Reaction to "Whitman's Language of the Self"

Mark Bauerlein, analyst of Walt Whitman's poetry in "Whitman's Language of the Self", seems to take Whitman's writings of Self as narcissistic and against an actual definition of Self. Though this narcissism is present in form, I feel that Whitman only seeks to better himself through his poetry. Rather than loving oneself regardless, Whitman finds what is good about himself and finds praise for those such things. This is nothing but human nature in a pure form. Whitman only differs from the norm in that he wrote about his good self-esteem in great detail through his poetry.

Bauerlein cites Whitman's definition of Self as not just a steady and rigid but a scatter-brained randomly plotted assessment of human nature. This, however, defines Self in itself. People cannot be defined for just a few traits! We are complex beings, ever-changing, ever-growing. Sure, we do have some distinguishable traits built into our souls, but we are generally very fickle creatures. Spontaneous. Random. And that is part of the appeal of being an individual. And that is why we strive to be freethinking individuals. To say, "To affirm one's presence as eternally everywhere is to disintegrate one's individuality and historicity, precisely what Whitman wanted to preserve," Bauerlein is completely misjudging Whitman's poetry. Whitman defines HIS Self the same way that EVERYONE defines their own Self.

"'These are the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me….'" In this quote, Whitman clarifies the universality of Self brought on by human nature. He does not mean that his thoughts and all others' thoughts are exactly the same, but through our nature, we define Self in the same way. "Self" is what we do. It is quite difficult to place exactly what this entails, but it is endowed to us as humans to understand just exactly what Self is. Through having this Selfdom, we are all the same. And in our commonality, we are all individuals.

Reporting on a War

In a war, as with anything else, it would be most effective to completely immerse yourself in the subject when attempting to report on the facts about it. This would involve reporters deployed onto the front lines of the battle, right up close and personal with the soldiers, the conflict, and, ultimately, their story. This type of immersive reporting would, I feel, get the best work out of writers and reporters. They wouldn't have to rely on what others had told them, but what their own eyes saw every day while in the field. This would result in more accurate information. However, biases would still exist even under these specific conditions. Perhaps a reporter would be against the war and could not find any good in your story. This reporter would tout the soldiers as monsters rather than as the heroes that others might see them as. This would be greatly contrasted by a pro-war reporter who would only report on the good things going on on the front lines and none of the bad.

Reporting on the soldiers would be much more than just a battle status report. The reporters would likely find a connection with the PEOPLE rather than just the SOLDIERS. These PEOPLE would have families, friends, and lives that they had to leave behind to protect their country. Also, losses dealt with on the front lines would be a tremendous toll on the soldiers. The brotherhood formed in the military is a very deep bond. This would be a great story for a reporter, and I feel that it would be a very moving event to report on.

A reporter on the front lines of a war would, no doubt, be in danger at all times. Being inexperienced in battle scenarios, they would have to rely on the protection of the soldiers that they were reporting on. The soldiers, however, may find the reporter as somewhat of a hindrance on their military operations.

Persuading Others

When attempting to persuade others of my opinions or for them to let me do what I want I usually use truth as a means by which to gain their trust. I feel that my opinions are normally based on facts, so this makes them easier to get across to other people. If I am trying to convince my parents to, say, let me stay out a half hour later, I usually just ask, they reply, and I go with what they say. They are usually quite agreeable, and some form of compromise can be easily worked out. Now that I actually think about it, I never really have a need to persuade them. I feel that they trust me, and they feel that if I want to do something it is something that will be beneficial for me the best sense possible. I, too, can agree with them. If they want my homework done before I go anywhere, I do it, and I don't question their authority on the subject. I know that they just want what is best for ME because they want to see me become a successful individual in all manners of life. They support my social ventures, but they balance this with my schoolwork.

