Suicide is defined as “the act or an instance of taking one's own life voluntarily and intentionally especially by a person of years of discretion and of sound mind” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). It is usually the result of a mental illness such as depression or bipolar disorder. It has grown into a severe problem in the United States as to be reported as the 10th leading cause of death among Americans. Every year suicides tear families apart and are the reason for countless lives lost. In the single “Why” by American band Rascal Flatts, the song is based around the aftermath in the view of one person who knew a teen who committed suicide. This song really hit close to home for all three members of the band because all of them have dealt with…show more content… One of the literary devices he uses very effectively is imagery. He paints a picture in the listener’s mind that lets them see what the character in the song is seeing and how that makes him feel. The songwriters say, “Now the oak trees are swayin’/ in the early autumn breeze/ A golden sun is shining on my face/ The tangled thoughts I hear/ A mockingbird sings/ This old world really ain’t that bad a place” (Mathes, Shamblin). In this verse the lyricists mix how the character in the song is feeling with what he is seeing giving listeners a powerful sense of imagery as well as an idea of the painful thoughts racing in the mind of the person in the song. It seems as if this person starts to lose hope after remembering the suicide, but he then looks around him at the beauty of the world that he lives in and realizes that it isn’t so bad. However, the most interesting and compelling literary element that the author uses throughout the song is his analogy comparing life to a concert or stage performance and how the person who committed suicide left the stage in the middle of the performance, and they do this multiple times throughout the length of the song. The songwriters’ exact words are, “And why you would leave the stage in the middle of a song/...When you took the stage you shined just like the sun/...And why you would leave the stage in the middle of a song/… ‘Cause it’s not like you to walk away in the middle of a song/ Your beautiful song/ Your absolutely beautiful song” (Shamblin, Mathes). These verses are undebatably the strongest in the whole song because they truly sum up what the lyricist