Assignment 2

Check out and read Finding Your Howl by Jonathon Flaum.

“Following Your Howl” by Jonathon Flaum is a story about a wolf who has been kept in captivity, and when released into the wild realizes that him and his fellow wolves need to discover how they were before they were in a captive environment; they must find their “howl” or their natural way of life. When reviewing the story, one finds the deeper meaning. Flaum is actually writing about finding who you are always meant to be and discovering what lies beneath the surface of your own apparent self image. He wishes to express to the reader that in order to find yourself you must be willing to give up anything and go through any trial to achieve success.

The following is the lyrics of the song "Let It Enfold You" by Senses fail; one of my favorite songs.

So the lie now is my weapon
Like a bush dried withered in the sun
With this spark I'll go up in flames.
I'd lay my guts out but they're too small to see
It's kinda cute how I pretend to be
Everything but the instrument I am.

Peace or happiness
So let it enfold you

A birth to life is what I'm after
My first name won't be my last one
Let the light just drip into your eyes.

So it's true my words are contrived
I tell lies just to get into your mind
I'm as fake as a widow's smile.
This mask of glass is what I choose to wear
So I won't ever have the need to bear
The total truth to anyone but me.

Peace or happiness
So let it enfold you

A birth to life is what I'm after
My first name won't be my last one
Let the light just drip into your eyes.
The light (the light) into (into) your eyes (your eyes) all night

I'm just a bad actor stuck with a shitty script
All of my lines are cheap and the cast is weak
There was no music for the first time I got kissed
There was no femme fatale, my mistress wasn't rich.
So I've been formatted to fit your TV screen
The film went straight to tape, I'll bow out quietly.
So quietly. So quietly.

Please do this now I beg
Duct tape my arms and legs
Throw me into the sea
(Please save me, please save me)

Now watch the waves eat me
Setting my cold heart free
I'll wash ashore in weeks
(You can't save me, can't save me)

Now watch the waves eat me
Setting my cold heart free
I'll wash ashore in weeks
(You can't save me, you can't save me now)

 The song “Let It Enfold You” by Senses Fail is definitely one of the top songs on my list of favorites. The title and much of the content of the lyrics are taken from Charles Bukowski’s poem “Let It Enfold You”. This song really speaks to me in a creative sense, and it is very easy for me to relate to. The main meaning of the song very closely mirrors that of Jonathon Flaum’s story “Following Your Howl”. It is about the speaker wanting to be who they really are, and an apparent inability to do so. The main difference is that the speaker in the song seems to realize what they could or should have been, but they have been lying, while in “Following Your Howl” it is more about discovering the self. The opening lines of the song declare that he is a liar, and that he is in denial of what he really is. This speaks to me personally because I am always on a constant and relentless journey to find who I truly want to be and where I fit in this world. It is so easy to deny to yourself what you are doing and to create your own standards of right and wrong in order to validate your actions. The problem is you can only kid yourself for so long before you realize that you hate who you have become. The song is very much about realizing that you have not been living life the way you should or that you originally intended to, and then feeling the very real pain of that realization.

The speaker knows what he has become and knows who he wants to be, but is unable to turn back; it’s too late. I can relate to these feelings. Sometimes you dig yourself so deep into a mindset or a way of living that it is virtually impossible to crawl back out. You push your opinions and you engrain it in your own head until you almost believe it; then you realize it’s not your true beliefs. It’s not the way you pictured.

My favorite and most heart-felt lines of the song are, “I’m just a bad actor stuck with a shitty script. All of my lines are cheap and the cast is weak. There was no music for the first time I got kissed. There was no femme fatale, my mistress wasn’t rich.” This speaks to me on such a level that I cannot even describe it through words. So many times I feel like life is just a scene that I am acting in, and that I don’t really agree or fit in with what’s happening. Often the people in the world around me are not a very good supporting cast and don’t fit in with what I expect for myself. Not everything in life is beautiful and perfect, and sometimes it just seems like the seemingly meaningful experiences are just passing me by. I don’t want to wake up one day and realize that my entire life has not been led to it’s fullest extent, and this song reminds me each and every day that things may not be the greatest, but as long as I realize that tiwill happen, I can move on and continue to follow my bliss.