Materialism Case

Materialism

The song by Ben Haggerty, who goes by the stage name of Macklemore featuring Ryan Lewis called "Wing$" shows the quest of individualism by consumerism. Furthermore, how most people have an obsession and attachment to logos, brands, labels and just the feeling of being above everyone who doesn't have brand name merchandise. The song also shows some other traits such as some poetic and literary texts. Let us begin by looking at some poetic texts.

"Wing$" posses many qualities that allow it to qualify as "poetry". Beginning with a line from "Wing$"... "in school, I was so cool..." (Haggerty 8-9) which clearly is a couplet which Paul Headrick outlines as "a two end-rhymed of poetry" (Headrick 153). Another poetic device shown by Headrick is allusion. Allusion establishes a connection between the primary literary text and the one to which the allusion is made (Headrick 150). "But see I look inside the mirror and think Phil Knight tricked us all (Haggerty 51)". When Haggerty looks at himself in the mirror, he sees nothing more than a guy among lot of others who look the same, he feels duped by the co-founder of Nike. After looking at some poetic texts, let us now move on to some literature texts.

Headrick tells us that "imagery a literature device is very common and sometimes imprecisely used term. The device also includes descriptive language that refers to qualities that can be sensed directly, such as colours, elemental flavours, smells and textures" (Headrick 154). Haggerty describes the shoes with very descriptive words that make you imagine the shoes in your head. "That air bubble that mesh, the box, the smell, the stuffin', the tread" (Haggerty 7-8). Headrick also considers "I bought these dreams" to be ironic. As per Headrick, irony is "made apparent by the context of the statement. Occurs when the reader knows more about what is happening in a literary text than characters do" (Headrick 155). What Haggerty is talking about is how disappointed with the shoes people become, as they buy into this image and let the company "pull the strings" like puppeteers selling people this dream.

"Wing$" is a great song that shows everyone that we are not what we wear or what we posses, but what we are inside. Being a young child, we think that having the newest and best possible gadget will make us better and cooler than our friends. What Macklemore is explaining to us is that as we grow older and wiser, we realize how dumb we were buying into the latest craze. It wasn't the gadgets that made cool or better at sports or anything for that matter. It is our skill that we have inside ourselves that make us the person we are today. Moreover, Haggerty's lyrics contain significant evidence that prove the songs poetic and literature value. In