"Rain on the Scarecrow" by John Mellencamp

This song is about a farmer who has lost his land to the bank because the farmer couldn't pay the loans, even though it has been in his family for generations and generations. Now the farmer's son can't have the joy from the farm that he had, nor will he have the heritage from the family farm. Some conflicts are that the farmer can't pay his loans, but he wants his son to have the land. However, this causes a family situation since the farm has been in the family for generations. Now because the payments can't be paid, the farm is being taken away from the family. The imagery and symbolism used is death for the family's farm. Blood usually symbolizes death or pain, which represents the loss of the farm to the family. The word choices are strong and all have to do with the past of the family on the farm. This shows how much the farm meant to the family. The narrator clearly favors the family because it has been in the family for so long, it's almost not fair for the bank to take it away because the loans can't be paid. He presents the family sympathetically, using himself as the protagonist. He creates the situation to pity his son, who will never get the "legacy" he had.