Name:

• In 2-4 sentences, please describe your proposed book project, its central aim, medium of presentation, and its relevance to the course material and potential relevance to your future goals:

 

• Please list the literary text(s) to which your project will attend:

 

• Please describe the specific detail or idea and/or chapter/scene/section your project will focus on in the text(s) you’ve chosen:

 

• Please list the peer-reviewed scholarly articles you have consulted in this project (provide name of author and title, and star the article you plan to engage the most):

 

• In regards to your starred article, why are you focusing on this article?

 

• Please detail how your project will engage the historical context around your literary text(s):

 

• Please explain what your central argument or claim is and how your project plans to convey that claim:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

James Brown’s song, “Get Up Offa That Thang” is an upbeat song that actually makes be want to get up off of my thang and dance. The phrase “get up offa that thang” is continuously repeated and followed by “and shake it till you feel better,” or “and try to release that pressure”. These phrases in addition to the up beat music is very exciting and up-lifting. The lyrics to this song are very repetitive. Almost the whole song is just a repeat of the two phrases mentioned before. I think the repetitiveness gives the songs a playful feeling. There aren’t too many lyrics to pay attention to that are would otherwise be taxing on the brain; it is very straightforward and playful which makes for a good song to dance to.

The action of escaping is the breaking free from confinement or control. Individuals all over the world long for some sort of escape, whether it is from family struggles, financial issues, or any arduous and tough situation. Harriet Jacobs, an African-American abolitionist speaker, wrote a story of a slave girl who longed to escape the brutality of her owner. In the midst of her run away to freedom, main character Linda had to remain in hiding, resulting in her lack of verticality. Sylvia Plath, an American poet, shares a poem of a woman who lies on the ground horizontally and too desires an escape, an escape from the world. Both Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and “I am Vertical” share the commonality of the narrators positioning to the ground and their yearning to break free. These two pieces of literature portray many aspects of escape. In one situation, a slave has nothing and craves freedom, compared to a girl who has given up on life and wants to escape. When looked at both pieces together, it is apparent that no matter what one has in the world, there is always some search for freedom.

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl recounts the narrative of slave girl Linda who has grown up under the ownership her vicious owner, Dr. Flint. As the story progresses, Linda runs away from her owner. Finding shelter in an attic above her grandmother’s home, Linda finds herself in a cramped and dirty space: “ Some boards were laid across the joists at the top… and the roof was a very small garret, never occupied by anything but rats and mice… The garret was only nine feet long and seven wide… ” (Jacobs XXI). Linda remains under these conditions for quite some time and believes that staying in this small space above her grandmothers home is better than being under the rule of Dr. Flint.

Sylvia Plath’s poem, “I am Vertical”, exhibits a narrator positioned upon the Earth. As the storyteller’s back is on top the grass-covered land, she is in another world, escaping from the one she is living in. The narrator’s body is taken over by the nature around her. As she lays on the ground, she feels as if she’s living in another world, and ultimately longs to be one with nature.

 

During the 20^th century, there were acts of discrimination against African Americans. Under the law, they were “free”, but in reality, they weren’t. There were still limitations to what they can do and dream of. They were still victims of violence and discrimination because of the color of their skin. There was so much anger and violence during those years, and people were losing sight of what the goal was until Martin Luther King Jr. led the way. Martin Luther King Jr. was a natural born leader who gave people a sense of hope and led a clear path way to reach the goals of human equality. He conveyed these ideas through his speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”. In this speech, King passionately discusses his view on human equality. He believes that all humans should have the same rights and be treated equally. His allusions to many things such as God, the Memphis Sanitation Strike, slavery in Egypt, and Declaration of Independence provide evidence to back up Martin Luther King Jr.’s claims and show how inequality affects all of us, even those who aren’t directly affected by racism. Despite all the challenges spoken about in his allusions, Martin Luther King Jr. shows that these challenges are possible to overcome with steady focus on the main goal. Martin Luther King Jr. uses vertical movement and abrupt stops in his speech to mirror what he believes is the right way for people to fight for what they want, which is to keep moving forward in life and to stop for a moment to think about the purpose of these actions before moving forward again.

