You Shall Know Our Velocity

You Shall Know Our Velocity and Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name are the two books we read this year in English 112. There is a common theme in both books, which is the main character leaving home to escape events in life in his/her life that they do not want to face. In You Shall Know Our Velocity, Will, the main character thinks that by traveling around the country and giving money away, it will help him forget about his best friend who died. Giving the money away symbolizes him trying to shed his past because he thinks he is helping others by giving them money, but really he is doing it for himself.

I can relate to trying to escape from things in life that are not easy. It is simply easier to take the easy way out of situations and avoid our problems. However, as seen through real life experiences, I always end up having to face my problems eventually. In You Shall Know our velocity, Will ends up realizing that the money he gives away and the people he meets can not take the place of his friend who died and the guys who beat him up at the gas station.

Besides symbolism in You Shall Know our Velocity, there is symbolism in music. Many rap songs have dirty meanings behind their words. For example, "kiss me through the phone" by Flo Rider is about phone sex. The lyrics "all the boys and all the girls are begging to if you seek amy" by Britney Spears really means all the boys and all the girls want to 'F.U.C.K ME'. These artists know what they want the song to be about, so they figure out creative ways to clean the lyrics up.