The Meaning of Life in Walt Whitman's Song of Myself
Our culture seems to be fascinated by the unknown and specifically that which pertains to things of an eternal nature such as Heaven, angels, God and the meaning of forever. These things cause us to think about what we can't see and even allow us to engage ourselves in questioning the meaning behind our existence and what our purpose is here on earth. Some of these may be humorous and take on the realities of human nature while others stir something inside ourselves that cause us to take a deeper look at life.
In Whitman's "Song of Myself" #44, he appears to be doing just that-- looking at life from a different perspective for a while. He begins with a challenge to mankind by saying, "What is known I strip away... I launch all men and women forward with me into the unknown. The clock indicates the moment ... but what does eternity indicate?" (1133-1136) It is as though he is asking each reader to join him in the exploration of the unknown, forgetting about the moment, and what the clock says and really considering what forever signifies. I don't know if you've ever sat down and actually thought about eternity... I mean really thought about it to the point that your brain seems like it's going to explode, but forever is a long time. It never ends...... and this is something that we as humans cannot fathom because in our lives everything has a beginning and everything has an end--anything other than this is viewed as incomprehensible.
Whitman suggests that there is a certain cycle which keeps repeating itself as the years go on, indicating that perhaps eternity is made up of years of processes happening over and over again. His first example is of a bottom...
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...rces" have combined, the end product is your soul. Whitman appears to have a sense of security in himself, being able to recognize where he came from ("Before I was born out of my mother generations guided me" 1163) and knowing that his life is a collaboration of efforts on many parts to make him who he is. Eventually, this would seem to indicate that it is the completion of one's soul which leads to ultimate satisfaction.
Our lives will eventually lead to an eternity...and it is crucial that we take the time to evaluate our soul's future as well as its current status. Whitman clearly emphasizes the importance of looking at life as a whole and not just the moment. Through a biographical narrative of parts of his own life, urges us look at where we've been and all we've been through...look at all those who have impacted our life and realize the big picture.
Making only about “ base pay of $2.15 an hour” (Ehrenreich 399) and then having to share the money from personal tips with the other busboys and dishwashers making it hard to get by. Using the data she collected on her excursion to find information for her book, Ehrenreich experienced the hard life of the economy we all live in. Hard to get by, and even harder when there is children, a house, and food to worry about. SOhow then does anyone get by? Community, there are many communities that are full of poor and homeless people. People living in their cars and working minimum wage jobs that only pay for the gas in their car and maybe food from the Mcdonalds dollar menu. Understanding this problem communities pull together and put up institutions to help feed and give resting spots for those living in tough times. Taking the research Ehrenreich found, everyone could learn and understand how lucky they are if they are not working minimum wage jobs, but jobs that pay way wages enough to have a house and raise children without having to eat at soup
Whitman’s work has an arguable style that makes his work appear as an egotistical piece of literature for some and others may find a different deeper meaning within his work. This work is an excellent example of patriotic work that attempts better its audience throughout by making revelations and comparisons of different idea and thoughts about the nation's people. Whitman illustrates his interpretation of what a kind of person is a great person is and how they go about life. He intends to make his audience better as a whole and understand the underlying problem that some have. Whitman's writing truly expresses his feelings about his time and what he expects from them for a better
Ehrenreich’s use of statistical information also proves to her audience that she in fact has done her research on this topic. She admits that poverty is a social topic that she frequently talks about. She researched that in 1998 the National Coalition for the Homeless reported that nationwide on average it would take about a wage of $8.89 to afford a one bedroom apartment and that the odds of common welfare recipients landing a job that pays such a “living wage” were about 97 to 1. Ehrenreich experiences this statistic in first person when she set out job hunting in Key West, Florida when she applied to 20 different jobs, ranging from wait tables to housekeeping, and of those applications, zero were responded to.
In the book, Ehrenreich documented her experiences working a series of minimum wage jobs as a waitress, a maid and a nursing home dietary assistant. Ehrenreich found that in order to make ends meet and afford a place to live and food to eat, she needed to work two jobs, which left her in a constant state of exhaustion and pain. She also observed of her fellow servers that, “everyone who lacks a working husband or boyfriend seems to have a second job” (2001, p. 48). Many of her co-workers shared the same challenge with affordable living arrangements, some living in a van, with their mother, sharing rooms with strangers or even living in a dry-docked boat (Ehrenreich, 2001). Not only did Ehrenreich find that the wages offered unskilled workers were not enough to meet the basic needs of food and shelter, but that there are a “host of special costs” (2001, p. 27) incurred by the working poor. For example, workers are required to invest their own funds in partial uniform and pay ...
The author Barbara Ehrenreich is a journalist, who decided to write an article on how it was to live on minimum wage. She stopped her life and began a series of trips across country to gain information for her article, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.
Reading Nickel and Dimed, enlightened me to see how some people have to live. The idea behind writing the book provided an interesting look into poverty, however, Ehrenreich did not offer any real solution to the problem at hand. Ehrenreich made the assumption that all persons working these low paying positions are uneducated, unskilled, and just off of welfare. Which this is not entirely true a lot of these courageous people have some education if not college degrees. In the book I believe some people are richer in their families with love and respect that the highest paying careers could not satisfy. Material items are not as important to a great deal of the population. As long as their loved ones have a roof over their head, food on the table and clothes to wear the rest is just icing. I know people who have fortune in their bank accounts and they are some of the poorest individuals you could ever meet.
