I Hope You Dance Analysis

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The song "I Hope You Dance" is a country song written by Tia Stillers and Mark Sanders. The song was recorded on March 1999 and released on May 23rd 2000. Tia Stillers was going through a heartbreaking divorce when she co-wrote this song. She wanted to distance herself from other people, so she rented a condo in Mexico. Tia was sitting on the beach reflecting the divorce. She kept criticizing herself by saying things like I should throw myself into the ocean and become shark bait, I am worthless like a grain of sand, I should quit being a songwriter etc. This is where she got the line “ I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean”. One day when Tia was on her way to work, someone called and asked her if she would like to come to…show more content…
This song also contains smaller symbols and metaphors. “I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance”. Mountains is used as a symbol of hardship that we have to face in life and the barriers that cause us to be afraid of chasing after our dreams. This is also a metaphor used to say that we should never give up on our dreams when things are tough. Another metaphor is “and when you chose to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance”. It is telling us that no matter what do not just sit out and wait for things to come to us. We need to chase after things. Another one is “Whenever one door closes, I hope more open”, whenever an opportunity ends, she hopes that more will open. A theme that I have found in this song is the character/daughter is building up, the daughter is building up confidence in believing herself by doing what she wants to do, she is chasing her dreams. Another theme I have found is love, a mother and daughter love. I feel that the main topic in “I Hope You Dance” is take chances in life and follow your dreams, even when people are telling you that it is impossible or you are crazy for trying, do not give up, prove them
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