Judgement and Hypocricy

Manhattan Kansas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQfOXGg5et4

Listen to the lines. The writer is using Manhattan Kansas as a metaphor for how society at one time treated women who had children out of wedlock. How the woman is more to blame than the man was. The line, " The folks in Manhattan didn't want me or my bundle, so I took my child and caught an evening train," is about society as a whole. The writer put a conservative spin on it by using the conservative Midwest as a metaphor. That line is powerful. It goes from there to the woman being alone and struggling with a child, and becoming indignant to being outcast and taking pride in herself, with the line, " at least I didn't beg him, I'd rather wash my dishes, it makes me feel if my hands are clean." That indignation goes on with the line, "sometimes I stand here thinking about a man, back home in Kansas, and how the folks just turned away in shame, I stare down through the soapsuds, reach down and pull the drain plug and watch it as Manhattan floats away." In other words she has no respect for the man or the people, and as far as she is concerned, they all can float down the drain together. It is all a metaphor for society, and the stigma that used to surround out of wed lock births. The line, "" at least I didn't beg him, I'd rather wash my dishes, it makes me feel if my hands are clean," is the most powerful line in the song. This is a good song, and probably no reflection on Manhattan Kansas. I have been there, and people were no different than the people I encountered in suburban KCK where I lived for a time. I don't know if I over analyzed this, but that is my take. Everyone have a nice day.