"Gone"
By: Kelly Clarkson
Illustrating a tone of satiric accusations in Kelly Clarkson's "Gone", a young girl confesses all about a relationship that went very wrong, using insightful characterization, reflective apostrophe, and matter-of-fact narration, by talking about how this boy didn't treat her right and really didn't care about her as a person.
At the very beginning Clarkson describes what it was like for this girl to be in a relationship with the boy stating that he told "...Lies that drop like acid rain/ You washed away the best of me/ You don't care". Clarkson, using characterization, is describing how this boy is always lying to the girl and how he really didn't care that he was hurting her at all. She speaks of being "shattered" and "broken... /whenever she was with him". By stating these things Clarkson is trying to convey how truly painful it was to be in a relationship with this boy. She describes the relationship as being "back and forth, up and down like a roller coaster".
One thing always declared in the song, using reflective apostrophe, is that the girl is "...gone/ To find someone to live for/ In this world". She is revealing how she was able to get out of her unhealthy relationship with the boy and is looking for someone who truly appreciates her for who she is. She is almost speaking to the boy through this song, about how made her feel bad and insecure in the relationship. She later backs up her reasoning for breaking up with this boy by very contemptuously stating that "there's no light at the end of the tunnel tonight/ just a bridge that I gotta burn". She wants to this boy to know she is not coming back to him because she has already 'burned that bridge' and now there is no going back for her, which helps to contribute to this tone of satiric accusations.
Towards the end of the song, using matter-of-fact narration, Clarkson is almost ranting about how said boy came and asked her to get back together with him. But she makes it seem more like he demands they get back together by saying, "If you think you can walk right through my door/... Coming back when I've finally moved on." But she completely refuses him because she acknowledges that she's already been there and done that and doesn't want to go back (especially with him). She blatantly declares that "Sorry doesn't cut it.../ Take the hit and walk away/ 'Cause I'm gone". This girl really wants him to realize that what they once might have had is now over and won't ever come back, and he has no one to blame for that except himself.
Gone is a very appropriate name for this song, because its truly about a girl who is finally realizing how to stand up for herself. Clarkson tries to really convey that this girl is finally done being a doormat for this boy and that she is taking charge of her relationship and saying 'I'm done' and leaving to find someone who really cares and respects her and doesn't make her feel out of control and insecure. By the end Clarkson has shown us that the girl is "already gone" and won't ever let this boy or any other step all over her again, by showing all of these literary devices such as characterization, apostrophe, and narrative. All of these things are used to covey the most important part of this song...which is it satiric accusatory tone.
