PC: eleanor rigby

This pratical criticism is born on a late night over MSN quite some time ago. The chat was with yan quan, whose skills in picking out details and themes far surpassed mine and also with nick, providing ideas along the way. No doubt we had some different views and different ideas, we contributed actively and had a great time.

This is a record which yan quan asked me to keep so as not to lose it. Since it's idling around on my desktop, i figured i might as well publish it here. Pardon the structure, language and grammar as it was taken from our MSN conversation.

PC of eleanor rigby


This song adopts a questioning tone with repeated questions throughout the song. This song probably highlights an era where individuals becomes withdrawn and lost among their communities.The song repeatedly points out the loniliness of the people and questions the origin of the feeling drawing references to the church. A possible intrepretation could be that this song is a reaction to the "ennui" life of the people.

Moreover the song also posts and questions the ultimate outcome of these lost and lonely people. The church is also under question as the church's ability in relieving the feeling of lost and loniness is shown to be lacking. The song starts by pointing out that there is alot of lonely people. The use of repetition is evident as the song goes "ahh look at all the lonely people" It had been repeated twice to draw emphasis upon the statement.

The introduction of elanor rigby hightlights the feeling of lonliness.The "face she keeps in a jar by the door" which she dons on seem to sugest that there is no genuinity in her relationship with others. The masquerade she goes through can be seen as a struggle within herself to make herself accepted by others. This could be an attempt to eliminate the feeling of lonliness or it can also be intrepreted as eleanor's method of hiding the pain probably caused because nobody understands or probably cared about her. The face in a jar represents the hyprocisy she goes through and it is also due to the lack of real and truthful relationships that further isolated her.

This is further suggested and the idea built upon when "she was buried along with her name" She is not remembered by anybody and this further highlight the idea of sad desolate loniless for even in her death, she is no more than a name. Furthermore, the idea of a wedding is where two person enter into a bonding relationship. Yet Eleanor Rigby is not shown in any way, enjoying or understading a supposedly joyous occassion. She enages in work, not being involved in the joyous occasion. She simply picks the rice, after the wedding when it should be quiet and the song seems to suggest that she unlike the two that got married, is in a way lonely.

The idea of her living in a dream further highlights this point as it seems that the only way where she can escape her lonliness is only in her dreams. The lack of anybody that knows and are in any way related to eleanor further brings out the idea that she is lonely.

The introduction of the chorus "all the lonely people, where do they all come from?" now serves to question why there is such a problem? Probably the church could be the reason for such a problem. The church is a representation of a community as everyone should gather there and the people's lives revolved aroudn the church in the past. The church is a focal point where people are drawn into relationships as supposedly children of God. Yet, the church is in the midst of a group of lonely people.

Father Mckenzie is probably an illustration of the inability of the church to curb the lonliness of the people. "writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear" can be interpreted in two ways, either the church is incapable of producing something that the people can relate to or that the people themselves do not wish to hear it. It is interesting therefore to nonote that the fault does not lie on jsut one side. "no one comes near" shows that the people do not reach out to the church while "look at him working. darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there" is actually mocking the father. When nobody is there, the Father "work" by darnning his socks and not by trying to reach out to the lost, it is just as if he doesn't care. "What does he care?"

Thus what is the outcome ? The people dies lonely without any solution to their lonliness and the church do not reach out to these lost people. The idea of Eleanor dying in the church is significant because church is supposed to bring life, and this song could thus be suggesting the inability of the church to eliminates the lonliness that eventually overwhelms and kills them. There are many references to work as well, "eleanor rigby picks up the rice" "Father Mckenzie writing the words of a sermon" and all this points to the sense of ennui. It is in this that the people eventually cannot make sense of their lives, and the purpose the church had for the people are ignored, as "noone will hears, no one comes near." and in the end "no one was saved"

This song ultimately reflects the lonely people without geniune relationships, and the church in not being able to resolve this, eventually loses the souls they were supposed to save.



yeah this is it
i hope u all enjoyed it
anee