Jane and YooJeong

NARCISSIST

Thematics

Idea of conforming You behave the way people expect you to (this comes partly from the media) like

acting superficially and fitting into the mould.

Aspects of a material/consumer culture You are exposed to lots of material goods and spending money on unneces-

sary goods

Selfish living Knows what is righteous but ignores it to be normative and for its own ful-

fillment.

Truth

A need to impress overriding a civic duty

“I don’t look at myself in the mirror because I’m a narcissist I simply like to watch myself exist…(HHHH) Now I’m in a fog and mist…(HHHH) Now my reflection is anonymous”

Language Feature: Repetition of the chorus, effect: to rein-force or emphasises the main ideas

mirror symbolizes truth, he doesn’t want to see it because it shows a reflection of himself which is all vision to truth. He is trying to see in a one dimensional way; only caring of what you look on the outside instead of seeing the truth of him.

I’m in a fog and mist…refers to1)In the dark2)He’s entering a crowd where everybody’s superficial.reflection is anonymous

1)He can’t see himself so he is confused of who he is.2) So he is becoming the same as everybody else.

Conforming and Truth

“ I’ve seen a reflection of my soul in the store window. Caught in limbo ‘cause I was dressed all in Timbos”

Language Feature: Rhyme, effect: to make it more memo-rable, which then makes people think more deeply about the idea.

reflection is the second reference to reflection for truth. He

saw something true but in limbo because superficial reflec-tion reveals fallacy. Truth

“

Having fantasies of playng Polo with Ralph Lauren on a Tommy Hill”

By referencing to famous brand names it is again emphasizing how materialisitic our society is be-coming also showing people following trends.

Aspects of material/consumer culture

“I’d buy a pair of trends even if they didn’t fit my size”

This shows the story of modern society. Modern so-ciety being a generic model perhaps presented to us by the media to which we are expected to conform. Which again links to one of the main themes of

conforming

“ Made these cheap ass fabrics that were so worthless and sad. Just look priceless, they used unethical devices to attack my sense of Self-worth during my prepubescent crisis.”

Language feature: slang, effect: to express his anger rhyme, effect: to make it more memorable, which

then makes people think more deeply about the idea.

Sad is referring to the child labour (eg sweatshop)He is using negative connotations to express his true feelings towards

people’s selfish living.

selfish living

“

“It fed into my insecurities , so instead of being righteous. I want everyone to see me like this.”

Insecurities Sage Francis is insecure about not be-ing like the popular culture, appearing as though he is different and so he conforms, even though he knows it is not honest or righteous. And this is why he doesn’t want to see his reflection (the truth) because he will see that he is a fake. He knows what is righteous (being true to yourself) but chooses it to ignore it to be normative. There is a internal conflict between righteousness and insecurities. conforming

“It’s all about who looks the nicest.”

This is the thing the modern society cares about. So there’s societal pressure and expectations to look like you have ‘made it’ which is having a pic-ture perfect life (big house, success in career…)

Also the word look portrays not only the physical looks but also your background.

A need to impress overriding civic duty

“What I seen made my heart hurt, stomach turn, throat burn, teeth cringe, spine tingle, and ribs sting. I noticed that the swoosh symbol was nothing but a whip in mid swing”

Language feature: Listing, effect: makes the sentence more intense

Negative connotation, effect: ex-presses Sage Francis’s

internal feeling towards his actions in being part of civic duty.

Realisation at the fallacy in consumer culture and feels pa-thetic about his fake image.

The ideas that are really present in this poem:

Our society encourages a culture of chasing perfec-tion. It is one where we become so concerned with meeting normative expectation that we risk losing ourselves. Society expects us to look a certain way dress in a certain way maintain a lifestyle which shows the image of success, living in a certain way reassures that you are conforming to mainstream ideals and liv-ing up to the pressure that society dictates. It is rea-sonable to assume that it is the media that is respon-sible for our preoccupation with perfection.