Vinod 1

Lovita Vinod
Professor Collins
ENGL 1302
21 January 2016
Stand like a Brick Wall
Gym Class Heroes is a band cohort mainly composes inspirational songs. They
collaborated with singer Ryan Tedder in order to create the masterpiece, Fighter. I admire Ryan
Tedder and Gym Class Heroes because their songs are the type of music that encourages the
broken spirited to get back up and stand their ground. The Fighter is also a workout song. Ryan
Tedders band One Republic, composes songs that are not forgotten. They made an impact in the
life of those who needed a reason for their journey. Another song I enjoyed from Gym Class
Hero is Stereo Hearts.
In Ryan Tedder and Gym Class Heros collaboration song Fighter, repetition,
personification, allusion, and metaphor are examples of rhetorical devices interweaved within the
lyrics. Fighter makes one realize that they are not alone in their struggles and that they really
aint got it bad as written in verse two. The song is targeted towards ones inner feelings,
resulting in crying. This song has pathos, or emotional appeal because it targets directly to the
soul and its wellbeing. The singer explains in verse one that he does it for the kids, which is an
example of repitition since it was repeated four times. In verse one, the author stayed strong for
the children life threw the towel in on. Life cannot throw things especially towels; thus this
line portrays personification. The towel life threw on the children is an allusion of when in a
boxing match, a white sheet is thrown down to indicate an attempt of surrender. Ryan Tedder is
persuading people to live life to the fullest. In verse one,

Vinod 2
Ryan Tedder persuades people to press on Lee nails when your train of thoughts been
derailed. Lee nails are fake nails women wear to disguise their real nails and to give the
appearance of having lovely nails while their inner nails grow stronger. In reality, men do not
wear fake nails, therefore the lyrics are a metaphor, comparing Lee nails to a strong shield in
which one carries a barrier while their emotions heal. Since this song is about fighting and
standing up for ones self, Bruce Lee, a prodigy of the martial arts, also comes to mind.
This song is about the song writers childhood and how the past can change for the better.
The songwriters message to the audience is that one should help another to stand up, but only
after one can stand strong. Ryan Tedder wants to share his past and that even though he came
from Losertown, he made it to the top. The author addresses how one can be depressed if they
do not overcome the demons in their mind. In verse two, the author speaks of after hailing from
rock bottom that he is going to give them hell. In verse three Ryan Tedder encourages those
fallen to get back up. Through the use of repetition of there goes a fighter in the chorus, one
can tell that this song can lift ones mood.

Vinod 3

Works Cited
""The Fighter" Lyrics." www.azlyrics.com. N.p Autumn 2011. Web. 23 Jan. 2016.