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Rick James Glow: A Literary Analysis

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Recommended: African americans and the criminal justice system

In this literary analysis, the interview-based narrative structure of Rick James’ Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James defines the self-awareness of spiritual insight and African American criminality in the context of his public and private life. In James’ private narrative, he defines the familial and spiritual presentation of “Brother Guru”, which defines his awareness of the moral deviancy of his behaviors as a rock star while in Folsom State Prison. More so, the public life of James’ career defines the immoral behaviors of the “super freak” that made him susceptible to drug abuse, sexual deviancy, and other aspects of rock star life that seem to contradict the moral self-awareness of his autobiographical narrative. The music of Rick James …show more content…

You have an inner glow. A light that comes from within. Everyone has a light but yours is bright, James. Yours is special.
In this “conservation, the narrative is based on the fictional discussions with Brother Guru, which define how his mother had once said her son had a “glow” as part of his natural gift as a musician. This private narrative defines the internal aspects of James’ life that deviate from the well-known public life of the artist as a “super freak” that was involved in heavy drug usage, criminal sexuality (kidnapping two women) and debasing himself as a “rock star” in the mainstream music …show more content…

These are important techniques, which can be used in my own memories, since they offer a multiple-point perspective on the differing aspects of public and private identity. Also, James shows the creative and spiritual side of his personality as a self-aware individual, which presents a different image than the criminal image of an Africa-American rock star. In my own memoir, the interview method can surely bring a more biased approach to qualitative aspects of autobiography, but it is also the self-awareness of family history and cultural aspects of the personality that can also be presented through personal narrative. I found James’ autobiography to be afar more self-aware analysis of his personal life, than I was expecting. In this manner, the interview-based narrative structure of Rick James’ Glow: The Autobiography of Rick James has been examined through the self-awareness of spiritual insight and African American criminality in the context of the artist’s public and private

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