I am a huge fan of the HBO series Sex and the City. I think that show portrays women in a positive light...The four women in the show are strong-willed, smart, successful, have positive friendships, are mature, communicate well, and are sexy of course. I really appreciate the series because it discusses issues that are relevant to all women, providing laughter, sometimes tears, but perhaps solution or resolution. I found myself think of this show as I read Walt Whitman.
Leaves of Grass is simply beautiful. It is a combination of sexual liberation, with sensual desire and connection, with a call for equality and reciprocity, while respecting nature and making our love and passion as pure and simply as nature. Whitman wants everyone to experience life for themselves. He is asking for you to make your own decisions, "You shall no longer take things at second or third hand nor look through the eyes of the dead...listen to all sides and filter them for yourself."(26) He believes in erotic behavior because it is natural and free. He is asking his reader to be present and in the now. He wants you to be completely submerged in the experience so that you may experience it physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. You will find this in the passage that starts..." and am not contained between my hat and my boots." (31).
Dead Poet's society did a wonderful job of showing how Whitman wants us to let go of our baggage and find our inner voice and freedom. I think that is shown as Robin Williams character helps that student to shed his preconceived notions and worries that are placed upon him by his father. Honestly I think this is an amazing lesson for future teachers. We have to have the ability to open the minds of students who are burdened with many things in their lives. I find it inspirational.
What I also appreciate about Whitman is idea of empowerment for the individual. This makes me think if Emerson but in a simpler more receptive manner. Whitman asks us to believe in our souls again...not just our minds or bodies. Whitman wants us to "feel" again. I think this is the message in the movie clip we watched in class, Kinsey. We were asked to think about our political body and how it affects us. If we are empowered by more than just our physical being then we are able to surpass that political part of us. Kinsey and his wife let go of the assumed roles and beliefs they had about marriage, sex, and gender. The transcend to a communal body and into one entity. To experience this with someone you love is amazing. It is very liberating and sensual.
I believe this was the essence of the movie Home at the End of the World. Here are three individuals who have faced tragedy but remain very innocent and free from societal laws and norms. They remain very simple. They love each other unconditionally. Their love does not know gender boundaries. It is not angry. It is forgiving and pure. I believe this is what Whitman is trying to say in his work.
There are a few central themes that have seemed to govern this class. The themes are male domination, independence and responsibility, fear, and obsession. Although the class has branched into many different discussions and ideals, the above-mentioned themes seem to be present throughout the course, woven into the literature and media.
Male domination was a prevalent theme early on in the course. However it remained until the end. We began male domination with the puritan culture. Men in that culture believed that women were followers and did not have powerful role within the society. Men considered women weak and prone to fall into bad situations. We examined this through the roles of Hester and Mary Rowlandson. Hester was seen as a whore because she choose to have sex with a married man. She challenged the role of women and did not live in shame because she broke the role that was subscribed to her by the male gender. Mary Rowlandson embodied the Puritan woman. She remained in faith to survive her captivity by Native Americans. She filled her role to prove that a woman who lives properly will be accepted in society even if she has been in a situation that is questionable.
The next type of male domination we examined is the conquest. Most obvious was the conquest of Cortes. He brutally and forcefully went into Montezuma and took over. He would kill and steal to take what he believed was his God-given right to take over land from savage cultures. Not so obvious was the conquest of land by the settlers. The settlers were not so overtly violent but were taking over. Male settlers took leadership roles and either enslaved or put indigenous people to work for them.
Male domination looked at masculinity. We watched the video on wrestlers that exposed how society has helped to shape how men and boys perceive masculinity. Men who are strong and offensive. Men who are willing to engage in violent and physical activity to secure what the want and to defend their manhood. Men are quick to put down those who are weaker than them. This idea of masculinity reflects the way men acted and perceived themselves in the beginning of America, and still perceive themselves today.
It was not until Emerson that we began to redefine masculinity and moved away from male domination. Emerson believed that man should become masters of themselves before they can master anything around them. That the three main aspects of your psyche must be in balance to perform as a citizen. Emerson approached this with affirmative statements and redefining manhood. In addition, Emerson was no longer looking outside of self to determine manhood.
