The movie Saturday Night Fever begins with an iconic scene (click below) in which Tony Moreno (aka John Travolta) confidently struts down 86th Street in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. Let’s use the lyrics of the Bee Gees memorable song “Stayin’ Alive” to illustrate 4 key SAT Winning Words:
MISCONSTRUED – Tony doesn’t want to be MISCONSTRUED or misunderstood. He begins by definitively telling us that we can easily see “by the way I use my walk, I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk.”
VOLATILE – Tony is a working-class young man living in a VOLATILE or very changeable and unpredictable world in which he “feels the city breaking and everybody shaking.”
UNDERSCORE – The song’s chorus – “ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive” – UNDERSCORES or emphasizes the movie’s theme: Tony is tryin’ to stay alive in a tough city in which his life seems to be “goin’ nowhere.”
SURMOUNT – But Tony’s situation is not hopeless. He is a “dancin’ man” with the “wings of heaven on my shoes.” Tony tells us, “it’s all right, it’s okay.” He will find a way to SURMOUNT the harsh realities of living in an unforgiving city.
MISCONSTRUED – misunderstood; misinterpreted
VOLATILE – very changeable, and unpredictable
UNDERSCORE – to emphasize; highlight
SURMOUNT – to overcome