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Allison’s Short Reading Response: Poet of Cripples

The poem “Poet of Cripples” written by Jim Ferris dictates the narrator as the poet for people with disabilities or “cripples”. Ferris himself is disabled and portrays a problematic stance on disability throughout the poem due to the poetic speaker’s heroic tone. Ferris presents a common view that he may experience as a person with disability, that is the idea of needing to be put back together and or losing control of one’s sense of power. I will argue that he uses the poetic speaker to highlight his experience of “loss” of power in his life.

The poetic speaker’s first questionable approach is the fact that he declares himself “a poet of cripples”; he takes the title along with the power to speak and be the poet for cripples. This presents the perception that people with disabilities need someone to be their poet and speak for them, that they are not capable of being their own poet. This takes the power away from the community, when they are people too and should have the opportunity to be their own poet. The poetic speaker ends the poem with “I sing for cripples” continuing the pattern of taking the power away from others simply because he thinks he needs to speak for them. The community is allowed to sing for themselves and speak for themselves, but in society people assume because they are disabled they need someone to be their voice. Society takes the power away from people with disabilities because they have this idea that because they have a disability they do not have the ability, or sometimes even the option to make their own decisions and control their own lives.

In the poem it is suggested by the poetic speaker that people with disabilities are not whole or are missing something and needed to be complete. Ferris writes that people with disabilities are “groping to be whole” and that they need or want to “become full, whole” and that it is the narrator’s duty as a voice for the community to help them. Throughout the poem the suggestion that people with disabilities are incomplete or missing something; wanting to be whole. The suggestion is problematic in the sense that it devalues their feelings and the narrator takes on the role to determine that they should not be happy with who they are and they are not like everyone else, they are only half of non-disabled people. Society creates the perception, as well, that people who have disabilities or impairments are missing something and it creates a negative association with disabilities when they are also people and are whole despite their disability. They are allowed to be okay with who they are and not feel like their life is a loss and they do not need to feel the desire to want more, no one is more whole than anyone else.

Another complication presented in the poem is the use of the word “normal”. Jim Ferris presents the concept that people that are nondisabled are considered which labels people with disabilities as abnormal. Ferris simply sheds light on the issue that is brought on by society is that anyone who is in any way different or is not what society defines as “normal” they are abnormal, therefore, since people with disabilities usually stand out or are considered different they are labeled as abnormal. He blends his personal experience with disability into the poem throughout by including how people manipulate and control people with disabilities simply because they think they need to save them. However, the idea of feeling abnormal comes from within Ferris and how he is seen as different from other’s simply because one leg grew shorter than the other. Similar to how society treats other people with disabilities, there is the possibility he experienced the same otherness and incorporated it into his work to grow the understanding of viewpoints with disability.

Despite the negatives the one thing I found interesting in the poem is Ferris’s attempt at uniting everyone and creating a larger community. The narrator suggests inside everyone there’s disability and he sings for everyone, suggesting everyone is alike and it is everyone’s differences that bring them together. It also suggests that even though one may not be disabled they still have a connection to someone in life that is disabled creating that connection.

“I Pledge”

Word Count: 615

James’ Response to Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden

In the first ten chapters of The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, I struggled to find exactly where I should be looking to view this text in regards to the disability lens. I was looking for a single point to narrow my focus on, but as I read I soon realized how this text intersects with disability was going to be a little less obvious than I had originally assumed.

To begin, the introduction of Mary Lennox as the main character, calling her the “most disagreeable-looking child ever seen” and saying that “her face was yellow because she had been born in India and had always been ill in one way or another” struck me as some sort of chronic illness, but now I think the terms of her negative physical features stemmed from the neglect she faced from her parents and growing up without learning empathy for others, making her appear ugly on the outside to reflect the harsh prejudices she held internally.

Before the passing of both her parents and the remaining servants at the Lennox’s home in India, Mary does not cry for the loss of Ayah, the nurse who took care of her, but she cries as the house is in a panic due to a cholera outbreak, and she realizes she is forgotten. As it was said in the text, “Nobody thought of her, nobody wanted her.”

