Fontez Hill Dr. McCormick ENG 210 29 October 2013 Honk If You Love Jesus Antsy McClain and the Trailer Park Troubadours made up the song, “l Was Just Flipped Off by a Silver-Haired Old Lady, with a ‘Honk If You Love Jesus’ Sticker on the Bumper of Her Car,” which was a pretty humorous piece. In the eyes of Antsy though, it’s painfully upsetting rather than funny. The obvious symbol I chose in this work was the bumper sticker that said, “Honk If You Love Jesus. ” The sticker symbolizes the love for Jesus.
It also symbolizes that the person driving the car, which is the old lady t this moment, has a religious belief in Jesus Christ. The title itself has great imagery; it is the chorus of the song and it gives a visual of what to expect about the silver-haired old lady and her finger. The chorus is sung four times throughout the song, along with three verses. Antsy gets flipped off by the old lady in the first verse of the song while driving down the road. He says he was feeling “pretty Christian,” and loving all of his neighbors within the first line.
Antsy is proclaiming that he was n a good mood, and when he saw the “honk if you love Jesus” bumper sticker and he didn’t think twice about honking his horn. In fact, he said he pushed his horn with conviction so Antsy probably didn’t give the typical horn honk as if the car was Just saying h’. He could have beat the steering wheel with his palm multiple times or pressed down on the horn as hard and as long as he wanted to. Whatever he did to that horn, that woman did not like it. Her feelings towards the honk must have not been pleasant for her to give Antsy the finger.
In the last line of the first verse Antsy ells us that the ladys finger had almost put his heart on ice; he went from feeling like a warm-hearted Christian to a cold-hearted driver. In the second verse of the song, Antsy says he may never have the gumption now “to read those one-line sermons. ” Before that he says it makes him want to cry. Antsy was so happy and excited to honk his horn because of the “Honk If You Love Jesus” sticker but now he wants to cry because of the old lady flipping him off. Antsy is heartbroken so much that he is saying he may never have the passion to read one- ine bible sermons again!
In the last line of this verse he seems Just devastated from this woman. He says, “And forgive me, Lord, for saying, but my faith is weak tonight. ” Antsy is Just torn up from this whole incident. This ladys finger has driven him to where his faith has gone weak in the Lord because of him honking for the sticker. In verse three, Antsy is thinking about the whole situation. Maybe he is talking to a friend when he starts off by saying, mfou say. ” In the first two lines it says, “Maybe it’s a rental. She could be the second owner. She could be a Godless sinner in a loaner from a friend. I was thinking that maybe a lot of people have been honking at her and she had gotten tired of it. Antsy then says it helps and he feels better from hearing or thinking about this. Though the silver-haired old lady who had a “Honk If You Love Jesus” sticker on the bumper of her car flipped Antsy off, he realized the posslDle outcomes 0T wny an 010 woman wltn tnls stlcKer would ao sucn a tnlng. Maybe she rented the car. Maybe she was the second owner of the car. Maybe she was borrowing the car from a friend. All of these ideas make him feel better but he is thinking of another thing too.
He says he can’t help but see that this is a sign that “the world is doomed, and we’re that much closer to the end. ” Antsy comes to a conclusion that since this has happened to him, it could be a sign that it’s close to the end of the world. The author uses this symbol of a “Honk If You Love Jesus” sticker to his advantage to show his confusion and frustration towards getting flipped off by the person with this sticker. Antsy went from in the beginning of the song, feeling pretty Christian to aving a weak faith to thinking this was a sign that the world is coming to an end.
I can see this being funny that an old lady flipped somebody off, but if I put myself in this situation, I think I would feel sad and confused too. The author keeps us wondering throughout the song, and after the song ends, why would this woman flip him off if the sticker told him he could honk his horn? Not only did the sticker tell him that he could honk his horn, it basically gives him the idea that the driver is a believer in Jesus which means that she really shouldn’t be flipping Antsy off for honking a horn.