However, if they need to, for some reason, punish me, they will not hesitate to take away these rights. I can attempt to argue the matter, but their minds will most likely be set on one way that things will be handled. If I do succeed in persuading them, I don't really think that much effort must be applied. If they decide to give me a pass to do what I want, they have already decided to do so, so I don't need to argue and bicker with them to convince them or sway their opinions. So in general, I don't really have strong opinions to have any real need to argue my positions. I feel, nonetheless, that if a situation arose in which I had to argue my position, my argument would be logical, reasonable, and persuasive.

My True Self

I'm not quite sure how to answer a question like, "Who are you, really?" This question seems to be one that attempts to limit a person to just a few characteristics. I, rather, like to let my actions speak for myself. I'm who you think I am, probably. But I'm also probably many different things from what you might see me as. For example, I give off a "quiet" vibe. People might describe me as quiet or shy just because I don't like to talk when it's not totally necessary. However, I feel that when I do have to say something I say it and stand by whatever it was that I said. I'm not really an opinionated person, so for me to feel strongly about something I need to have good reason to feel that way. I will, therefore, argue my point to no end.

For as many people as there are that think of me as quiet, there are also those who know me much better and whose opinions I would respect much more who would describe me as perhaps loud and/ or annoying. I do enjoy conversation if I really have something to talk about that I know a lot about. More often than not, my discussions involve music. I could talk about the music that I like for AGES. The extent of my musical appreciation includes so many varying genres, it's kind of ridiculous, really.

I feel that my values may define "me". I value intelligence, honesty, stability, talent, care, trust, and many other noble traits that people can have. This defines who I WANT to be, but not always who I actually AM. I guess that my social self looks for these traits in others, thus defining who I am in relationships with my peers. However, if these factors are not found in my peers, they can be redeemed if they are nice to me. Over all else, I value kindness. This is one of the biggest factors for me in choosing my friends. If the person is nice to me AND possesses my aforementioned traits, they are instantly put very high up on my scale of friends. I love people like that.

Nature's Will

I enjoy being in nature. I agree with such Romantics as Thoureau or Emerson in the belief that one must be in tune with nature and take a break from society at least every once in awhile. One such break from society that I took was during this summer. I went to Michigan with my brother, cousin, and aunt for my aunt's high school reunion. During the trip we stayed in a tent, something that I hadn't done since my childhood. The venue of the reunion was the Interlochen arts camp near Traverse City, Michigan. If you are not aware, this region is very lake-filled. With these lakes come the geographic feature of DUNES. My cousin, my brother, and I decided, for some odd reason, that we would go DUNE-HIKING.

We went to the Sleeping Bear Dunes on the beautiful and vastly large Lake Michigan. Native American legend has it that an enormous mother bear and her cubs went into the lake to escape a wildfire. The mother's two cubs began to lag behind and eventually drowned in the water, forming two dunes. The mother, already having reached the far shore, had fallen asleep. She was soon covered with sand forming the dunes, hence "Sleeping Bear". These dunes were a favorite destinations of our family back when we used to go to Interlochen almost every year. This story is one of the reasons that we decided to go back; we just wanted to relive some parts of our collective childhood.

After an incredibly long and winding drive following an inaccurate GPS we arrived at the dunes. We were running behind schedule at this point, and we had to be back to the camp by dinnertime. The following picture is what greeted us as we arrived.As you can imagine from seeing this picture, we did not think that the trek would be that strenuous or time consuming. Little did we know that there was another dune on top of the already substantial dune pictured above. We attempted to sprint up the first dune, but we were already tired about half way up under the scorching rays of the unforgiving sun. We were actually trying to reach the lake, swim for a bit, and return in about an hour. I swear, it seemed like we could hear the lake just over the next dune. We decided to rest for a bit and play some frisbee before we continued. Once we got to the top of the next hill, we saw a massive valley leading to another even larger dune. We just kept on going because we were feeling pretty scorched and we just wanted to swim in the cool lake from our childhoods. This process continued until we were absolutely sure that the lake was over the next mountain. We were, however, wrong still. We lost count of how many dunes we scaled, but our hour long hike quickly turned into a three hour odyssey. Once we reached the lake, however, it was all worth it. The water was crystal clear and sooooo incredibly refreshing. Once we got out, though, it started to sink in that we were going to have to hike ALL THE WAY BACK AGAIN. I'll admit, it did seem a little bit shorter on the way back, but that's just because we knew what to expect and we weren't hearing the sounds of the lake over every hill. This turned out to be a grueling yet incredibly enjoyable outing with two of my favorite people in the whole world. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Winter Break Escapades

Overall I had a relaxing and enjoyable winter break. After a tiring first semester, these two weeks off were well accepted by my mind and body. Yes, there were still rather stressful events during this break, but I don't really want to go into that. I'll just outline the good which there was very much of.

