Prejudice And Corruption In Bob Dylan's Song 'Hurricane'

Ideas/Background:
Bob Dylan is an American folk rock musician who influentially utilised poetry and current social themes in his music to create an impact. The song ‘Hurricane’, released in 1976, is one of his most famous songs. It discusses racism, racial injustice and corruption through the incorrect trial and murder conviction of African-American male Rubin Carter, an issue relevant to its time of release.

Martin Luther King Jr. was a leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He delivered his ‘I Have A Dream’ speech in 1963 during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in support for the civil rights legislation proposed by President Kennedy.

Both the song and speech address the racial inequality present at the time and
convey the writer’s, and their supporter’s views on racial discrimination and unfair treatment.
Techniques:
Imagery is used by Dylan to highlight the unfair treatment of people based on skin colour, “If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street”, providing the image of corruption in the treatment of black people, and their lack of treatment as normal human beings because of their skin colour. “The DA said he was the one who did the deed, and the all-white jury agreed”, the rhyme in this quote makes it a couplet which further intensifies the presented idea of racism as a white jury had to decide the verdict for a black man. King’s use of alliteration makes the speech more catchy and memorable, “In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check… We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no… I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character…”. He also utilises assonance to add an element of musical poetry “We must
forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline”. In addition, King uses the technique of synecdoche to represent people as bodies and flesh, enforcing the idea that the problems faced by the people he represented were related to their skin colour, “We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together”. Anaphora was used by King to give his speech a sense of repetition to reinforce his key idea. He did this through the repetition of the phrase “I have a dream”.

Dylan uses tone to set the overall feeling of the song, “All of Rubin’s cards were marked in advance, the trial was a pig-circus he never had a chance”.
Through this quote he emphasises the unfairness of the trial and the fact that Carter was never given a fair opportunity, being deemed guilty before the commencement of the trial, proving the level of corruption of the case. King utilises parallelism to reinforce the tone of his speech by giving his audience a sense of unity, “Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our Northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom, knowing that we will be free one
day”.

The style of language used by Dylan attracted attention due to its vivid and sometimes vulgar nature, abnormal for its time. It is through this vividness that his message gains power. His use of language at times is intended to provide shock to different regions, cultures and social status. Certain lines possessed a certain degree of appropriateness in one demographic region than they did another, “The judge made Rubin’s witnesses drunkards from the slums, to the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum, and to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger, no one doubted that he pulled the trigger…”. Through this quote Dyan purposefully makes as association of black men and women with lower social and economic status in order to shock certain target groups. Allusion is utilised by King to demonstrate the equivalence of both black and white cultures by beginning with the line “Five score years ago…”, a reference to the Gettysburg address made by Abraham Lincoln, a powerful white man, and concluding with the line “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”, The famous words of the old Negro spiritual. King also personifies American society as a single person who was wronged African American people, “It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of colour are concerned. Instead of honouring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked ‘insufficient funds’.”

Dylan uses a hyperbole in the line “All of Rubin’s cards were marked in advance, the trial was a pig-circus he never had a chance”, implying that the court was biased towards judging Carter to be guilty. King also utilises a hyperbole to convey his opinion that justice will only come when everyone believes in freedom for all, “And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing”. Both of these quotes are not intended to be taken completely for their literal meaning, but show an exaggeration of their intended meaning.

Through a metaphor, King equates the symbol of light with freedom, “This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity” and “Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice”. He also uses a simile to demonstrate his belief that equality is intended to be a natural part of life, “No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream”.