When Mary is found to be the sole survivor of the Lennox house, she is sent to a home filled with children who tease her for her temperamental nature, calling her “Mistress Mary, quite contrary.” This is the first instance of Mary’s slow but steady realization that she is not the center of the universe, and she reacts immediately with anger. She is then taken away by Mrs. Medlock who is the one to tell her that she will be moving to England to be with her Uncle, Mr. Archibald Craven. The description of Mr. Archibald Craven caught my attention the most, as they mention his physical disability, and then immediately the fact that he was married, implying that usually people with disabilities do not get to find true love, “… an he’d have walked the world over to get her a blade o’ grass she wanted. Nobody thought she’d marry him, but she did, and people said she married him for his money. But she didn’t – she didn’t.”

Upon finding this out, Mary immediately connects the idea of her Uncle with a French fairytale about a poor hunchback and a beautiful princess. She learns that Mr. Archibald Craven refuses to come out of the West Wing of his estate following the death of his wife, and also notes it sounds like something out of a book, but did not make her feel cheerful. She does all she can to hide any outward displays of interest, and stays fast to her default setting of apathy towards others.

This attitude stays the same for the first few weeks Mary lives in her Uncle’s estate. She is rude to the servant Martha, who she compares to the servants she lived with in India, and this is one of the starkest examples of Mary’s racism and entitlement. Her rage flies wild and she says “You don’t know anything about natives! They are not people- they’re servants who must salaam to you.”

This is where I’d like to introduce the idea that Mary is a metaphor for the secret garden itself. The garden that had belonged to Mr. Archibald Craven’s wife, which following her death had been locked and forgotten for ten years, the same age as Mary. The garden was allowed to fall into disarray, growing wild without the care of the wife. Mary was also allowed to grow wild, without a loving hand to guide her towards compassion and empathy for others.

As Mary grows, so does the garden. She learns how to connect with others and how to take care of herself. She learns about different lifestyles and realizes that happiness isn’t always equated to wealth. Not only viewing this story through a disability lens, but a lens that brings issues of race and class into the light as well has really helped me understand this story so far and hopefully will continue to do so as we read more.

I pledge.

Word count: 723

Mackenzie’s Response to Carver’s “Cathedral”

Carver’s short story, “Cathedral,” recounts a man’s experience with his wife’s blind friend, Robert. The speaker of the story details his feelings toward Robert and the interactions that they share during a night at his house. Carver’s “Cathedral” reflects the notions of unease and misunderstanding that often surround the topic of disability.

This is the speaker’s first experience with a person who is blind, and he expresses great discomfort at the idea of being around Robert as he states that “a blind man in my house was not something I looked forward to” (Carver 209). The speaker’s discomfort with Robert’s blindness is reflective of society’s general discomfort with disability, and for the speaker, this discomfort is mostly due to a lack of experience and knowledge about disability. The speaker has formed expectations for how Robert should be and is surprised to find him with a beard and without a cane or dark glasses. Due to his lack of experience with people who are blind, Robert has formed a representation of what a blind person should be like based on how blindness is typically depicted on television or in readings. To find that Robert did not meet these stereotypes was startling.

After the speaker’s wife falls asleep on the couch Robert and the speaker are left to watch television together. The channel lands on a piece about cathedrals. After the speaker fails to describe how cathedrals look, Robert suggests that they draw one together. The speaker reluctantly agrees, and they begin working on a drawing of a cathedral on the back of a shopping bag. He describes how Robert’s “fingers rode my fingers as my hand went over the paper. It was like nothing else in my life up to now” (228). In this moment, the two men find themselves connecting. The speaker closes his eyes and as they work together, and he gains a little more understanding of Robert. It becomes more of a partnership than the speaker teaching Robert about cathedrals; however, even through this new sense of understanding, the speaker continues to dwell on Robert’s disability. Previously, the speaker thought about how Robert’s relationship to his wife must have been and pities Robert’s wife. He thinks about how it must be difficult to marry a man who could not see her, assuming she would never be complimented or fully understood by her husband. This sense of pity is echoed in the end. The speaker keeps his eyes closed after completing the drawing of the cathedral and explains that he knew he was still in his house “But I didn’t feel like I was inside anything” (228). Though he appears to learn that Robert is more than his disability, he still has difficulty moving past the fact that he is blind and continues to focus on all of the things Robert cannot do.

