Interconnected

Within human art and expression many connections can be found; the connections between man and woman, the workings of the human body, and even in composed music. All things are intertwined so that they are not separate but rather part of an entire entity.
Walt Whitman composed a piece of prose entitled I Sing the Body Electric in 1855. Through his lyrical writing, Whitman names many of the separate characteristics of the human body. His references span from shoulders and navels to ears and voice. The speaker makes a general point to the interconnections within the body that lead to its success as a whole—though each part that makes it up is small, composed it’s a masterpiece. The speaker also notes the primacy of the body and the importance of connections between people. Men seem to represent power, while women represent creation. We all rely on one another and find ourselves intertwined into something much greater.
Whitman wrote another piece entitled One’s-Self I Sing in 1867 with much the same point as the former. Though someone may be “a simple separate person” (line 1) it’s his ideals and beliefs that bring him into a group with others: separate becomes part of a whole. The speaker “sings” of the complete human form in all of its beauty, not of its separate parts. “The Female equally with the Male I sing” (line 6) reinforces his point that there are no differences between humans but that we all act as one. “The Modern Man” is one of perfection that represents an ideal. He lives an active life filled with “passion, pulse, and power” (line 7).
Connections can be found outside of human interactions and within music. John McCluskey wrote of those connections found in music in the short-story Lush Life. In the story, two musicians subtly portray the interworkings of human interactions and notes on staff paper. The speaker shows the relationship between two friends, Billy Cox and Earl Ferguson, and their interactions with their fellow band members. Separately each of the band members has his own individual, musical talents but when put together, they form a unique combination. The entire group is one of amazing ability and sound. This reliance is even shown in the labor that Cox and Ferguson put into composing a new song. The final draft is a mix of both men’s ideas; it’s a song that, though it’s composed of separate notes, flows together like a story. Although each member of the band differs and Cox and Ferguson differ from the young, white boy they aid, they are all part of the entire composition of humankind—small, separate entities that form into one.
On Monday night, I attended the Sankufa Dance Theater’s African dance presentation. Sankufa, a term originating out of Ghana, means “reaching back to move forward.” The dance company made a major point that the African people believe in educating their youth to work for a stronger today and a stronger future. Society stresses the importance of history, culture, tradition, and future. There is no need to look down or fear, but rather to be glorious. Tying together neatly with the former three pieces of prose, a major point of the theater was the “spirit of the land being inseparable from the spirit of the people.”
Music, especially drums, and dancing are a large part of the African lifestyle. Drums are seen as a way to open, a call to order. They are form of communication and their beats tell a story. Accompanying the drum rhythms, women typically dance in time. The dances are celebratory and accommodate the messages of the songs. As explained by one of the dancers, when men go out to sea to fish, the women wait at the shore for their return home. Upon the return, if there is a great bounty of fish, the women perform a specific dance in joy for the blessing. The dance is celebratory of the great fortune they have received. The beats of the drums tie together into words, words into stories. The stories are reenacted through the motions of the women. Men and women rely on each other within society and work together in celebration.
Human nature creates connections between beings. These connections range from those within our bodies that compose our make-up to how we interact with one another. Even within music, the connection can be found with notes making up a song. One small part adds with others to make a whole—that is what makes mankind.