Guthrie Theater

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, is a beloved tale that people of all ages have loved for its emotional and moral appeal. It is a story focusing on the life of Ebenezer Scrooge, a greedy and cold-hearted money-lender, who is visited by four ghostly apparitions who convince him together to change his merciless ways. At the beginning of this tale, Scrooge does not recognize the effects of his greed, so the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future take it upon themselves to show him how much his greed can hurt the people around him. Needless to say, greed is the central theme of Dickens’ beloved novella, and it is revealed by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, in order to change Scrooge’s curmudgeonly ways. The very first ghost who visits Scrooge in his home is the spirit of his dead partner, Jacob Marley. Marley’s ghost is bound in chains, these chains are made up of keys and locks, cash-boxes, and heavy purses which weigh him down to the earth, these things represent his greed, which caused him to be cursed to wander the earth forevermore. Marley warns Scrooge about his greedy heart, telling him that if he doesn’t change his ways, Scrooge will never be at peace. After his warning, Marley tells Scrooge that he will have three more visitors, and then disappears, leaving the house quiet and empty as though he had never even been there. Scrooge then falls into a deep sleep, and wakes up to a child-faced apparition opening the curtains to his bed.…

dragged into debt, and people were made to migrate from their homes as storms of the Dust Bowl ruined agricultural opportunities. The population could be found in a world of barren earth and broken dreams, an era many believed to be “the final destruction of the old Jeffersonian idea of agrarian harmony with nature” (“Dust Bowl” 2). Indeed, the troubles facing the nation served as primary reasons for the spark in entertainment during this decade. Movies, music, radio, and fiction were only…

into disillusion when the speaker questions, “Is this land made for you and me?” (Guthrie line 24). Reading Guthrie’s poem, I came to the conclusion that because of all the hardships America went through in the 1930s, the American dream is not for everyone regardless of one’s hopes. Woody Guthrie is known as a “folk singer, composer, writer, and a homegrown radical… during the Great Depression” (“Woody Guthrie”). During his career, he wrote “This Land Is Your Land,” a poem that reflects…

Bob Dylan, né Robert Zimmerman, hailed from the United States of America, born in Duluth, Minnesota and raised in Hibbing in Minnesota. He is a singer and songwriter of the folk rock genre. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame states that Robert taught himself the harmonica and the guitar at 10 years of age. In high-school he formed a band named the Golden Chords, his stage-name was Elston Gunn. At the University of Minnesota in 1959 he sang country songs, traditional folk songs and political folk style…

I decided to choose a contemporary piece to write about. Shakey Graves is an Americana musician from Austin, Texas. Alejandro Rose-Garcia is his real name but after a night by the campfire with his friends; Shakey Graves was the Indian guide name given to him playfully by his friends. He has quite a unique sound and plays three instruments at once while singing. You’ll probably see him playing in his hat, wife-beater, skinny jeans, and proper boots. His music is a cross between folk, rock and…

Is Your Land is a poem written by Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie in February of 1940; in April of 1944 it was eventually set to music and turned into a song. On the first reading of this poem, especially when one takes into account the song that was learned in childhood, it has a very patriotic feel to it, “This land is your land this land is my land / this land was made for you and me” (Guthrie 1:1, 1:4). Upon closer inspection, when the last three stanzas of the poem are taken into account, we…

Throughout the course of the semester we have learned about so many artists, and the transitions to different music genres. We have seen how music has grown throughout the years, and how artists use their songs to express their feelings, and their concerns over issues. As the years have progressed, we have seen how artists have become more vocal on issues that are have been occurring in the United States. One of the main points in history that we have seen in this course, in my opinion, has…

Bob Dylan is a American musician. He is a singer and a songwriter who sings mostly about folk music. He has been an extremely influential person in the music industry for years. Bob Dylan also had a lot of influence during the political movements of the 1960s and 1970s. He sang at the March on Washington in August of 1963 with a fellow folk musician, Joan Baez.…

“This land was made for you and me.” Way back in 1940, there was a man named Woody Guthrie. He trekked across the USA singing hundreds of songs. His most prominent song, though, is “This Land is Your Land”, a song that explained that the USA is for everyone. He is often quoted because of his inspiring messages. The famous song is very similar to one of his quotes, but is different too. Both the song and the quote are proportionate in some ways. First, let’s knock off the obvious one: they are…

pack up everything and leave their homes to start a new life. In the famous book Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, the two main characters are named George Milton and Lennie Small. George and Lennie are forced to leave their homes in the town of Weed, and they go on a journey to start their new lives as farm hands. By hitch-hiking, walking, and riding freight trains, many people traveled to find new jobs. “The exact scale of migrants is unknown, but it’s estimated that up to 400,000…