Method of the Study

Oooooo…. Stand up and fight. This stanza actually consists of six lines. It is called sestet. It tells the thought of someone who is going to be deployed in a war. It begins with someone who sees a large- scale killing as the words “staring at the carnage” suggest. The researcher sees the killing as an event that has direct impact on the person who becomes the subject of the lyrics or the main character. It is shown in the words “praying that the sun would never rise”. The words seem to make the main character wish that the killing day would have never come. It raises a question why the killing has a direct impact to the main character. The answer is revealed in the following line. It turns out that the killing makes the main character be someone else as the word “disguise” is used. The researcher simply thinks that the word “disguise” means a soldier in uniform since the lyric s’ theme is about war. Further, the same line also reveals that the main character is going to be deployed in a war as written “Living another day in disguise”. After he knows that he is going to a war, he is bothered by something inside his mind. It is stated in the third line , “These feelings can’t be right”. The word “these” reveals that there is more than one thing that bother him. It seems that he knows that bad things are waiting for him in the war, but he does not know exactly what kind of bad things that await. Having unclear vision about the war and his bad feelings, the main character who is a soldier asks for “courage”. It is shown in the fourth line, “Lend me your courage to stand up and fight”. At first, the researcher thinks that the main character asks God for courage, but the word “your” does not capitalized. Apparently, the word “your” refers to the main characte r’s loved ones. Since there is no clear information about the main character’s loved ones, the researcher concludes that mother, wife, girlfriend, siblings, or even friends are included in the group of the main character’s loved ones. The courage itself may be in form of prayer or blessing. It emerges the image that the main character comes to his loved ones exactly before he is deployed in the war to ask such “courage”. However, speaking of the war that the main character is going to fight in, the researcher does not find any clue that refers to the “carnage”. As Matt Sanders said that the song is written as a tribute to his friends who serve the military, the researcher still did not find any actual event that may be hidden behind the lyrics. It seems that Matt Sanders creates an imaginary war which is inspired by his friends’ story. The Second Stanza The fighting rages on and on To challenge me you must be strong I walk your land, but don’t belong Two million soldiers can’t be wrong The second stanza consists of four lines which can be called as quatrain. It portrays the confidence of the soldier who becomes the main character of the lyrics in the war. It appears that God answers the soldier’s prayer for courage and strength written in the previous stanza. In this stanza, the main character experiences his first contact with the enemy during the war. Further, this contact involves shooting from both sides depicted in the first line “The fighting rages on and on”. It is a fierce battle as the word “rage” is used to explain the fighting itself. Even though the battle is described as fiery, it seems that the main character is ready to take more. The evidence is written in the second line which says “To challenge me you must be strong”. Here, the word “you” has different addressee compared to the same word in the first stanza. T he word “you” refers to the enemy forces he fights. Further, the second line means that the enemy forces need to be more violent and brutal in order to challenge the main character’s physical and psychological strengths. The third line reveals that the main character’s side invades other country. However, the objective is not to colonize to country, but it has other purpose. The words “I walk your land” give a direct meaning that the main character is in other people’s land or country. While, the words “but don’t belong” suggest that his objective is not to own the country or colonize the country. It means that the invasion is not for economic reason, but there is a hidden agenda behind that. There is a clue in the eighth stanza. However, it could not help to reveal the hidden agenda. Since the song focuses on one particular person, the researcher thinks that Matt Shadows does not write that matter on purpose. The proof that the hidden agenda is unimportant for the main character is written on the fourth line which becomes the last line for this stanza. It says, “Two million soldiers can’t be wrong”. It means that the main charact er’s side deploys a massive military forces to invade a country. Then, the main character thinks that it should be for a good reason to deploy so many soldiers on a single invasion. Here, the courage of the main character can be seen fro m the fourth stanza which states that “two million” soldiers are deployed together with him. Furthermore, the words “can’t be wrong” explain that the main character has his courage because he fights along with many soldiers on his side. The Third Stanza It’s no fun but I’ve been here before I’m far from home and I’m fighting your war Not the way I pictured this, I wanted better things