Peter Gabriel’s “Biko” rhetorically analyzes the ethos of unnatural human behavior through evoking emotion by illustrating the complexities of both ethical and moral values. He takes one event, the murder of Steve Biko, and uses that as a springboard to portray the disparity between the two manmade forces of the conscious world. He employs the use of thought provoking colors (black, white and red) to further elaborate on how the conflict affects his unconscious state and, undoubtedly, the state of the world as a whole.

The first stanza of the song summarizes the events that inspired the song. His synopsis is purposefully terse, with a pinch of sarcasm. Gabriel tells us, “It business as usual/In police room 619” and by the next 3 lines “The man (Biko) is dead”. Immediately the listener is exposed to the Machiavellian nature of the Apartheid political and justice system. Biko is killed, but as Gabriel pointed out earlier, this is business as usual. We know that Biko is not the first activist killed, nor will he be the last. The government had not simply killed one man or dozens of men or even hundreds of men. It had been killing a whole movement, the soul of black South Africans. Apartheid had killed a people.

Biko is already dead by the second stanza and it is now that Gabriel begins to see the conscious world for what it truly is; a struggle between two opposing forces. They can be described as Good versus Evil, Tradition versus Progress, Racism versus Freedom.               Gabriel chose a more effective description though, encompassing the fine details of the Apartheid struggle while playing on the associations people begin making since childhood. He used color. In Gabriel’s eyes “The outside world is black and white”. All things in the conscious world, South Africa, are determined by color. The whole Apartheid system is rooted in separation based on the colors black and white, and ironically enough, plays on the human instinct to associate these colors with good and evil. As a result Gabriel says “When I try to sleep at night/I can only dream in red”. Gabriel employs another powerful color in this line. To westerners, red symbolizes blood, danger, aggression and conflict. In many parts of Africa it symbolizes fear and slaughter. Because the physical conscious world is separated by black and white, Gabriel can only dream about the conflict, slaughter and danger that is a byproduct of Apartheid; the injustices, oppression and the murder of Biko. All he dreams about is red.

The third stanza is the most powerful in the song, sending a strong message about the nature of oppression and the will of the people. Gabriel’s analogy is that “You can blow out a candle/But you can’t blow out a fire”. Each individual activist is a mere candle, a small flame in the grand scheme of things. The murder of Biko was simply putting out another candle, but it can not and will not stop the great fire. Not only has Gabriel used an excellent analogy, but he utilizes another piece of symbolism to drive his point home. Fire is associated with emotion, passion, spirit and purgatory. The people are the fire because they have been consumed by a fire inside. Their very spirit is burning and yearning for freedom and an end to the oppression. Furthermore, the fire signifies purging. Flames, such as those in Purgatory and Hell are known to cleanse. The people are the fires that will purge South Africa of the evil of Apartheid.

Gabriel turns his analogy into an extended metaphor, explaining that “Once the flames begin to catch/The wind will blow it higher”. The fire has already been lit in the people’s hearts and cannot be extinguished now. In fact, the wind that would easily put out a single, isolated flame (Biko), will only blow the greater fire higher. By murdering Biko, the proponents of Apartheid have only fueled the flame of resistance.

Throughout the song Gabriel had been chanting “Oh Biko, Biko, because Biko”. It is now, in the third stanza, that the listener finally sees the purpose of this line. Steve Biko is a modern martyr. It is Biko’s sacrifice that has helped blow the flames of resistance higher. The Xhosa line he utters in every stanza “Yihla Moja, Yihla Moja” also takes on significance now. Yihla Moja can be translated as “come spirit” or “rise spirit”. Biko’s sacrifice has awakened the spirit f the people. It is because of Biko’s sacrifice that the flames will burn stronger and purge the country of its malady.

The final three lines of the song are Gabriel moaning “And the eyes of the world are/watching now/watching now”. The shameful acts of the Apartheid government have been exposed. Humanity can only ignore and justify a finite amount of violence and slaughter and the murder of Steve Biko was the final straw. The spirit of the people is awakened, the flames will purge the land, and the eyes of the world are glued critically on the actions of the South African government. This is all because of Biko.