 

In the work, The Vertical: The Fundamental Principle of Classic Dance by A.K Volinsky, the author’s judgment of the comprehensive nature of dance and the application of the vertical shows that the extraordinary exists even in the most ordinary. At first, dance may not seem to be extraordinary at all. In fact, Volinsky notes that dance, in appearance, may at first appear as tippy toeing and a bunch of other movements. Although true, the author takes the fundamentality of dance into account by exploring the environment, several perspectives and interpretations of dance to show how outstanding dance can turn out to be. Dance goes from an ordinary act to an unprecedented wonder; from a normal activity to something of great value. By using an analogy to lines, imagery, references, allusions, comparisons of historical interpretations and final insights Volinsky attempts to delineate his interpretation that dance or almost anything that may seem ordinary, may sometimes simply be amazing.

Volinsky juxtaposes both horizontal and vertical lines to give the message that verticality plays a huge role in the eminence of dance. To envision any concept must take some careful studying. At first it may seem unclear to understand verticality, unless it can be broken down into various segments to be understood. Clearly, there are two dimensions to verticality. According to Volinsky “man is so formed that impressions take shape in his mind in different ways, depending on whether he sees something lying or standing, horizontal or vertical.” Indeed, verticality is a matter of perspective. One perspective of verticality is the horizontal line. A horizontal line, lies flat on the ground and exists in deep inequity without having much else to encompass its existence. In contrast,

Bipedalism is what distinguishes man from his fellow mammals and the very ability to walk upright carries a lot of significance. This form of locomotion has allowed man to transition from his primitive ancestors to what he is today, a modern human or Homo sapiens. Dr. Wendell Holmes, a notable scientist of his time, wrote about the uprightness of the humans when they walk. He discussed the physical motions of walking in great detail and provided scientific analyses of the movements. A few years later A.K. Volinsky, a dance critic, also wrote about this topic only he took a different approach to the issue. At first glance, both “The Vertical: The Fundamental Principle of Classic Dance” by A.K Volinsky and “The Physiology of Walking” by Wendell Holmes seem to be very similar as they revolve around this concept of verticality; both essays discuss how walking upright is a step towards progress in humans, but the way in which they approach this issue is profoundly different. When comparing the two essays side by side, and after reading Holmes’ essay, the notion of superiority is highlighted and it becomes clear that it is the underlying argument in Volinsky’s essay. Ultimately, each essay leaves a very different impact on the reader: the former leaves us with a notion of superiority while the latter leaves us in awe.

In “The Physiology of Walking” Holmes explains each step of the process of walking. The diction he uses to introduce the human capability to walk is truly humbling: “We wish to give our readers as clear an idea as possible of that wonderful art of balanced vertical progression which they have practised, as M. Jourdain talked prose, for so many years, without knowing what a marvellous accomplishment they had mastered.” It is evident, by the way in which Holmes is starting off this sentence, that he feels as though the readers need to understand a very abstract and difficult concept. The way Holmes is discussing this makes it seem like the reader doesn’t fuller understand the beauty of walking; that’s just how high up on a pedestal he is placing the ability to walk. Holmes’ word choice further conveys this message. By using words like wonderful art, progression, marvelous, and accomplishment to describe the act of walking instead of describing the actual people who are carrying out such action, Holmes is placing value and importance on the action. Thus, his words clearly show that he is admiring the physical capabilities of humans as opposed to humans themselves. This fascination can be attributed to the fact that he was a physiologist and a scientist; therefore Holmes would be drawn to the parts and functions of the body rather than the actual person.

