While reading this article, I felt that I could relate to Robert in so many ways. For one thing,we both group up in urban cities, lived in apartments and have parents who come from the islands. In fact, when I read the poem and interpreted in very much like he did. I made many of a assumptions that he had. I understood things to mean one way when they really meant another. Like Robert, the mentioning of Sears in the poem made me believe that the young girl came from a middle class family. Like Robert, shopping in Sears means to me that you come from a higher social economic background than I did. Like Robert, I know real poverty.
Honestly, I started to feel quite dumb, for the lack of a better word. On the other hand I also felt I could relate to Mike Rose. As a teacher, when we bring something in to the classroom, such as a poem, we have certain expectations from the students. We think we know how they will react, interpret and understand it. We fail to recognize all the diverse backgrounds our students have as well as all the prior knowledge they bring into the classroom. This article brought me to an "aha" moment. As a teacher I am guilty of having frustrating moments when one of my students doesn't see things the way I would like to them to. But after reading this article I thought back at the times when my own teachers probably didn't understand where I was coming from. I promise to go easier on my students from now on.
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It's always frustrating to choose a poem you think students will connect to in one particular way, and then find that they've taken a completely different direction. But this is where Tompkins' chapters are important in helping us understand where the meaning lies--it's a negotiation between the text and the reader, and the teacher's job is to help the reader be a strong negotiator, i.e., armed with interpretive tools.
ReplyDeleteA couple of years ago, I had an argument with a friend who sees things only from his perspective: “Where else,” he said annoyed, could he locate meaning? At that time, I thought, haughtily, how limited that is for any community or any discourse? How do you begin to negotiate on other issues if you cannot find a way to gain insight into another person’s perspective? I think about Iroquois Confederacy and the encroaching colonist, who would eventually place them on allotments, which later turned into reservations.. Even today, Bloomberg’s idea of “sovereignty” conflicts with Constitutional definitions of sovereignty and even the Iroquois Confederacy’s concept of the term. Right now, this is issue of sovereignty is a political debate, but these conflict between the Western world and Turtle Island stem simple contextual struggles with many terms like “property,” “justice,” and “democracy.” Frankly, I think these types of debates begin in classrooms, where “conventional” interpretations are rewarded more so than Gilyard’s “from what I know” interpretation of text (or law). I don’t think either is wrong. I think the poet’s choice of words, the poet’s location in the socioeconomic (where the poet finds his words) spectrum is essential to exegesis, but the dimension of the poem, once written are completely divorced from the author (Barthes). It’s a completely open field (Deleuze and Guattari) for one’s own background to inform one’s reading. However, I also believe that school is a place where we learn about each other, and all our various backgrounds where we’re open to the author’s, our classmate’s, and our professor’s interpretations and their explanations that support their interpretations to develop a richer and fuller view of meaning, which perhaps turns into feeling (the sublime?). I like Robert’s visual immersion into the poem much more than the analytical process that we’re taught to do. I prefer both. That way, me and my friend have a lot more to say to each other as we all will in taking these journeys together. Hopefully, I’ve grown up from being haughty and argumentative because I feel one way or another. Please don’t get me wrong. It all works for me, and I think I agree with Tompkins, in that it’s the process at arriving at meaning that is important (and fun!) I was, am, much like Robert myself.
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