Ford's+Student+Work

Ford's Student Work **WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT**

There are two parts to the written assignment, and each part should be approximately 1 page in length AT LEAST. These are not formal essays. The goal here is for students to articulate their thoughts in a way that is meaningful to them. They should address the questions without considerations of thesis statements or formal essay structure.


 * PART ONE: The first task is to simply talk about your impressions from both the small group and large group conversations. Be sure to include SPECIFIC EXAMPLES from the poem, the pictures, and the other things you looked at. Try to answer as many of the questions detailed in the "SMALL GROUP" section as you can.
 * PART TWO: The second task is to repeat the process. Find a scene, line, or detail in the poem that exemplifies the idea of bringing together the high and the low. Think about questions of class, size, stature, literacy, and prejudicial expectations that we discussed. It might help to try to picture the things in the poem actually happening and think about what these people might have actually been like in their interactions. Does the way Whitman describes the interaction mesh with how you think things "should" be? Is there anything counter-intuitive about it? Think about the same kinds of questions we answered for the scene with the skipper, but apply them to the scene or detail you choose. HINT: Think about your images of heroes like Superman compared to your images of more everyday
 * heroes like policemen (and of course, about the images of the steamboat and the aristocrats and the images of the small fishing boat and the skipper). You might also think about the story of David and Goliath for more guidance (if you don't know that story, or aren't sure how it might apply here, see me). Look for both of these, and examine the ways the two things interact with one another.

Part I. Considering the distinction between ideal and everyday heroes, in the skipper passage Whitman shows that a hero can be found outside classic depictions like Superman or the policeman. The image of the skipper in "Song of Myself" defies both of these traditional models, as he is neither a comic book ideal, nor a trained professional, but is instead a working-class sailor, dedicating himself, at the risk of his own life, to the daunting and seemingly impossible task of saving the passengers of the steamship. Whitman's valorization of this "common man," who is not on par socio-economically with either the steamship captain nor his passengers, works as an equalizer, as does the peril of death that they all --skipper, passengers, and captain-- potentially face. In fact, the skipper's heroism elevates him to a position of power, propelled by his unmoving diligence and emphasized by his very movements:

How he knuckled tight and gave not back one inch, and was faithful of days and faithful of nights, And chalked in large letters on a board, Be of good cheer, We will not desert you; How he saved the drifting company at last,

The word "large" literally describes the mightiness of the skipper's heart and the size of the letters in his written message. Metaphorically, it illustrates the vastness of the task he is taking on, and his fearless diligence in carrying it out. His large encouraging words are strong, offering hope, and his actions offer renewed life to those prepared for death.The skipper's command of himself and the life or death circumstances imbue in him a greatness that surpasses and starkly contrasts with the helplessness of the elite passengers who sit in their ruined boat passively awaiting death. With the skipper, Whitman succeeds in not only elevating the common man, and rendering the powerful classes impotent, he makes heroism itself an accessible and everyday possibility.

Part II. Whitman's "Song of Myself" acts as a social and political equalizer, placing the low and the high side-by-side like the banker, prostitute and slave. Whitman challenges socially constructed class distinctions, creating his own democracy in which the boundaries between groups are non-existent, as all are considered one. Using the fugitive slave in the scene in which the speaker sits with him at table, Whitman joins the high and the low, and shatters conventional views of law, race, and heroism.

Considering this passage: (please forgive the formatting, I had copy and paste issues)
 * The runaway slave came to my house and stopped outside, ||
 * I heard his motions crackling the twigs of the woodpile, ||

|| clothes, || For some Americans, Southern slave holders in particular, this passage would be particularly offensive, as enslaved people were not considered human; attending their wounds and sitting down to table with them would be unthinkable and repulsive. Moreover, fugitive slaves were criminals, on the run from their owners and their social status as chattel. Aiding a fugitive was also a crime, and while there was an active abolitionist movement at the time Whitman was writing, one must question how the ordinary citizen would react to finding a fugitive slave outside her door. In this passage, Whitman assumes his own role as hero, his "firelock" in place as he risks not only his freedom in helping and housing the escapee, but also his very life, as he is ready to take on the pursuing bounty hunter or deputy. Abolitionists and anyone else who harbored a fugitive slave defied the Fugitive Slave Act, a federal law demanding the return of the slave, and punishment to anyone helping the escaped. Slaves who ran away were defying the institution of slavery, and the Fugitive Slave Act, risking certain torture and possibly death in the name of independence and freedom. Whitman elevates the slave and the abolitionist, valorizing each as rebels who stand for what is right. LIke the skipper discussed above, each are characters of the everyday engaging in extraordinary acts of bravery. The abolitionist acts for the good of someone else, and the slave acts for his personal betterment, and for ideals that are, by definition, the highest in American society. Each takes on legal and institutional authority (I'll edit this later. I'm on Vicadin and in a lot of pain. So the writing here is not great!)
 * Through the swung half-door of the kitchen I saw him limpsey and weak,
 * And went where he sat on a log, and led him in and assured him, ||
 * And brought water and filled a tub for his sweated body and bruised feet, ||
 * And gave him a room that entered from my own, and gave him some coarse clean
 * And remember perfectly well his revolving eyes and his awkwardness, ||
 * And remember putting plasters on the galls of his neck and ankles; ||
 * He staid with me a week before he was recuperated and passed north, ||
 * I had him sit next me at table . . . . my firelock leaned in the corner. ||

I enjoyed this assignment, and not only because it was similar to the one I created. Joseph's in-class discussions are well focused, directing students to think about specific themes in the poems, while encouraging them to expand their vision and powers of interpretation. While I had viewed the poem as an equalizer I had not really examined the passage he directs his students to. I think I also realized the open-endedness of the poem, how it challenges the reader to go beyond what Whitman offers, and look deeper into the themes he covers. Anyway, I'm fading fast, I'll revisit this later and clean it up.Ford's Student Assignment