Going forward with this idea of technical language used to describe the human body and the act if walking, Holmes makes it seem like he is describing the mechanics of a machine, and not an able minded human. He refers to the people moving as subjects, since they were being drawn, but this also works as a way to draw attention way from the human and toward the actions that are being described. A few sentences later, Holmes leaves out the subject completely and focuses on the movement of the legs. It is absolutely logical for Holmes to emphasize the motions of walking, as that is what his essay is focused on, but to leave out the subject and his ability to actually move his leg, that is something different; a leg does not move on its own and a heel does not strike the floor on its own. The human will to move his or her own legs is something Holmes begins to leave out entirely.

In A.K. Volinky’s piece we have quite the opposite. Toward the end of the essay Volinsky discusses the “superiority of verticality to horizontality” in great detail. Through out the entire two pages of the essay we see Volinksy’s admiration for that which is vertical. He claims that items positioned in such a way carry more weight and are naturally seen as more compelling than their horizontal counterparts. This becomes more apparent when he connects the notions of verticality to progress:

“This was the moment of the greatest bloodless revolution in the history of mankind. Man ceased to be horizontal and became vertical. From this time on he identified as a man, not an ape or a primate resembling man. At the same time he acquires dominion over nature and becomes its master.”

There is much going on in these few sentences. The words that Volinsky uses to describe uprightness is starkly different to those Holmes used. Words like greatest, revolution, dominion, and master all associate this ability to walk on two legs with powerful adjectives and descriptions. It is unnecessary to say that humans become the master of nature, when nature as a whole is not something that can obey. Volinsky could have simply stated that humans now had the ability to do more with their hands e.g. make tools and use resources to cultivate crops. Instead, Volinsky purposely chose words that would elicit a feeling of superiority. By claiming this transition to bipedalism as the “greatest bloodless revolution in the history of mankind” it makes for a grandiose concept that leaves the reader with a sense of pride. This is drastically difference for the way Holmes goes about his essay: Holmes disregards the human subjects at times just to focus on the “wonderful art”—that is walking.

Volinsky further expands on this notion of superiority when he references Moscatti, an Italian physician, and Immanuel Kant. “He agreed with Moscatti’s supposition that to crawl is more natural, but emphatically asserted standing upright as an act of the spirit that overcomes the natural state and raises man above nature.” It is clear that Volinsky is starting to see this ability to walk upright as a sort of religion. It’s not longer about the fact that humans can use their hands to do more; it’s now become a matter of correctness and spirit. It has become a way for humans to distance themselves from their primitive ancestors and transcend into greater beings. This may seem a bit far-fetched but Volinsky himself states that “With the vertical begins the history of human culture and the gradual conquest of heaven and earth.” What started off as the evolutionary history of mankind has now become a prophecy for further conquest.

As you can see, through out these essays there has been the recurring theme of human progress in the form of walking. Both authors passionately discuss this issue but they take very different approaches on the issue; this ultimately elicits very different reactions from the readers. Holmes discusses the beauty of walking and considers it to be a mastered skill whereas Volinsky sees it as the beginning of human superiority over nature and the world. By looking at the use of diction and the description of the process of walking in both passages, the reader can start to see the whole picture. The two essays seems to complement each other with their starkly contrasting views on what is the same topic in around the same time period. The professional background of the authors offers some explanation as to their stance on the topic of verticality and human progress. Looking at the two essays provides a context for the topic that would have otherwise not have been there.

 

Nature is part of our everyday life. It can be from a tree on the sidewalk to the endless sky above us. There are countless interactions between society and nature, whether it is going to a park full of greenness or simply looking at some flowers while passing by. Even though these interactions exist, some of us overlook and neglect the existence of the various forms of nature in our daily life. However, there are those that still aim to appreciate nature and to be appreciated by it. Sylvia Plath’s poem, “I Am Vertical,” and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s piece, “Nature,” argue that we can truly understand and communicate with nature only after letting go of our past. Although both pieces deal with the narrator’s connection with nature, the way that the two authors view nature and the way that the two authors let go of their pasts are significantly different. Plath tries to express her desire to escape to nature. By comparing the two texts, we can conclude that Emerson’s piece helps readers understand why Plath is trying to escape from- society. In addition to helping readers understand Plath’s piece, he is also trying to encourage people to pause in their actions in society to take a look at the natural occurrences around them and appreciate nature.

