{"id":2125,"date":"2020-04-27T20:31:11","date_gmt":"2020-04-27T20:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/?p=2125"},"modified":"2020-04-28T14:45:55","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T14:45:55","slug":"samantha-rogers-taylor-butlers-final-paper-on-autism-illustrated-through-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/take-home-final-examinations\/samantha-rogers-taylor-butlers-final-paper-on-autism-illustrated-through-literature\/","title":{"rendered":"Samantha Rogers & Taylor Butlers final paper on Autism illustrated through literature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>DJ Savarese\u2019s poem Alaska and Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein <\/em>are comparable in that both main characters in the texts struggle with communication. \u00a0The creature, made by Victor Frankenstein, is depicted as a monster that is not quite human. Once the creature becomes aware of his hideous appearance, he feels lonely and isolated. Much like the creature, DJ Savarese feels isolated. Although DJ\u2019s outward appearance does not exhibit scary features, his lack of communication skills affect his interaction with others. Due to being autistic, DJ struggles to communicate and sometimes relies on a facilitator to guide him along. Even though DJ has assistance and support from facilitators, he is aware that he lacks support from others. In regards to the creature, Victor Frankenstein can be seen as the creature\u2019s facilitator, as Victor is the only one who truly understands him. However, differently from the facilitator\u2019s mentioned within DJ Savarese\u2019s poem, the creature\u2019s facilitator does not support him. Within both texts, it is evident that communication barriers have an impact on the both creature and DJ Savarese, as they seek to remove themselves from feelings of isolation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein<\/em>, is a novel that displays the struggles that the main character, Victor, must face. His creation is much different than the other characters within the book. The creation becomes aware of his repulsive appearance and his lack of communication skills, produces rage. Wanting to learn to communicate like a human, the creation observes a family from the outside. After constantly being reminded of his scary and ugly outward appearance, the creature craves the company of someone like himself. Wanting a female companion to be created for him, the creature seeks Victor with hopes that he will do so. Victor\u2019s refusal to create a female companion leads to escalating aggression within the creature. Isolated and unlike anyone\/anything else, the creature uses violence to make his voice heard. The creature\u2019s struggle in being different and unable to communicate with others is comparable to DJ Savarese\u2019s poem Alaska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Alaska by DJ Savarese is a poem that illustrates a struggle with communication through the use of metaphor; like Mary Shelley in Frankenstein.\u00a0 The poem begins with the following quote, \u201chours of light like heat hibernating, great icebergs hear the cries of the hurt just like they\u2019re trying really, really to be free\u201d (Savarese, 279).\u00a0 The light could metaphorically mean the light that is inside of an individual with autism, being trapped by society.\u00a0 This displays how society dehumanizes people with autism and places them into a box. The iceberg metaphor may symbolize facilitators, in which they are able to hear the desire to be free; free to be whom they are. The facilitators are assistive and are able to sympathize with the individuals for who they really are and what they desire most; which in this poem is freedom.\u00a0 The entirety of the first line may be compared to Frankenstein\u2019s creation and what he endures throughout the novel.\u00a0 The iceberg in Frankenstein <\/em>could represent the old Mr. De Lacey.\u00a0 There are other lines throughout the poem that are representations of the creature in Frankenstein.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While reading the poem, the line, \u201cthey try to yearn from freedom but they fear it\u201d linked back to what the creature struggles with in Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein, <\/em>(Savarese, 279).\u00a0 <\/em>The above quote also explains how others can view individuals with Autism and then not understanding their responses.\u00a0\u00a0 The word \u201cfear\u201d in the poem means it is the fear of someone not understanding a person with Autism if they are not facilitated in some way.\u00a0 The word \u201churt\u201d also appears quite frequently, which could be interpreted as the hurt\/frustration that DJ feels when people judge him or are not patient with him simply because he has Autism. The wording and analysis of the poem coincides with that of Frankenstein\u2019s creation.\u00a0 The creature feels akin to DJ because of the way he is treated by Dr. Frankenstein, the De Lacey\u2019s, the townspeople, and many more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>DJ Savarese, an autistic individual, discusses communication in Cultural Commentary: Communicate with Me.\u00a0 <\/em>He describes the issues he suffers without his facilitator as well as the proper steps in order to de-escalate from certain situations.