Political Uses
Historians have often identified certain themes that served as subtexts during times of chaotic change or revolution. By careful use of subtext, especially such that is highly symbolic and culturally bound to a sub-group with little formal power, groups can work to instill a sense of purpose or focus to an anticipated future revolution, often without the ruling party's understanding.
Such an example of the power and controversy of subtexts might include the deliverance theme pervasive in the songs, stories, and symbols of the slaves in the United States up through the Civil Rights era and, perhaps, still today.
Others would point to the "deep river" and "looking to Canaan land" subtexts as working to pacify or fragment the slave population by focusing their attention on the afterlife, thus possibly overlooking the injustice of the present.
Read more about this topic: Subtext
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