Song Analysis

People sometimes have problems talking to each other and communicating with each other. But silence was not heard before Simon and Garfunkel wrote about it. The Sound of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel was written in 1965, is about the miss-communication between people. It also talked about the emotions people felt in that time, which was right after President Kennedy was assassinated, and the anti-war periods I can connect these lyrics to the life of the artist, the times in which they were written, and the themes of the novel.

I can relate this song to this song to the novel Small Steps by Louis Sacher with its quote. “In restless streets I walk alone.” At one time in the story least all the characters in this novel experience loneliness. Ginny is alone when her dad abandons her and her mom, her disability makes her and outcast that others pity.

When my eyes were stabbed by a flash of

A neon light

That split the light

That neon light is Theodore her one friend. Theodore also has loneliness, his relation is the fact that everyone around him treats him like a criminal, because of his race or because of his record. No one will listen to him, or stand by his side. His own parents test him for when he comes home instead of trusting him. Even the he likes talks behind his back and expects the worst of him. The “neon light” for Theodore is Kaira. Kaira is the opposite of Theodore, she experiences loneliness because the people around her wished for it. There is no one her age and no one that wants to talk to her. One time there is someone she finds she can talk to and he is disposed of because of that. Theodore is her “neon light.”

I also believe that the lyrics were based on the times in which they were written. In 1965 the Vietnam War was going on and there were many anti-war rallies. I think that “People writing songs that voices never share” is about how you may have an idea about something and you should share it. Even though some people may not tell any one and so cannot be heard. Also there are times when people have good ideas and things to tell while another being is telling them not to speak. Also there are those cases when someone is speaking , but people refuse to listen.

People talking without speaking,

People hearing without listening,

That is about lack of communication between people. How even if someone was talking others refused to hear what they were saying.

This world today is also like these lyrics. There are still people that go against things they believe in now like global warming, and though there are something’s that are trying to be done about it just a couple years ago it was thought of as a myth and something made up by fools.

And no one dared

Disturb the sound of silence.

I can connect that to the school life today, or conversation. Sometimes when someone is in trouble you are asked to speak about something. There is one person that speaks up and then people come out with what they were thinking about, before no one dared to disturb the silence. Then like the very last line.

And whisper’d in the sounds of silence.

Before conducting this analysis I didn’t think too much about this song. I knew that it was deep because of the soft and slow tone and I got some of the words meanings but I never really thought about it. Now that I’ve really thought about it and specifically what it was talking about. It really gets the message of communication across. Now I think I will still listen to the beat, but I will listen more carefully to the words and what they mean.