Overall, Carver’s short story portays a man’s first experience with someone who is blind. “Cathedral” illustrates the discomfort that many able-bodied people feel when confronted with disability. This may be due to lack of experience, a fear that they could become disabled someway themselves, or wanting to appear respectful without knowing how. Once he is more able to move past his prejudices, the speaker and Robert are able to form a more genuine relationship.

word count: 548

I pledge

extremely late post about Dolphus Raymond

howdy everyone, I initially typed this up in Google Docs, and until now would have bet money on my having already posted it to the blog. As I am currently typing this, you all know that is not how things played out. Enjoy an a very late and very passionate rant about my least favorite character in To Kill a Mockingbird

It is easy to hate Bob Ewell because he is an easy man to hate. He was written that way; he is a literary condensation of vitriol, hate, and racism. I would call him a caricature, but we live in an unfortunate enough world that there are people like him in real life. However, he is not the worst character in TKaM. That would be too easy. No, in my mind, the worst character in the book is Dolphus Raymond.

To Kill a Mockingbird is a dated book, whose at-the-time progressive views and themes are centrist at best when viewed under a contemporary lense. Though this is apparent in multiple aspects of the book, I am focusing on Dolphus Raymond, the spineless coward. Mr. Raymond comes from money. His is an old, storied family, which would have reasonable power and influence in Maycomb, were he not a lover to a black woman and father to her children.

Maycomb is under the illusion that Dolphus is a drunk; he is constantly drinking from a brown paper bag, and acting outwardly inebriated. This is, however, a ruse. He is a sober man, who just happens to love a black woman and be happy with her. There is nothing inherently wrong with this way of living, and he knows this. However, the issue comes in the way he handles the prejudice of Maycomb.

Dolphus, as previously stated, comes from wealth, which is likely a large part of why he can get away with his life as a quote unquote vagabond and drunkard. He claims he does this to preserve the peace in Maycomb, but all he does is actively choose not to challenge their racist perception that only a chronically drunk man could enjoy the company of people of color enough to seek them out. It is possible that this could be to protect his wife and children from the scorn that they would receive from the town, by allowing them to not gather too much attention to themselves. However, instead they live as the family of a drunk man, still looked down on by the town, still forced to face the harshness of prejudice and racism everyday.

Dolphus Raymond could make a change. He could look at Maycomb and say “you are wrong. Your ideas and your racism are wrong.” But, like Atticus Finch, he looks at this deep-rooted evil, and he chooses to play along. He avoids any conflict, which could lead to betterment of the society as a whole, in favor of preserving the status quo.

Drinking out of a bag, and defending a black man on trial, are only band-aid solutions that fail to reach the root of the problem, which is the white people who see this as a problem. Without directly addressing these people, no real change is made. Anyway Dolphus Raymond is a spineless loser and so is Atticus for never confronting Alexandra and saying “get that racist BS out of my house you monster”.

The Secret Garden: Spring Reading

The weather has been great this week and I’ve finally been able to enjoy my readings outside. The Secret Garden was the first read outside. Fitting, too, considering the weather changes in the text.

This read was literally succulent. I love the language and how it picked up on the minuscule things- like how she’d fight against the wind who’s force is like an invisible giant. Or the subtle ways Mary’s eyes would light up when she discovered, well, humanity-sympathy-humility.

