Song Draft #1

The song Take a Bow by Rihanna is a critique of how men used to be in power but women are taking their rights back. It is an empowerment to women all over. In earlier times men society used to be a patriarchy but as society evolves women are beginning to fight for power and rights within the hierarchy. Rihanna’s childhood was deeply affected by her father's addiction to crack cocaine, while not treating her right, and parent's rocky marriage. So in this song Rihanna overcomes that struggle of male dominance.
There is an underlying place that Rihanna uses to develop imagery and irony, a theatre. From the very beginning she wrote about a round of applause. This is ironic because a round of applause is normally meant to be a good thing but in this song she is using it to call out the fact that he was being fake and not sincere. He cheated on her and then tried to take it back and win her heart again.
The base of the song takes place outside her house while she tells her former guy to get lost. In the song Rihanna wrote that the guy was not genuinely sorry. “An' don't tell me you're sorry 'cause you're not.” The writer is telling him that she does not want to hear sorry because she knows he is not, that he would go and do it again. When Rihanna says “But you put on quite a show, you really had me going…” she allows the subject of patriarchy into the picture. Society used to be strictly male dominated with females playing the role of house wife with no power or voice in how things work. Norman Rockwell, a well versed author on Patriarchy, wrote “Men hold the majority of positions not only politically but in the business and home. Also, men are normally portrayed in positions of power and authority. Even the one thing women had, the house, the male felt he had to provide for and take care of.

Rihanna is trying to build awareness that women can be strong not subjected to ale dominance. She is showing that even now men try to control or manipulate women but that women do not have to out up with it as they did back then. Women are constantly having to show men that they are capable and fight for their rights to have some power in society Women are certainly just as capable of holding such jobs but back then it was unheard of for a women to have any power. In 1893, the United States beginning with Colorado began to pass an amendment that granted women he right to vote. Betty Friedan, in 1963 published her highly influential book The Feminine Mystique, which describes the dissatisfaction felt by middle-class American housewives with the narrow role imposed on them by society. The book becomes a basis for the modern women's rights movement. Also in 1963, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act, which made it illegal for employers to pay a woman less than what a man would receive for the same job.
In the song Rihanna shows that the guy was a liar when he said that she was the one and that he loved her. Obviously if this was true he would not have cheated on her. This is demeaning to women because Rihanna and the women he cheated on her with were only used for one thing. The author then wrote “Curtain's finally closing, that was quite a show very entertaining, but it's over now, go on and take a bow.” This brings back the theater reference and also means that she is done with him, that his attempts to get her back were very entertaining but that it’s over. She even goes as far as to give him an “award,” which again should be a good thing and draws on the theater metaphor. The irony is that the award is for being the best liar. It was given because he tried to male her believe he could be faithful. The speech part of the song is where it really hits that in a theater setting this is where the person would normally thank those who have helped them while being congratulated on something well done. Rihanna is using it to mean that he did such a good job of lying that he deserves some recognition.