David Ferreira The Digital Age 1/29/14

Experiences in Literature
The digital age, an era where children stay home and play video games, a time
where playing outside doesnt exist anymore, an age where people dont take advantage
of the knowledge given to them. Humans currently live in a time period where
information and knowledge is so easily accessible whereas previous years when we had
to strive for intelligence. The digital age is clearly an irony in itself. Intelligence is
power but when given power, we choose no power. Due to the accessibility of a huge
variety of sources, we now undoubtedly choose to do other things for our self-pleasure
and leisure rather than do it for our prosperity. Fifty years ago seems like forgotten times
but those times proved that mental capacity is a commodity highly sought out by any
human being. The informational age was for the human greater good but rather we take
it for granted and dont use it for its main purpose. Naomi Shihab Nyes Where
Children Live and Theodore Roethkes My Papas Waltz show a direct and
metaphoric correlation with the deficiency that exists greatly in our society.

Naomi Nyes Where Children Live is a poem of happiness and passion. It
plays a time thats extinct where kids actually played outside and enjoyed real life
interactions. Here and now it seems like a physical interaction with one another is
something that is outdated and fake. We lack a means of communication personally but
resort to digital connections. Homes where children live exude a pleasant rumpledness,
like a bed made by a child, or a yard littered with balloons (Noami Nye). Detail by
detail these two lines exhibit a sense that kids present a different form of humanity like
no other. Adults and not even teens can compare to a toddler. A child is a perfect mess.
When Nye writes, exude a pleasant rumpledness it signifies that they release a pleasant
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Experiences in Literature
aura of disorder. They dont see anything wrong with what they do and they enjoy
making a mess because they are still in progress of discovering the basics of life.
Correlating this to what is occurring in our day and age. Toddlers seem to find happiness
in sitting in their house accessing technology, not for their betterment but for their
disadvantage. This not only saddens me but also upsets the older crowd. When given
spell check, we dont use it. When given Google, we dont use it. Reading accessibility
is at the highest peak its ever been. Reading without a doubt is an important habit and
skill that anyone should attain because it not only brings intelligence with it but a sense of
fluidity and understanding in complex texts.

Where Children Live is evidence that toddlers dont care about the same things as
they did in the past. They have been brainwashed by technology and society and have
lost what is important in life. To be a child again one would need to shed details till the
heart found itself dressed in the coat with a hood (Nye). Noami Nye is explaining in
these two lines that we cant just go back to the past in a blink of an eye because it is a
sacred part of life. Its a part of life that you would have to retrace your steps because it
was the stage of life where you were finding yourself and realizing what youre
surroundings were. Being a toddler is drastically different from being an adult.
Adolescence is a sensitive stage and whatever you do will affect you for the rest of your
life. If you build a hobby of eating horrible foods when you are a kid then that will make
you eat bad food when you are older. This one hundred percent connects with reading.
If you grow up reading and gaining knowledge that will only make you hungry for more
intelligence. The problem comes where you indulge your mind in things that you wont
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Experiences in Literature
benefit from so you make it more important than the things that actually matter. The
heart dressed in a coat with a hood is where you feel a safe haven within yourself. Being
a child you feel safe. Your parents protect you and you feel untouchable. Now the heart
has taken on gloves and mufflers, the heart never goes outside to find something to do
(Nye). Gloves and mufflers is the grown up life. You have to work to put food on your
table whereas children have all the time on their hands. The reason why the heart never
goes outside because it is so busy being exhausted and worried about other things. When
you have no worries or responsibilities you are free to do what you want.

And the house takes on a new face, dignified.
No lost shoes blooming under bushes.
No chipped trucks in the drive.

Metaphorically, the current world is translated in the poem. The house is the generations
of people and it takes on a face but the impressive thing is that it is followed by the word
dignified. The definition of dignify is to make (something) seem worthy and
impressive. The key word is seem. Evidently, the word dignify is an allusion to mean
degrade which means to lower in dignity. Furthermore, no lost shoes and no chipped
trucks is an explanation of a change in time. Nye definitely points outs an important part
of growing up and that is experiencing personal encounters with other kids and learning
how someone else is. Learning how other people live, how they react to scenarios, and
how they think in general is an advantage in itself allowing you to become a complex
human being in different fields of life. While the yard of a child is strewn with the
corpses of bottle-rockets and whistles (Nye). Moreover, a childs experiences are
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Experiences in Literature
tremendously different nowadays than before. It is more important for kids to say home
in their rooms looking at a screen than experience life at its greatest.

