Recognizing the important of a group effort is one of the most important goals in achieving success in any situation. Different environments have different component parts that work together to create something unique and beautiful. However, true beauty and value does not lie in the end result, but rather in the effort of achieving the end result. Each of the poems, “One’s-Self I Sing”, “I Sing The Body Electric” as well as the short story, “Lush Life” very much relate to this theme. I too can relate to this theme from the lessons I learned at volunteer service-learning this week. When individuals or individual parts come together to attain a common goal or create something larger, they are breaking down barriers in the process. Literature often employs this concept because it is a universal theme that helps us realize the importance of differences and how they help us create or understand something greater.
John McClusky’s story, “Lush Life” puts this theme into context very well. The piece tells the story of a band, and how it uses the unique combinations of all the members’ talents to create music. Two of the band mates, Earl Ferguson and Billy Cox travel in a car separate from the bus that transports the instruments and other members from show to show. In the story, Earl and Billy work together using their individual talents to write a song. Even though the song is composed of different chords, melodies, and notes, it beautifully showcases the combination of their abilities. Using music to communicate this theme, McClusky also portrays the importance of different sounds and rhythms necessary to compose a beautiful piece of music. On a larger scale, McClusky illustrates the beauty of humans working together. When they are driving, Billy has reservations about stopping to help a white boy with a flat tire. Putting their differences aside, Billy breaks the barrier by helping them change the tire, an act that displays the beauty of human nature.
In examining the human condition, we observe that the body is a complex combination of different parts working together for a greater cause. Each breath or step we take requires a combination of movements and efforts exerted by several different body parts at a single time. Walt Whitman cleverly displays the beauty and complexity of this process in his piece, From “I Sing The Body Electric”. The speaker references several different body parts from the iris of the eye to the joints of the fingers to heels of our feet. Referencing these parts is important because it helps us realize as humans, the every part, big or small works together for create the masterpiece of human life. The nature of life and the way these parts interact casts women as the creators, and men as the powerful sustenance. Although these roles are very different, they work together through communication and interaction to sustain life and contribute to the complexity of human existence.
The last piece, Walt Whitman’s “One’s-Self I Sing” is very much relevant to this theme of interaction and working together, although it presents much more individualistic undertones. In this piece, the speaker admires the beauty and freedom associated with being an individual. By referencing “a simple separate person” and the word “democratic” the speaker is alluding to the freedom and liberty related to individuality. While the speaker revels in the beauty of the male physiology he notes that “the female equally with the male I sing”. This line helps the reader understand that the speaker in noting a sense of equality between men and women. The beauty of this piece lies in the fact that men and women are free and independent individuals that, despite their differences work together to sustain “life immense in passion, pulse, and power”.
The event I attended this week was a special volunteer workshop at St. Mary’s School. In addition to my weekly visit every Tuesday as a volunteer tutor, last Friday I was one of a couple of volunteers that lead an art workshop for the kids. The children, most of who were first and second graders, sat at different tables and drew illustrations with pastels. It was fun and intriguing to interact them while at the same time observing their interactions with each other. The theme for the workshop was cave painting, so the kids first drew a practice picture and then drew the picture again on the large wall mural. Interacting freely with out the pressure of teachers or parents, and expressing themselves creatively through art seemed to help the kids appreciate their strengths and weaknesses. Although it seems overly simplistic, Kiara was good at shading while Steven was good at tracing the animals onto the mural. In aiding the children with their activity and observing their interactions with each other, I watched as they began to recognize the importance of their differences. With everyone using their specific abilities to work together, the children created a unique and beautiful mural they were very proud of. When their parents came to pick them up, each child was able to point to a specific area or element of the mural to which they contributed, which was a very rewarding experience for them as seven and eight year olds.
Working together and appreciating the strengths and weaknesses present within other individuals or component parts in one of the most imperative and necessary elements of success. In each of the pieces, the speaker illustrates some recognition of the beauty that lies within the interaction of small parts to create something much more large scale. John McClusky’s “Lush Life” presents this recognition through the composition of music and lyrics. Whitman’s “One-Self I Sing” celebrates the value of individuality and admires the way men and women interact and intertwine to ultimately lend humanity beauty. Lastly, Whitman’s other piece, “I Sing The Body Electric” presents the complexity of the body’s collective parts working in unison for exert every single blink, step, breath, and pulse.