The Issue of Self-Consciousness and Awareness: Man in the Mirror

Michael Jackson does an excellent job of delineating his message about self-consciousness and awareness. Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror” uses various literary devices to give strength to his arguments and beliefs such as the need for change to eliminate child poverty. He also uses an effective structure for his song to express his feelings and emotions. Lastly, he utilizes the emotional side of his audience to further enhance his song.

First, Michael Jackson uses many literary devices to establish his identity. In the image of “I see the kids in the streets”, he uses imagery to highlight the kids in the streets in the winter and that these kids should not be living outside in the cold but inside where they are warm, safe and sound. Michael Jackson also uses personification, when he says, “This wind is blowing my mind” to describe the wind blowing his mind, with blowing being a human-like attribute. He uses juxtaposition when he says, “As I, turn up the collar on/ My favorite winter coat/ This wind is blowing my mind/ I see the kids in the streets/ With not enough to eat” to show the contrast between him and the poor children and how he has money and have the luxury of choosing a specific winter coat unlike the children, who can barely provide for themselves. He uses metaphor in “Who am I to be blind?” to compare himself to someone who is blind, even though he is not physically blind. This shows how he knows that he has turned a blind eye to these kids before, but he is now trying to help as he knows he can run away from it, but never forget it.

Then, he continues to use imagery in “A summer’s disregard, A broken bottle top, And one man’s soul/ They follow each other on the wind ya’ know” to convey his feelings to the audience. In the image of “A summer’s disregard”, summer is a time when people are out having fun, living carefree and hanging with friends and family while disregard means “to pay no attention to, to ignore”. He might be trying to show us how he was always feeling lonely and sad during the summer. In the image of “A broken bottle top”, he may be saying that he was always drinking as he was always breaking off the bottle caps. In the image of “And a one man soul/ They follow each other on the ya’ know” he is saying that bad luck always surrounds him.

Finally, in “a widow deeply scarred, someone’s broken heart/ And a washed-out dream/They follow the pattern of the wind ya’ see”, “A willow deeply scarred” recalls the tremendous trauma the man has experienced. This trauma may include being physically or mentally abused and with physical scars on his body. “Someone’s broken heart” is referring to being overwhelmed by grief and disappointment. These are used as a metaphor to compare a willow being deeply scarred and someone’s broken heart as they are both in immense pain and cannot recover so quickly. In the image of “a washed-out dream”, we think of a pale dream since washed out literally means pale. He is saying how his dreams are rid of color and full of sadness. There is no hint of happiness in his dreams.

Michael Jackson organizes his song using an effective structure to emphasize the problem. He first starts off with saying, “I’m gonna make a change” to show what his intent is. He then starts to talk about the problem, which is the impoverished kids in the street. This makes him want to help the children and is the reason for him wanting to make a change as he was said to be “a beloved child star grown up into a strong sense of social involvement and worldly compassion”.

Finally, he starts to talk about solutions to make this change, as he says, “I'm starting with the man in the mirror/ I'm asking him to change his ways/ And no message could have been any clearer/ If you want to make the world a better place/ Take a look at yourself and then make that”. Therefore, the structure used in Michael Jackson’s song helps to show that there is a solution to any problem if you start to work towards it yourself instead of relying on others. Finally, he uses pathos in a powerful way to make the listener feel the same way he does. He uses pathos as a way to make the listeners feel sad as he says, “I see the kids in the streets/ With not enough to eat/ Who am I to be blind?/ Pretending not to see their needs”. This makes the listener feel sad and mad as they hear that these kids are out on the streets in the winter with no money or shelter. They may feel pity for these children that deserve to grow up happy. They may also feel angry because they were born into this world just to be sad. The listener may feel obligated to do something about this and help these children. Therefore, Michael Jackson uses pathos effectively to make us feel very sad and mad about these children, who instead of growing up happy and well fed, grow up on the streets with no money to buy themselves anything.

In conclusion, Michael Jackson does an excellent job in portraying his message about self-consciousness and awareness as “it reflects MJ's growing contributions to social change” in various ways such as using literary devices to provide more emphasis on his arguments and beliefs, using an effectual structure to clearly express himself and utilizing his audience by having them experience various emotions to enhance his song.