First off I spent a lot of time with my friend Hannah. We had movie nights, played some music for our band, and generally just had some fun. These such things went on throughout the break and helped me keep in touch with people other than just my family. However, I do like my family a lot, so I can't really say that I truly needed this link with my friends.

I did, indeed, spend a lot of time with my family. The break started out, in fact, with a Winter Cleaning Fest enacted by my mother. The rooms of both my brother and me were very messy and were in dire need of a cleanly scouring. My mom wanted to get an early jump on this event. We organized everything in both rooms and rearranged the furniture to make a more balanced feng shui. Although I didn't want to do it at the time, this cleaning has made it easier for me to function and I can get a better night of sleep in the newly organized environment.

Our next big family event was our annual Christmas Eve party at out house. This, too, required a lot of cleaning on the part of the entire family. I decided to just dig in and finish my duties as quickly as possible. It wouldn't help to complain at a time like this. Once the cleaning was done we began cooking for the night's meal. Later, my family from my father's side came over for the party. We did some talking while the meal finished cooking. When the meal was ready we all sat down and dove into the feast. All of the food was delicious, but I most enjoyed the Italian Beef sandwiches. They were so incredibly delicious that my mouth is watering just talking about them now. We then opened presents. Overall, this party went very well.

Immediately after the party, my mom and I went to church for the Christmas Eve service. This was a very joyful event filled with the singing of many familiar Christmas carols.

After the service we went back home and watched the classic movie White Christmas. I love this movie, but I was completely exhausted from the days events. I fell asleep very soon after the movie started.

The next morning was, of course, CHRISTMAS! It was a very good Christmas for me. Mostly, I received the gift of music. My iPod, one of my most prized possessions, was tragically broken about two months ago. For Christmas I received a new 32 GB iPod Touch. This was a very exciting gift for me seeing as my last iPod was only 8 GB and I had to constantly rearrange my music due to the limited space. I no longer have to worry about these space issues, which is a great relief. I also received a new case for my saxophone (which is incredibly nice and I am in love with) and a new saxophone mouthpiece. This is a metal mouthpiece and a very nice one at that. I have been wanting one for a very long time, and I am very happy to have finally received one. It's very different from any other mouthpiece I have ever played on, and I love it dearly.

The next few days were very LAZY. I began staying up later and sleeping until about noon unlike the beginning of break where I had trouble sleeping past 8. I enjoyed myself and played many video games. This was the first time in quite a while that I had done so. Also during these days I visited with some of my friends who graduated last year. It was good to see these people who are some of my favorite people ever.

On the 28th my family went to Chicago. My family lives up there, and we usually hold a New Year's Eve Party there. This year was no different. For the two full days before the party we lazed it up and played, of course, video games. Also, I was reunited with one of my favorite activities: Table Tennis. We also went bowling which was quite enjoyable. The party was as fun as usual. We played soooooo much Catch Phrase. Seriously, soooo much. I love it, though. I pretty much dominate because of my knowledge of random things in most areas. Also, I can read people well, so it makes it easier for me to guess what they're trying to describe. When the countdown came, we all counted down along with the television. At the stroke of midnight we all launched off confetti and some of us ran through the streets of the subdivision banging pots and pans. This, as well, is a family tradition.

Again, this break was very enjoyable aside from some stresses that I went through. It was nice to just relax and do whatever. I hope this brief taste of a break doesn't affect me in a negative way making me lazier than I normally am. I think having a quick break from all of my duties should do quite the opposite, but you never really know.