Noor Saket
Prof. Abid Vali
ENGL 355
11 Jan. 2017
Contradictory Actions and Knowledge in Beyoncé’s “Denial”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and statesman, elucidates the power of contradictions in the life of human beings: “what we agree with leaves us inactive, but contradiction makes us productive” (Goethe). On the one hand, agreement and contradiction are mental processes, while on the other hand, inactivity and productivity, usually, are physical ones. This mental-physical connection is what Beyoncé’s “Denial” revolves around: how physical violence is the product of mental instability, which is embodied by her lack of knowledge with regard to her husband’s possible infidelity. For that reason, Beyoncé resorts to physical contradictory …show more content…
The narrator adopts rituals from these two religions, but performs them radically, due to resorting to physical asceticism and neglecting the mental -or spiritual—side of the rituals. At the beginning of the song, Beyoncé behaves virtuously and acts like a monk by wearing white, abstaining from mirrors and abstaining from sex, as well as practicing monastic silence and sleeping on a mat on the floor. However, this reverence for religious rituals was not satisfactory to Beyoncé, therefore, shifted to disrespect them by plugging her “menses with pages from the Holy Book” (Beyoncé). The singer’s contradictory actions are supposed to be means for her to find mental equilibrium, represented by an answer to one question: is Jay Z cheating on her? Nevertheless, like her pietism, Beyoncé found blaspheming the Christian doctrine is …show more content…
There are three occasions in which the Islamic rituals were mentioned: “Ameen,” “Fasting for sixty days” and “Abstained from sex” (Beyoncé). “Ameen” is the Arabic and Islamic pronunciation of “Amen,” while “Fasting for sixty days” is a ritual for recompensing the days of not fasting the holy month of Ramadan, providing valid reasons and lastly, when Muslims are fasting, they abstain from sex during the fasting hours, which is from sunrise till sundown. Dr. Yolanda Pierce, an Associate Professor of African American Religion and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary and the Director of Black Church Studies, argues in her article “Black Women and the Sacred: With “Lemonade,” Beyoncé Takes Us to Church” that Black Christianity originates from African beliefs: “[Black] Christianity as it exists and is practiced in America today owes much of its theology, ritual, and doctrine to the experiences and beliefs of enslaved Africans” (Pierce). As Islam was the religion of the majority of the slaved Africans, therefore, it is not unusual for Beyoncé to refer to it in her song. However, adopting other faiths does not stem from Christianity inadequacy, but from religion insufficiency in general to her purpose of gaining information, that is the unequivocal answer to her husband’s questioned
Prof. Abid Vali
ENGL 355
11 Jan. 2017
Contradictory Actions and Knowledge in Beyoncé’s “Denial”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, German writer and statesman, elucidates the power of contradictions in the life of human beings: “what we agree with leaves us inactive, but contradiction makes us productive” (Goethe). On the one hand, agreement and contradiction are mental processes, while on the other hand, inactivity and productivity, usually, are physical ones. This mental-physical connection is what Beyoncé’s “Denial” revolves around: how physical violence is the product of mental instability, which is embodied by her lack of knowledge with regard to her husband’s possible infidelity. For that reason, Beyoncé resorts to physical contradictory …show more content…
The narrator adopts rituals from these two religions, but performs them radically, due to resorting to physical asceticism and neglecting the mental -or spiritual—side of the rituals. At the beginning of the song, Beyoncé behaves virtuously and acts like a monk by wearing white, abstaining from mirrors and abstaining from sex, as well as practicing monastic silence and sleeping on a mat on the floor. However, this reverence for religious rituals was not satisfactory to Beyoncé, therefore, shifted to disrespect them by plugging her “menses with pages from the Holy Book” (Beyoncé). The singer’s contradictory actions are supposed to be means for her to find mental equilibrium, represented by an answer to one question: is Jay Z cheating on her? Nevertheless, like her pietism, Beyoncé found blaspheming the Christian doctrine is …show more content…
There are three occasions in which the Islamic rituals were mentioned: “Ameen,” “Fasting for sixty days” and “Abstained from sex” (Beyoncé). “Ameen” is the Arabic and Islamic pronunciation of “Amen,” while “Fasting for sixty days” is a ritual for recompensing the days of not fasting the holy month of Ramadan, providing valid reasons and lastly, when Muslims are fasting, they abstain from sex during the fasting hours, which is from sunrise till sundown. Dr. Yolanda Pierce, an Associate Professor of African American Religion and Literature at Princeton Theological Seminary and the Director of Black Church Studies, argues in her article “Black Women and the Sacred: With “Lemonade,” Beyoncé Takes Us to Church” that Black Christianity originates from African beliefs: “[Black] Christianity as it exists and is practiced in America today owes much of its theology, ritual, and doctrine to the experiences and beliefs of enslaved Africans” (Pierce). As Islam was the religion of the majority of the slaved Africans, therefore, it is not unusual for Beyoncé to refer to it in her song. However, adopting other faiths does not stem from Christianity inadequacy, but from religion insufficiency in general to her purpose of gaining information, that is the unequivocal answer to her husband’s questioned