The narrator is not accepting the blame for the abuse that his girlfriend's previous lover did to her, nor all the emotional damage it caused her. She's trying to blame HIM for all the pain she went through before-- perhaps she even expects or subconsciously WANTS more of it, because that's the pattern she associates with love. Now she's emotionally abusing him, maybe as a defense mechanism or to test if his love (by seeing if he puts up with it), or to provoke physical abuse back from him because at least that requires his time, energy, and attention. He HAS tolerated her emotional manipulation before, but not anymore. He's calling her out for her participation in the previous abuse because she enabled it to continue by not leaving the relationship with her ex-bully sooner, and he's not going to make the same mistake by continuing on with her.
It's a pretty gutsy song, considering how politically incorrect it is, but it's also right on the money. Abuse victims are often starved for love, and will do anything for it--including suffer violence. All types of addicts deserve our sympathy, but they must also own up to responsibility that they continued a path that got them into that mess to begin with. And we should not become enablers by feeling so sorry for them that we let them abuse us in a different (yet similar) manner. I'm reminded of how drug users often rob their family and/or partners blind unless those who care about them use "tough love" and refuse to tolerate the abuse. They still love the addict, but they are distancing themselves for their own protection and to also stop a new victimization cycle by the addict. That's what the writer is doing here: He still loves her, but getting into an emotionally abusive relationship out of sympathy for her previous troubles is not going to help either of them. So he's telling her why he's leaving (refusing to feel guilty about it), and hoping she'll learn from it.
"I have a will for survival
So you can hurt me
And then hurt me some more
I can live with denial
But you're not my troubles anymore"
@monsterwax It should also be noted that the title, "The Troubles" is also how the Irish refer to the sectarian/ civil war that occurred in Northern Ireland (where U2 is from) during the late 1960s to the late 1990s. This conflict between the writer and his (former) lover has some obvious comparisons.
@monsterwax It should also be noted that the title, "The Troubles" is also how the Irish refer to the sectarian/ civil war that occurred in Northern Ireland (where U2 is from) during the late 1960s to the late 1990s. This conflict between the writer and his (former) lover has some obvious comparisons.
The narrator is not accepting the blame for the abuse that his girlfriend's previous lover did to her, nor all the emotional damage it caused her. She's trying to blame HIM for all the pain she went through before-- perhaps she even expects or subconsciously WANTS more of it, because that's the pattern she associates with love. Now she's emotionally abusing him, maybe as a defense mechanism or to test if his love (by seeing if he puts up with it), or to provoke physical abuse back from him because at least that requires his time, energy, and attention. He HAS tolerated her emotional manipulation before, but not anymore. He's calling her out for her participation in the previous abuse because she enabled it to continue by not leaving the relationship with her ex-bully sooner, and he's not going to make the same mistake by continuing on with her.
It's a pretty gutsy song, considering how politically incorrect it is, but it's also right on the money. Abuse victims are often starved for love, and will do anything for it--including suffer violence. All types of addicts deserve our sympathy, but they must also own up to responsibility that they continued a path that got them into that mess to begin with. And we should not become enablers by feeling so sorry for them that we let them abuse us in a different (yet similar) manner. I'm reminded of how drug users often rob their family and/or partners blind unless those who care about them use "tough love" and refuse to tolerate the abuse. They still love the addict, but they are distancing themselves for their own protection and to also stop a new victimization cycle by the addict. That's what the writer is doing here: He still loves her, but getting into an emotionally abusive relationship out of sympathy for her previous troubles is not going to help either of them. So he's telling her why he's leaving (refusing to feel guilty about it), and hoping she'll learn from it.
"I have a will for survival So you can hurt me And then hurt me some more I can live with denial But you're not my troubles anymore"
@monsterwax It should also be noted that the title, "The Troubles" is also how the Irish refer to the sectarian/ civil war that occurred in Northern Ireland (where U2 is from) during the late 1960s to the late 1990s. This conflict between the writer and his (former) lover has some obvious comparisons.
@monsterwax It should also be noted that the title, "The Troubles" is also how the Irish refer to the sectarian/ civil war that occurred in Northern Ireland (where U2 is from) during the late 1960s to the late 1990s. This conflict between the writer and his (former) lover has some obvious comparisons.