The book Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting by in America, written by Barbara Ehrenreich is a book that relates the experience of how she survived living on poverty-level wages in America as a waitress, maid and a Wal-mart sales associate. Barbara left her comfortable surroundings as a journalist with a Ph.D in biology to work various "unskilled" and "under compensated" jobs in order to achieve, "the old-fashioned kind of journalism". In regards to leaving her comfortable lifestyles for a few months traveling through Florida to Maine and Minnesota, she discovered that people who are paid six to seven dollars an hour did not generate enough income for those who did not want to live outside of a home. The sad reality is that millions of people in America work everyday for those wages and have to just deal with it. The majority opinion is that some poor people are lazy or choose to be that way, when the truth is that individuals work everyday some even two jobs and still cannot make ends meet because of the poverty cycle.
Ehrenreich gives herself some rules (p.5), such as, she will always have a car. She will never go hungry, will not use her education as an advantage, and will find the safest and most private housing that she can afford. These are parameters that the truly poor do not have and she freely admits that all of her rules were broken at some point. Ehrenreich also discovers that it is usually necessary for a single, minimum-wage worker to have two jobs in order to afford the barest minimum of housing.
In her essay “A Question of Ethics,” Jane Goodall, a scientist who has studied chimpanzees for years, tries to resolve a heavily debated ethical dilemma: Under what circumstances is it acceptable to cause animal suffering to prevent human suffering? Her answer, however, remains uncertain. Although Goodall challenges scientists to avoid conducting unnecessary tests on animals, she does not explain the criteria by which scientists should determine necessity.
Unfortunately, there are many people in today’s society that believe the only way to learn is to sit in a desk and have someone spell out the lesson and what you are supposed to learn from it. However, in order for us to get the most out of the short time we have on this earth, that simply is not the case. There will never be a moment when we cannot learn something new. You may be watching the sunset and it will dawn on you that sometimes endings are beautiful, or while making cookies you may understand just how much you love someone. While standing at the edge of the world, you can come to learn that sometimes the most valuable aspects of life cannot be bought, or even captured. There should never be a day where our lives go by and we are able to lay our head down at night and think to ourselves that we are satisfied with what we know. Whitman supports this belief full heartedly and it is present in his “Song #46” as he composes, “And I said to my spirit When we become the enfolders of those orbs, and the pleasure and knowledge of every thing in them, shall we be fill’d and satisfied then? And my spirit said No, we but level that lift to pass and continue beyond.” Whitman points out that in life there will be no contemptment. If contemptment ever becomes the case, then it is vital for you to take actions into your own hand to chase after the rest of life you have yet to see. Travel the world to learn what you could not learn in your homeland. With this adventure, you surely shall never be satisfied. Whitman also writes in “Song #46”, “Shoulder your duds dear son, and I will mine, and let us hasten forth, wonderful cities and free nations we shall fetch as we go.” To add onto Whitman’s thoughts of never confining the walls of education to simply the
“To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else”.(221) Barbara Ehrenreich in her book Nickel and Dimed explored life as a low wage earner by working several “unskilled” jobs in different areas of the country and attempted to live off the wages she earned. She undertakes many noble trades, working in low wage and underappreciated jobs while trying to figure out how the people of this country do it every day. She also looks to examine the functional and conflict theories of stratification as they relate to the low wage jobs she pursues. The goal of Barbara was to find if she would be able to live off the money
Ehrenreich, Barbara. Nickel and dimed: on (not) getting by in America. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2001. Print.
During the middle of the book, Ehrenreich writes, "Maybe, it occurs to me, that I 'm getting a tiny glimpse of what it would be like to be black (p. 100)." I found this interesting because African Americans continuously face inequality due to race, which correlates with the inequalities that lower classes in society face. Throughout Nickel and Dimed, Ehrenreich emphasizes that there are "hidden costs" to being poor, which includes those in poverty who cannot find a way out. The working poor, who Ehrenreich gets to know through work, live in hotels paying daily. These people in the book describe to Ehrenreich that that would rent an apartment, but they cannot afford the security deposit and starting costs. The working poor in the book also must buy unhealthy meals at fast-food restaurants because they cannot afford kitchen appliances or food to cook with. People suffering in poverty often believe they are stuck there and cannot get out, so they
Well, let’s hope the tide will eventually change and robably it is time to look for realistic alternatives.
Alexandra Scaturchio, in her article “Women in Media” (2008) describes the media’s idea of beauty as superficial. She supports her argument by placing two pictures side-by-side; a picture of a real, normal-looking woman and her picture after it has been severely digitally enhanced. Her purpose is to show young teenage girls that the models they envy for their looks are not real people, but computer designs. She also states, “the media truly distorts the truth and instills in women this false hope because…they will live their lives never truly attaining this ideal appearance”. Scaturchio wants her readers to realize the media’s distorting capabilities and feel beautiful about themselves, even with flaws.