\u00a0\u00a0 Savarese describes how the people around him do not understand how to communicate with him.\u00a0 Savarese addresses questions that he is asked frequently such as, \u201cIf you don\u2019t know me very well, can you just start talking to me? Yes, but I might act like you\u2019re not there at first. It takes dear, real self-time to tell my breaking-the-barrier heart to quit pounding so loudly, so I can respond\u201d (Savarese 2010).\u00a0 Savarese\u2019s main point in his commentary is that nobody around him understands his plight.\u00a0 The type of communication that is being discussed can also be seen in Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Frankenstein\u2019s creation, who can be perceived as an autistic individual, who is initially rational, but when communicating his thoughts, he tends to struggle.\u00a0 The creature feels unhappy and depressed because no one around him understands his wants or needs.\u00a0 Dr. Frankenstein\u2019s first reaction was awful, solely because he did not know how to address the creature, nor how to communicate with him.\u00a0 The narrator confirmed that the facilitator does not do everything for them, but that they play a major role in making sure that he is calm. When he is not calm, the facilitator provides comfort and is able to communicate in ways that do not require speaking, like sign language.\u00a0 In a way, the De Lacey family is the creation\u2019s facilitator.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though the family is horrified by the creature\u2019s appearance and the fact that the creature was touching old Mr. De Lacey, Felix brutally attacks the creature, while Agatha screams; neither of which are positive methods of communication.\u00a0 Old Mr. De Lacey is the only character that shows no prejudice due to his blindness, he was not able to see the creature\u2019s appearance.\u00a0 The family poses as the creature\u2019s facilitator even without the awareness of his existence, regardless of the distance, they still helped him in many ways.\u00a0 The main characters, as well as the townspeople, whom he encounters lack communication because they do not understand his needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein <\/em>and DJ Savarese\u2019s poem Alaska, communication barriers are evident. Within Frankenstein<\/em>, Victor Frankenstein creates a creature that is vastly different from the human race and is not what he expected. Its ugly and scary appearance frightens others, leaving the creature feeling angry and isolated. Similar to the creature, DJ Savarese struggles with the ability to communicate in a \u201cnormal\u201d manner, due to being autistic. In both texts, individuals are seeking support and to be removed from isolation. Although DJ Savarese has difficulties communicating, he does have support and guidance from facilitators, which is not the case for the creature. The creature, on the other hand, is seen as frightening and is not supported by his creator, which leads to aggressive behaviors towards Victor and his family members. Within both texts, it is evident that communication barriers have an impact on the creature and DJ Savarese, as they seek to find support from others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Works Cited<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Savarese, DJ. \u201cCommunicate with Me.\u201d Disability Studies Quarterly<\/em>, 2010, dsq-sds.org\/article\/view\/1051\/1237.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Savarese, Ralph James. \u201cAlaska.\u201d Reasonable People: a Memoir of Autism and Adoption<\/em>. New York: Other Press, 2007. Pp. 279.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein<\/em>, Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library, web.archive.org\/web\/20110207085418\/etext.lib.virginia.edu\/etcbin\/toccer-new2?id=SheFran.sgm&images=images\/modeng&data=\/texts\/english\/modeng\/parsed&tag=public&part=19&division=div1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Honor Pledge: Taylor Butler and Samantha Rogers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Word count: 1278<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 DJ Savarese\u2019s poem Alaska and Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein are comparable in that both main characters in the texts struggle with communication. \u00a0The creature, made by Victor Frankenstein, is depicted as a monster that is not quite human. Once the creature becomes aware of his hideous appearance, he feels lonely and isolated. Much like the … Continue reading “Samantha Rogers & Taylor Butlers final paper on Autism illustrated through literature”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[237,239,238,62,179],"class_list":["post-2125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-take-home-final-examinations","tag-alaska","tag-cultural-commentary-communicate-with-me","tag-dj-saverse","tag-frankenstein","tag-ralph-james-savarese"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcJhts-yh","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2125"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2147,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions\/2147"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dislit2020.chris-foss.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}