Compared to her “socially acceptable” looking parents, Mary was born a disagreeable looking child. I looked at the first chapter with a feminist lens especially – because the qualities that deemed her unworthy were characteristics that a woman, in general, are socially expected to have – beauty to woo, be chased, desired, like her mother. It’s so wrong to put those expectations on a baby – those expectations deprived her of the experience of parenthood. Despite that, I think her Ayah did an ok job of raising her. She raised Mary correctly when you think about the standards of wealthy individuals in general. She was made to be spoiled and wasn’t ever made aware of her apparent “ugliness” or the pity people held over her. It is awful to me that this kind of thing happens. When I think about persons with a disability, people will purposefully try to filter or even hide their disability from them. As if their own disability could hurt them more than the people who shut them into a box. Therefore, she couldn’t find out why people disliked her so much or why kids had more fun than her. She simply reciprocated what she knew.

Lastly, I love the use of the “Moor” and how it is like a metaphor for her own growth. Martha as a character is great for Mary’s character development. She learns that every meal should be appreciated and to make use of the environment around her, as well as basic respect in conversation. I also think Martha fleshes out a lot of other problems like racial stereotyping and class privilege.

Without knowing, Martha makes assumptions about Indians as a collective and keeps calling out their “exotic wonders,” like elephants and whatever else. She keeps saying how she and her family can revel in how interesting this country is. A lot like gossip.

Then, there are contrasts of “humble living,” talk about kids who are lucky to fill their stomachs, and kids who wear rags for clothes but still play and laugh. Martha talks about this and helps Mary have insightful moments.

#forfunblog

Abigail’s Response to Jhumpa Lahiri’s “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar”

In “The Treatment of Bibi Haldar,” Jhumpa Lahiri explores the different and complex relationships that disabled people, particularly disabled women, may have towards traditional gender roles. Through both Bibi’s own ideal of marriage and the responses of those around her to this dream, Lahiri questions the underlying assumptions that people make both about the power of marriage, its importance, and its unattainable status for disabled people.

At the start of the short story, the unnamed narrator, a friend of Bibi’s, notices that Bibi longs for a husband. She primarily expresses her desire in terms of gendered expectations: she wants to have the full experience of a wedding and married life, complete with the protection of a husband and the duties of a housewife. Bibi’s desires stand out because disabled people are often desexualized and infantilized, seen as perpetual children with no sexual, romantic, or social agency. She herself recognizes and laments that no one will ever take her out on a date or marry her. As a disabled woman, she is locked out of the same gendered expectations that stifle her able-bodied peers. The stress and pain of being cut off from such a common institution, of being seen as undesirable for marriage, leads to a worsening of her condition.

After one particularly harsh seizure, a doctor concludes that marriage will indeed cure Bibi. With the prospect of a man loving and marrying Bibi, the narrator suddenly begins to notice her beauty. She describes these new observations as “apprais[ing] the pleasures she could offer a man,” demonstrating that she views Bibi’s desirability through the lens of male gratification (Lahiri 162). The narrator’s attitude toward Bibi subtly shifts in another way alongside this newfound appreciation for her beauty; she and her friends begin teaching her in romance and marriage. Even though the narrator mostly refers to it as a way “to distract her” and doubts if anyone would actually marry her, this shift in treatment likely helped Bibi (Lahiri 165). With their coaching, Bibi is now more a part of her peer group, no longer lamenting her lack of prospects but actively seeking out a suitor and making herself desirable. The idea that Bibi may be a marriage prospect changes her self-perception and that of those around her, revealing how important it is for a woman to be seen as romantically and sexually appealing to receive respect and interest in a patriarchal society.

“The Treatment of Bibi Haldar” reveals an important member of intersectional feminism: the disabled woman who is prohibited from partaking in the same marriage and family life that her abled peers are pressured into. The experience of womanhood is not universal, and Bibi’s struggle for romantic fulfilment is both a product of a patriarchal society that devalues single women and the product of an ableist society that fails to see disabled people as romantic and sexual beings in their own right. It is impossible to speculate on how much of Bibi’s desire for a man is based on her society’s definition of a woman as a mother and homemaker, and how much of it is a genuine desire for romantic love.

Word Count: 524

I pledge

Daniel’s Response to To Kill A Mockingbird

“-I pledge.”