In order to start trying to be one with nature and completely understand it, Plath and Emerson argue that the person who is trying to do so has to distance and isolate themself from society and the rest of the world by letting themself go. Although the two authors share the common idea that this is necessary to create a connection with the natural world, they approach it in a different way. In Emerson’s argument, a person would have to distance him or herself mentally. No matter the place, a person should take some time to forget everything and look at the distant stars. He refers to the stars, as “though always present, they are inaccessible.” The distant stars that we walk under at night are part of nature that we easily ignore and take for granted. Emerson is telling the readers that if someone wants to be in consensus with nature, he or she would have to take the time to stop and notice these aspects that would normally be ignored because of the distractions from society. Plath’s argument is more extreme and she takes it into the physical state of a person as well. In her poem, the narrator was already emotionally distant from the world when she expresses her desires to be one with nature. The poem starts off with her comparing herself to a tree. At the end of the poem, she says, “Thoughts gone dim. It is more natural to me, lying down… And I shall be useful when I lie down finally.” In these lines, not only is she letting her thoughts go to empty her mind, but also she is letting herself fall to death.

By rushing to her death in order to assimilate with nature, Plath is showing her desire to quickly escape from the confines of society. From the beginning of the poem, she states her desires to be horizontal rather than vertical. To be vertical is to be a complex being in an advanced society. Being horizontal is a natural position of a human being. It also shows her going against the social norms. Men, by nature, would prefer to be vertical because of the superiority associated with it. However, in Plath’s case, she defies social norms by preferring to be horizontal. By being horizontal one last time, it symbolizes her nearing death. This also shows how she goes against the norms. Men have a natural instinct to survive and live as opposed to her wanting to die in order to be with nature. The idea of society playing a role in accepting nature is more evident in Emerson’s piece. He is currently in the middle of society. Unlike Plath, he isn’t trying to scape from society. Instead, he tries to appreciate nature as it is by isolating his mind from the ideas in society. Similar to Plath, he also defies social norms. In a developed society, most people do not notice the nature around them. Even if they walk by a tree, although they process that information in their heads, they do not think about it. They certainly do not stop and admire the tree. They simply accept the fact that the tree is there and take that fact for granted. He is going against the ideas of society by stopping and actually taking a look around for components of nature. By taking the time to block out the ideas of society and look at the sky where the stars are located, he is taking a step towards appreciating the existence of them thus appreciating nature. The first line of Emerson’s, “Nature,” is “To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society.” Not only does accepting nature require distancing himself from society, it also requires him to distance himself from everyone else.

By distancing himself, Emerson sees nature as it really is. In his piece, he claims that humans are the ones that complicate nature and manipulate it. He condemns adults for this act. He encourages adults to see nature through the non-judgmental eyes of children. Instead of analyzing and creating personalities for the various trees, flowers, and other forms of nature, children simply look at nature and accept it as it is. In Plath’s poem, she complicates her view on nature by comparing herself to it. Instead of admiring it and seeing it for what it is, she is comparing how she is different from nature but is still yearning to be a part of it. In addition, Plath gives the trees and flowers character when she describes them not noticing her as she walks by. Instead of simply looking at them, she is thinking into it and manipulating it into an image she sees and believes.

Through isolating and distancing themselves from society and the world, Plath and Emerson see nature clearly and is able to communicate with nature. However, there is a contrast in their views. Whether she is living or dead, she focuses her life in becoming part of nature. However, she couldn’t truly communicate with it until she loses herself through death. In the end of the poem, she says, “Then the sky and I are in open conversation, And I shall be useful when I lie down finally; Then the trees may touch me for once, and the flowers have time with me.” This shows her finally succeeding in being accepted by nature. Plath and Emerson acknowledge nature and are acknowledged by it. In Emerson’s piece, he writes, “I am not alone and unacknowledged. They nod to me, and I to them.” By nodding to each other, Emerson and the nature around him reaches a balance and a mutual agreement.