From the past to present, people all over the world have been determined to live together, so that they depend on living for each other. The song Family Portrait sung by Alecia Beth Moore, aka Pink, shows that some couples are unable to maintain their relationship. Therefore they choose divorce, which is the most common way to cope with problems between husband and wife.
The invited reading of the song suggests that divorce has a major impact on the children of the family. The child will feel pain no matter how big or how small the problem is. They will feel as though they have no control.Pink positioned the audience to understand and accept her representations of pain and frustration was clear through the uses language choices and imagery devices such as repetition and use of strong and forceful words.
Family Portrait is a deep and meaningful song that portrays pain to the reader by the use of language choices. This representation is evident throughout the whole song but particularly in the seventh verse where Pink sings the lyrics ‘my mama she loves you, no matter what she says it’s true, I know that she hurt you, but remember I love you too’. This was an effective example as it shows just how hurt the young girl is.The words ‘but remember I love you too’, shows the audience that the girl feels as though does not take notice in her feelings after the fallout of his marriage.
The words portray the audience to believe that the girl has to remind her father that she still loves him no matter what. It is clear to see that the language choices pink used were effective to depict how divorce has a major impact of pain on children. Although pain is a major representation in the song Family Portrait, frustration is equally important. Throughout this song, Pink manages to show the frustration children have when their parents’ divorce by using repetition.
By repeating the same chorus throughout the whole song Pink was able to put a clear image into the audiences mind about how the children react to their family falling apart. In this case, pink has repeated ‘can we work it out? Can we be a family? I promise I’ll be better, mommy, I’ll do anything’ to show that the girl is trying to fix her family’. This shows the audience that the girl is determined to get her family back, but after the chorus she mentions ‘I don’t want to split my holidays, I don’t wants two addresses, I don’t want a step brother anyway…’ which allows the audience to see that the girl gets frustrated as she cannot do anything bout her parents divorcing. Therefore it is clear that the use of repetition f the imagery device is used to portray how divorce impacts the children and causes them to be frustrated.
By using both imagery devices and language choices such the use of words and repetition, Pink has strongly portrayed pain and frustration. Family Portrait uses these codes to portray pain and also frustration kids have when their family falls apart.