My Papas Waltz by Theodore Roethke is an extraordinary poem about a drunken
father, an upset mother, and a child that is abused. Although metaphorically it actually
connects to the information age and how technology has consumed the minds of younger
people, not to mention that it only continues to do so. The whiskey on your breath could
make a small boy dizzy (Roethke). Whiskey is a strong word because it signifies
something that can dilute and distort you with a blink of an eye. This is a reflection of
the digital age and its aftermath. Toddlers are involved in things that arent beneficiary to
them while millions of texts are accessible free online. Nye writes how it could make a
small boy dizzy and it sure could. A small boy is vulnerable to anything. Technology
made small boys dizzy. Children are more worried with Facebook, YouTube, and
Twitter rather than be interested in their class work or seeking intelligence that is so easy
to achieve. But I hung on like death: such waltzing was not easy (Roethke). These are
two very forceful and intimidating lines because they signify important things with eye-
catching details. To do what our young society has been doing is easy but not totally
easy. Its something that people around the world who dont have the opportunity would
kill for. To bring this to my experiences, my family is from Brazil and I have been to
Brazil plenty of times. Brazil is a country full of hardship and violence. When I see their
situation compared to mine, I have everything given to me and they dont. They would
kill to have all this information that we in America have and its crazy to realize how
much we take things for granted. Whenever they have the opportunity they read and
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Experiences in Literature
think outside the box. They are full of knowledge that we dont seem to have because we
dont search for it but rather have it given to us. Not everything in life is given but
searched for. We ask for too much in the digital age but dont open our eyes to what we
have already.

We romped until the pans
Slid from the kitchen shelf;
My mothers countenance
Could not unfrown itself.

Consequently, this set of lines could mean a variety of things but one in particular is for
sure. Further romped means to play or frolic in a lively or boisterous manner
(Dictionary.com). Just because it says that doesnt necessarily mean that its literal.
Many allusions are placed to divert readers from the real scenario going on in the poem.
Its a smart move by the poet. Evidently, the first two lines in this quote are explaining
that people in general make their own bad habits and continue doing it until there are
consequences and they are faced with scenarios that if they have chosen to do things such
as reading it wouldve benefitted them greatly. For example in America today, some
college athletes play like adults, read like 5th-graders (Cnn.com). This is an
embarrassing fact. Much less, extremely concerning. The last two lines assure a sense
that the people of America are upset with that number. Countenance is the facial
expression and it explains that the sad expression is implanted and wont go away. The
informational age was meant to serve a purpose but people find their loopholes. Without
a doubt, we should take advantage of what is given to us.
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Experiences in Literature

The hand that held my wrist
Was battered on one knuckle;
At every step you missed
My right ear scraped a buckle.

With certainty, this is the utmost significant part of the poem on the grounds that it gives
insight on how little by little we are deteriorating in expertise because we do to not do.
The knuckle is battered with beating and it can only take so much beating. The steps are
missed to fixing the problem and we suffer which is the right ear being scraped. The
physical damage is basically the mental damage we continue to absorb without noticing.
In My Papas Waltz it says, You beat time on my head with a palm caked hard by
dirt (Roethke). Time is unrecyclable. Its something when passed is gone for good. The
palm caked is a cover we dont see. It hides the real problems. It not only is negative but
it beats us more than ever. Then waltzed me off to bed still clinging to your shirt
(Roethke). We do things and dont take into account whats good for us. Waltzing is
doing something but not taking your surroundings into account. We waltz off to bed and
call it a night and never speak on it again.

In conclusion, the people not only of America are brainwashed but the world in
general. We have gotten so caught up in things for our self-pleasure. We lost the true
meaningful things that are essential to having a strong mental capacity. The digital age
came with such benefits but with such negatives. It brought things never imaginable. Its
something that is irreversible and only those who really realize the importance of it will
make the most of it.
David Ferreira The Digital Age 1/29/14
Experiences in Literature
Works Cited


Ganim, Sara, and Brian Rokus. "CNN Analysis: Some College Athletes Play like Adults,
Read like 5th-graders." CNN. Cable News Network, 08 Jan. 2014. Web. 28 Jan. 2014.
<http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/07/us/ncaa-athletes-reading-scores/>.
McMahan, Elizabeth. Literature and the Writing Process. Boston: Pearson Longman,
2012. Print.
Nye, Noami. ":: Adventures in Daily Living :: : Friday Poetry Where Children Live by
Naomi Shihab Nye." :: Adventures in Daily Living :: : Friday Poetry Where Children
Live by Naomi Shihab Nye. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014.
<http://adventuresindailyliving.blogspot.com/2009/01/friday-poetry-where-children-live-
by.html>.
Roethke, Theodore. "My Papas Waltz." By Theodore Roethke : The Poetry Foundation.
N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2014. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172103>.
"Romped." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
<http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/romped?s=t>.