Harper Lee surrounds many of the events within To Kill A Mockingbird around the theme of stigmatization. Throughout the novel, Lee expresses a lot of disdain to the corruption and injustice that many of the African Americans go through; however, in a more subtle fashion, she also tries to address the hardship that the disabled and impaired endure. She depicts this in the character of Boo Radley. Throughout the novel, Scout and Jem constantly wonder about the identity of Boo Radley and why it is that he never comes out. By the end of the novel, both Jem and especially Scout comes to gain a more mutual understanding of their neighbor. Boo Radley ultimately represents a disabled minority in To Kill a Mockingbird as seen in Scout’s changing perception of him and his mannerisms when approaching Jem’s unconscious body.

Harper Lee demonstrates to her audience how disabled people are misunderstood using the character of Boo Radley’s relationship to Scout. Initially Scout expressed a lot of suspicion towards Boo Radley, wondering why it was that he would not leave his house. However, after she finally gets the chance to meet him when he saves her brother’s life, she contemplates how “Boo was our neighbor. He gave us two soap dolls, a broken watch, and our lives” (Lee 320). Scout realizes how much she has misunderstood Boo Radley. While initially she saw him with an air of mystery, she realizes that he was a person just like anybody else. This shows how people with disabilities tend to be misunderstood because all that most people see is the disability instead of the person themselves. Scout contemplates this when she reflects on what Atticus had told her: “One time he said you never really know a man until you stand in his shoes and walk around in them” (Lee 371). Scout applies this to her changing perception of Boo Radley when she learns that Boo is not as strange as he may seem after saving Jem.

Boo Radley’s experience around Jem’s body also exemplifies that he may suffer from a disability, which is why he kept himself enclosed within his own house. When Boo was trying to touch Jem, Lee describes “Boo’s hand hovered over Jem’s hair” (Lee 319). From the word choice of “hovered,” Boo was clearly nervous about touching Jem. This and the fact he refused to leave his house may translate to Boo having some kind of anxiety disorder. Scout even comforts Arthur that it is ok to pet her brother, saying “ ‘You can pet him, Mr. Arthur, he’s asleep…You couldn’t if he was awake’” (Lee 319). The fact that he needed some kind of reassurance shows that Arthur may have a condition that is related to fear or Agoraphobia. In this, Harper Lee is using Arthur Radley to make a statement about mental illness.

All in all, while she does make a lot of commentary on the negative condition of racism, Harper Lee also tries to touch on mental illness through the character of Arthur Radley. Even though Arthur does not play a very prominent role throughout the story, the way that Harper Lee utilizes him shows that she is trying to tell a story about the stigmatization behind mental illness as well. Through the character of Arthur Radley, Harper Lee was able to demonstrate how the misunderstanding of disability is pervasive throughout society.

S.E.E.D Event on Neurodiversity

On Monday February 24 I attended the Dialogues on neurodiversity: a roundable discussion fashioned by UMW’s S.E.E.D. Lu and I believe Jessica did a wonderful job with the event. The guest speaker was the one and only Dr. Foss, which he did a wonderful job delivering the information. There was pizza and water provided by the club, which was very generous.

Dr. Foss discussed mental health and how there is more than meets the eye, as the flyer states “learn about what doesn’t get discussed.” Dr. Foss also discusses Intersectionality, which displayed that disability isn’t just one label it is a wide spectrum and how we should broaden our views. The topics addressed were topics that we have been discussing in class this semester. Dr. Foss even referenced some of the essay’s we have been reading, which was nice to relate to.

Each table had a S.E.E.D member, my table had Lu to lead us in discussion based on what we heard. The first few questions were about disability and how we have seen it portrayed in life as well as life at UMW. My table had a pretty good discussion about how disability is portrayed in movies and tv. We brought up a show “everything is going to be ok,” which the disabled character is a young woman. We discussed that it is nice to see a different type of character portrayed as disabled because it is usually white men. The second set of questions pertained to how disability is such a broad spectrum and how society has perceived it. We discussed how a person can’t be more than one thing, a person can’t be black and disabled or black, gay, and disabled. You’re either black or disabled not both.