The next central theme that has prevailed throughout the course has been fear. We experienced fear in the beginning readings and then later with Poe. Because people typically fear what the do not know or understand, the "other" it...they make it monstrous. The Salem witch trials had an underlying political agenda to acquire land but to the general public the witch trials allowed the community to save themselves from any unexplained acquisition or question. They could assume it was witchery and rid the community of the offensive creature or person.
The Puritans feared the native Americans. Mary Rowlandson made it through her captivity with the power of God and her bible. She did not understand the ways of the Native Americans so therefor they were barbaric and savages. They were so horrible she was choosing not to eat to avoid what they ate. It was only when hunger prevailed that she forced herself to partake eating their food.
We experience fear again with the writings of Poe. Again fear is found where people do not understand or do not want to understand. Poe exposes the evils of love and relationships. Poe looks into the psyche that is not balance and is actually considered insane with obsession, immortality, and irrational thought processes. Poe examines the dark side of interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships. However it is imperative to know and understand the dark side inorder to recognize and avoid it.
The third central theme of the course was obsession. We found obsession in almost every reading of the class. Puritans were obsessed with religion and ensuring that the community did not suffer in regards to immoral acts committed by anyone in the community. The Puritans was obsessed with exposing wrong-doers, even if it meant killing innocent people. Cortes and the early settlers were obsessed with land acquisition and dominance.
Moby Dick and In the Heart of the Sea were obsessed with survival and the ramifications that came with it. This is understandable though. If you were stranded on a shipwreck for month without food or water, I truly believe anyone would become obsessed with survival. The important part of this is that when face with survival, humans will let go of societal norms and recreate the norms that must be lived by to survive. However this obsession for Ahab was not the same. His physical survival was not at stake, although his mental survival was. He too decided to recreate the rules he would live by in order to find Moby Dick and kill him.
We finish obsession with Dickinson and Sexton. Dickinson exposes the obsession of a love lost or that is unattainable. She provides her reader with the emotions of longing and desire for a prize that is outside of her reach. Sexton is expressing the obsession of self. Her writings giver her an outlet for her own personal demons or obsessions. She is obsessed with solving her internal conflict. Her need to feel unconditional love. Her desire to erase or re-write the past through nursery rhymes.
The last theme that was relevant to this class was that of independence and responsibility. Asma discusses the responsibility of an individual to control his desires This is done by balancing the three aspect of the human psyche: reason, emotion, and appetite. According to Asma definition, Hester did not control her appetite. Ahab did not control his emotion. And Poe did not come close to mastering his reason.
Emerson is the next to discuss independence and responsibility. Through his personal relationship with God, Emerson develops that ideology that men are responsible for their mental capabilities. Man must look inside of himself and evaluate his behavior and mental state. Emerson believed that man was no longer defined by Cortes standard of masculinity but by the what was inside of him. How rich a person was did not deal with finances but with character and virtue. Emerson wanted liberation.
Stephen King examines how without liberation, freedom or responsibility for self, man can become possessed beyond recognition. Jack, who never was allowed to discover and develop his self, was never a free man. He was a slave to the cycle of abuse, to societal views, and to alcohol. These masters made it very easy for the Overlook Hotel's spirit to possess Jack's will. Jack no longer had free will, he was doing the bidding of a much darker entity.
Finally with Walt Whitman we reach true liberation, Independence, and freedom. Whitman provides his readers with a holistic view of life. Whitman believes in liberation physically, emotionally, mentally, and sexually. He calls for equality, reciprocity, simplicity, and nurturing through nature. Whitman wants his readers to free themselves of the societal norms that have them chained. He asks his readers to search for themselves to find the answers. Do not listen to another, Whitman warns. He wants his readers to come to life and experience the moment, fully submerged in their surroundings and their feelings. With Whitman we no longer have male dominance because men and women are on the same playing field. Each gender is experiencing life for themselves and not living by the standards or rules of the other genders making. There no longer is fear because readers are looking for answers in a calm and natural fashion. Whitman calls his readers back to nature to explain questions. Obsession is no longer a concern because Whitman asks his reader to return to nature and accept simplicity.
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