts, absencesomissions, linguistic quirks, and aporia. In the lyrics, there are some shiftsbreaks that are discovered by the researcher. However, some of them are not found. The researcher provides in-depth analysis regarding the shiftsbreaks that are found in the text as follows: 1 ShiftsBreaks in Tone There are some shiftsbreaks in tone that exist in “M.I.A.”. The first shiftbreak occurs in the second stanza. The first stanza is sung smoothly that indicates a calm atmosphere. The musical instruments are also played calmly that strengthen the calm atmosphere. Suddenly, when it comes to the second stanza, the music changes into fast-paced play. The second stanza is sung energetically to adapt the musical style. This shift indicates that the main character has been already in the middle of the war. It is strengthened by the first line of the second stanza, “The fighting rages on and on”. Further, the word “soldiers” mentioned in the last line of the second stanza also indicates that the main character is in the middle of the war. The second shiftbreak occurs within the third and the fifth stanza. The lines in parentheses are sung differently compared to the other lines in the third and the fifth stanza. The lines in the parentheses are sung slower, smoother and less energetic than the other lines in the third stanza and the fifth stanza. On the other side, the lines other than those in parentheses are sung energetically and fast. This shiftbreak indicates that two opposite things are against each other. The fast and energetic singing style represents the courage, whereas the general idea of the song is to represent the courage of a soldier in the war. Thus, the slow, smooth, and less energetic singing style represents fear which is the opposite of courage. The state of fear can be seen from the words within the lines in parentheses. The tone shiftbreak that occurs in the third stanza and the fifth stanza reveals that courage deals with the physical matters and actions of the main character. Hence, fear deals with the mind of the main character. The third shiftbreak occurs in the seventh stanza. As the second stanza starts to tell that the main character is in the middle of the war which is represented with energetic singing style and instrument playing, the seventh stanza also indicates that the main character is still in the middle of the war, in the matter of instrument playing. The shiftbreaks occurs in the singing style of the seventh stanza. Sanders sings it similar to the first stanza, but the difference lies on the instruments playing as mentioned earlier. Here, the sense of courage within the main character as a soldier seems degraded. Thus, it conflicts the general idea of the song which shows the courage of a soldier in the battlefield. The fourth shiftbreak occurs in the eighth stanza. This stanza is sung completely different from any other stanzas in “M.I.A.”. This stanza involves shouting, screaming, and smooth singing style. Those singing style combination lead to an imagination that the main character experiences multiple emotions at once. The shouting singing style is similar to the singing style on the other stanzas. In short, it shows the courage of the main character. However, it may show the main character’s anger. The screaming singing style suggests that the main character fears about something. On the other hand, the smooth singing style shows that the main character is already calm after the series of shouting and screaming. The tone shift in this stanza becomes the most complex tone shift in “M.I.A.”. The last shiftbreak can be seen in the last stanza of “M.I.A.”. This stanza utilizes the same tone as the first stanza. Thus, it shows that the main character is not in the middle of the war. The researcher concludes that this stanza portrays the main character after the war or post-war. The interesting thing occurs within the last line of the last stanza; it is sung very emotionally. This stanza shows a strong atmosphere of sorrow. This atmosphere is inconsistent with courage which becomes the general atmosphere of the song. 2 ShiftBreak in AbsenceOmissions The shiftbreak in absenceomission presents in the seventh stanza. In order to show the clear omission that occurs in the seventh stanza, the researcher provides the first stanza as a comparison since the first and the sixth stanza share similarity in words below: The First Stanza …. …. …. Lend me your courage to stand up and fight On tonight Oooooo…. Stand up and fight The Seventh Stanza ….