The event was a success and time well spent. The event discussed similar topics to class discussions, it felt like an introduction lecture to Tuesday’s class. I think that S.E.E.D is a great club and has a wonderful message. What a tremendous event!

Rosemary’s Response to the Great Lives Series: Stephen Hawking

Last Tuesday night, I rounded up a couple of friends and went to the Great Lives talk about Stephen Hawking. In all honesty, I did not know very much about Stephen Hawking before the event. I knew only the most basic stereotype of him; he was a disabled man who made great scientific discoveries and advancements for both his field and the human race as a whole. I felt guilty for having such a shallow and generic profile of him as I listened to his life story.

The talk was given by Kitty Ferguson, who had worked with Hawking before and was also a friend of his. Listening to someone who had a personal connection to such a well-known name changed how I perceived him. She gave him a new narrative, at least in my mind, by covering his life from childhood, marriages, friendships, and scientific contributions. While his disability was a prominent part of her talk, Ferguson never spoke about it in a discriminatory or defining way, it was just a fact of his life. She focused less on how ALS disabled him, and more on what he did in the midst of adjusting to his course of life.

Overall, I think Ferguson’s representation of Hawking as a brilliant person that happened to also be disabled was done really well. She used Hawking’s life to inspire the audience, but not in a derogatory or self-serving way that used his disability for pity. Ferguson’s talk left me feeling more connected and knowledgable about Stephen Hawking’s great life.

I’ll leave you with this quote from her; “He helped us all, disabled or abled alike, to be less afraid.”

Rachel’s Analysis of Joy Harjo’s The Woman Hanging From the Thirteenth Floor Window and Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird

In class, we have been talking a lot about the types of disabilities. A conversation has begun about what is considered a disability and the different definitions and models of disability. I have learned about certain illness/disorders that are considered by many to be a disability or disabling that I have never thought of in this context, such as addiction and/or drug abuse, age, etc. Another interesting topic of discussion is invisible disabilities. An invisible disability is a disability which is not immediately apparent to the outside world, and an example of this is mental illness.

In Joy Harjo’s The Woman Hanging from the Thirteenth Floor Window, the woman being described is not described as having a physical disability. This character is described as having a mind which differs from what society has deemed the normal way of functioning. She “hears voices… [which] come to her in the night when the lights have gone dim” (Harjo). These voices are implied to be auditory hallucinations, but she also hears the voices of the people outside her window. These auditory hallucinations can be caused by any number of things, but in addition to these hallucinations, the woman also seems to be suffering from depression.

The woman in the window seems to be in a similar situation as some characters from Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. Mrs. DuBose, along with some physical disability which causes her to have a mobility impairment, suffers from morphine addiction. Mr. Raymond also seems to have an addiction to alcohol (though we learn later that this is all an act to excuse his behavior). As discussed in our class, addiction is often considered a disability due to the individual having no control over their addiction and the disabling side effects.

In both of these works, an individual is described as having a disability which is not physical, but mental. It is interesting to look at the ways the characters are described. The general tone of the descriptions is different in each work. In Harper Lee’s novel, the characters who are suffering with their mental health issues are not very good characters. Mrs. DuBose is a mean old woman who throws around insults and is just generally crotchety, and Mr. Raymond, while not actually a drunk, still is representative of the connection between alcohol/drug addiction and ‘bad’ behavior. The representation is all around negative.

In Harjo’s piece about the woman hanging from the window, the tone is definitely a little bit depressing, but overall is not being judgmental and negative. There is a sense of hope at the end, where Harjo writes “as she falls from the 13th floor window on the east side of Chicago, or as she climbs back up to claim herself again” (Harjo). The woman is not with certainty doomed to fall to the ground. She is not set to meet the same fate as Mrs. Dubose, who would inevitably die regardless of whether or not she kicked her addiction, or as Mr. Raymond would spend the rest of his life pretending to be an alcoholic and acting the part. This woman was a daughter, a mother, a wife, and many other things other than just someone suffering. I think an even closer look at these characters would be a good idea.

Word Count- 548

I pledge