Fancy Paper - Final Draft
Misty
Jennifer
English 1101 126
26 March 2014
A Not So Fancy American Dream Story
In one aspect
Fancy is a typical American Dream story in that she goes from poor to upper
class in her lifetime. On the other hand, she is far from the typical American Dream
story because of the steps that she took to achieve that Dream. The listener
can tell that Fancy comes from poverty and ends up with the good life from her
lyrics: “We didn’t have money for food or rent/ To say the least we were hard
pressed.” Then later: “I charmed a king, congressman / And an occasional
aristocrat / Then I got me a Georgia mansion / And an elegant New York
townhouse flat / And I ain't done bad” (McEntire 4). Fancy ends up with more
than the average person might expect from the American Dream, and though
Fancy’s story is not typical, she used what she had and made the most of her
life to attain the American Dream. She used her feminine wiles to charm men,
rich men no less.
Fancy’s mother
puts her on a path to prostitution; one that most would not think could lead to
the American Dream. Fancy’s mother transformed her from a scared young girl
into a woman: “Mama washed and
combed and curled my hair/ Then she painted my eyes and lips / Then I stepped
into a satin' dancin' dress / That
had a split up the side clean up to my hip / It was red velvet trim and it fit
me good / Standin' back from the lookin' glass / There stood a woman where a
half grown kid had stood” (McEntire 4). As
a last act, her mother gives her a locket that says, “To thine own self be
true.” This will resonate with Fancy for the rest of her life. Her mother is
giving her the only chance that she feels that she can, she is telling her
daughter “This is all that I can give you kid, go make the best of it.” Fancy’s
mother does all that she can to help her daughter get out of the life she was
born into.
To me, this can be equated to how some families go into debt to pay
for their children’s education. The idea behind both paths is the same; parents
are willing to give all they can to give their children the best chance at the
brightest possible future.
Now that Fancy
is on this path, she has no choice but to follow through. She quickly learns
what her new life role involves, and what she must to do survive. She soon
meets a benevolent man that takes her
in off the streets. She works for him in a capacity that the lyrics do not
really go into, other than “one-week later I was pourin’ his tea in a five room
hotel suite.” (McEntire 4). Soon after this she is charming
powerful men: “I charmed a king, congressman/ And an occasional aristocrat / Then
I got me a Georgia mansion / And an elegant New York townhouse flat / And I
ain't done bad” (McEntire 4). Because Fancy has ended up in a much higher
economic bracket than she started, she has indeed realized the American Dream,
in that aspect. Haunted by how she got to the top, Fancy is no doubt there.
Fancy came from
severe poverty to end up in a Georgia Mansion, she fulfilled what many would
call the American Dream, attaining wealth and privilege. Many people feel hard
work is required to reach the American Dream; though most do not have to make
the choices that Fancy did. She always carried with her the pain that her mother
felt for putting her on that path, even though it was all that her mother could
do for her. Many prostitutes do not end up in this place in the world. Fancy
mentions not wanting to spend her life with her head hung down in shame, but
how does she avoid that? Was her momma’s locket that strong of a guiding and
grounding force for her to keep her faith and stay clean?
Fancy is not
just an atypical American Dream story, were this a true tale, then it would
also be an atypical prostitution story. Many call girls start doing drugs as a
way to escape the shame that they feel for the prostitution. In what turns out
to be a terrible vicious cycle, they become addicted to the drugs that they
have turned to for comfort. Then they must prostitute themselves more to pay
for the drugs that help them hide from the shame that they needed the drugs for
in the first place. Truly, this is a dizzying cause and effect that - more
often than not - leads to a downward spiral for these women. I knew a woman who
started ‘hooking’ as a way to earn money after losing her job. Because she felt
so much shame over this, she turned to drugs. Soon, she did not feel shame
anymore; she did not feel anything except the “monkey on her back.” What
started out as a way to pay the rent one month, turned into a cycle where she eventually
lost everything. This is a more accurate portrayal of prostitution and drugs
than the song Fancy is. An article in the Journal of Biological Systems
describes how poverty is a driving force behind prostitution.
“…as some turn
to prostitution to fund their drug/alcohol addiction behavior, (3,2,6) which
often leads to entrapment of women who prostitute in this sex-for-drugs
lifestyle (2) and others resort to drug/alcohol misuse to effectively
sell their bodies without remorse. (5,6,7)” (1)
This song is really
about overcoming adversity, so we must be able at this song for what it was
meant to be, entertainment. Therefore, we can ignore these staggeringly painful
statistics. This song is really about overcoming adversity. This song is about
Fancy taking her momma’s words to heart and being true to herself, and making
the most of herself. This song is about beating the odds, and giving hope to
those in bad situations. If Fancy can come from a shack, where “your pa’s
runned off / and I’m real sick / and the baby’s gonna starve to death” (McEntire
4), then I can make it in my life. I am nowhere nearly as bad of as Fancy was.
This gives me hop, but it also tells me that I must be willing to do whatever
it takes to make it, short of prostituting myself. I guess that makes me full
time job, half time schooling, and three kids, seem a little less of a burden.
Thank you, Reba McEntire, and Bobbie Gentry.
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