Again I Go Unnoticed

In “Again I Go Unnoticed”, Dashboard Confessional uses repetition, imagery, and symbolism to portray the slow and painful loss of love. As the relationship manifested in the song drags on, the couple turns indifferent and silent towards each other for lack of other ways to cope. While the love quietly disappears, the mind of the speaker races out of control, begging only to be noticed by his female counterpart. Through these literary devices, an intense need for satisfaction shines through, as a man comes closer and closer to losing his love for good.
Through repetition, a listener to Dashboard Confessional can truly feel the longing and hope in the voice of the speaker. By repeating words, as well as phrases throughout the song, it becomes apparent that the speaker feels as though there is nothing he can do to fix the situation at hand. The line, “Out of touch, out of time”, represents his awareness of how it’s too late to do anything. By repeating the word “out”, the idea that both people have checked out of the relationship is apparent. When “Maybe you’ll feel better then, maybe we’ll be better then” is sung, it shows that the speaker knows the relationship depends upon his love’s feelings. If she doesn’t change, and give him her whole self, then the love will surely disintegrate.
In “Again I Go Unnoticed”, the writer uses imagery to bring forth the hidden reasons why everything is falling apart. The woman replaces the speaker with other thoughts and other things, leaving him unnoticed. Through imagery, a listener can better identify with those replacements, and the feelings brought along with them. “The television steals the conversation”. A television, being an insignificant piece of technology, is transformed to mean something drastic to the song. The television doesn’t really steal the couple’s desire to speak to each other, but by bringing it in, a listener now understands how easy it is not to talk to a partner, and how a relationship can ruin because of it. By singing, “It leaves me feeling empty”, listeners now truly feel the speaker’s pain. Everyone has felt that sick feeling inside, when one feels more than just alone, that feeling is this song. Emptiness goes along with the loss of a loved one not because of death, but because of two people’s lack of interest.
Through the use of symbolism, the natural essence of loneliness while belonging to something creates a feeling of missed opportunities throughout the rest of the song. When describing “Your grip”, the speaker institutes his love’s powerful hold on him in the work. He succumbs to this grip, all while it chokes him through silence and fatigue. “Another wasted breath, again it goes unnoticed”. The breath he takes is a waste because his girl is not fully his during it. Normally people don’t notice someone’s breathing, but the fact that he is alone in a relationship makes him feel as though she doesn’t ever care if he does breathe.
The dismantling of love is a lonely experience that always ends in heartbreak. As one begins to ignore the other, a piece of the two people slowly dies, as the speaker in this song does each time his love doesn’t notice him. He breathes, as everyone does, but she is too tired to care, or more interested in something else. The resentment that forms is unbearable, leading to nothing but more quiet, and more breaths.