Pathos in 'Fortunate Son'

As previously mentioned, the song appeals to an audience of young men who at the time probably felt pretty helpless. The song, with its scratchy vocals and distorted guitars, appeals to feelings of anger in this disenfranchised audience. The lyrics have a slightly different bent, and can be interpreted one of two ways. The first is that the speaker in the song feels down on his luck, and those lyrics appeal to the emotions of drafted men who have been picked out by society and have pity on themselves. The other interpretation is that the lyrics are meant to be prideful, as if to say 'yeah, I'm not one of those rich boys that can get off scot-free; I suffer with the rest of them,' in which case the song is more of an attack at the upper classes who didn't have as much pressure in the draft. This makes the song appeal to the righteous attitudes of all those who didn't want to serve, but did it anyway to avoid the shame of dodging the draft - keep in mind that standpoint existed regardless of whether or not you supported the war. In either case, the emotions in the song reflect the spectrum of feelings that draftees definitely had at the time. Whether you were solemnly being shipped off to Vietnam, or were going out of a sense of duty and were angry at those who didn't serve along side you, the speaker in 'Fortunate Son' sympathizes with you.