Upon our return from Spring Break, I will ask my English 105 students to contribute a song to our Soundtrack of Our Reading. In this case, they search their own personal music archives for a tune that best represents our reading.
When you read, do you ever tap your foot? Does music ever spark an idea in your head? Can you come up with a song or an artist that blends music and literature? Joyce Carol Oates wrote one of her most enduring works of short fiction after hearing Bob Dylan on the radio. I enjoy discussing music with my students. This assignment calls for equal amounts of Creativity and Critical Thinking. Our goal is to find a song or an artist that best represents the pain and suffering we have read about this semester. The music is the rhythm of our writing. The flow of our words convey who we are. From our discussions, I see that my students offer a wide variety of musical interests: Hip-Hop, Heavy Metal, Classic Rock, Musica Nortena…
We are currently reading Motorcycle on the Sea of Tranquility by Patricia Santana. It’s a sixties novel about a young soldier’s return from Vietnam. Chuy, the name of the soldier, comes home with severe anxiety and distress. He is just not the same anymore. He may never will be. Before he was the hero of the neighborhood; now, he’s sullen and aloof. Frightening. Violent. His family and friends don’t know what to do. The sixties are so far away, and my students may have little knowledge or concern for our military intervention in Vietnam, but the real-life drama in this book will touch them. We all know people who suffer, or have suffered, grief and heartache. Talking about the book and writing about it will lead us to greater understanding and compassion.
Yoli spends much of the first part of the novel in the shadows. She’s a young, sensible girl who respects her parents and loves her siblings. But in doing so, she seems to puts others before herself. It’s like she works so hard to help others, so she has no time for her own needs. At age 14, however, she begins to feel a change come all over herself. Her feelings change. Her priorities shift. She wants more out of life. When she falls in love with Francisco, nothing will ever be same again. She changes with each chapter. She grows up fast.
I found a song by Taylor Swift called “Sparks Fly.” Taylor may have been feeling what Yoli was feeling when she wrote this song. Taylor knows that we all walk around with something dangerous inside of us. Combustible. Like a box of matches. We have to be careful, because if we’re not, we let someone get too close to set us off. That’s when emotions intensify. That’s when sparks fly.When that happens to the girl in the song, it’s over. She’s on FIRE!
“Drop everything now.. Meet me in the pouring rain..Kiss me on the sidewalk. Take away the pain” That’s why I think it’s the perfect song for Yoli. For nearly the entire book Yoli struggles with who she is and what she wants. She listens more to others when she should be listening to her own heart. When she gives Francisco The Look; it’s only then does she know who she is. She is strong and independent and hot. “Drop everything now” Get it?
In class, I will ask my students to compare lyrics from the song with passages from the novel.
By the time we get to it, they will be well-accustomed to my graphic organizer charts:
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“Sparks Fly” – by Taylor Swift |
Motorcycle on the Sea of Tranquility – by Patricia Santana |
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The way you move is like a full-on rainstorm |
“I knew a lot of them thought of me as La Miss Head-in-the-Clouds, kind of hippie-ish, kind of Shakespeareish, kind of quien-sabe-que…” (30). |
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And you stood there in front of me |
“And when the pinches cabrones finally walked past me, silent and embarrassed, not knowing what kind of walk to walk, Francico’s eyes and mine met, and I gave him The Look” (164). |
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Drop everything now, meet me in the pouring rain |
“I was eager to be reckless and independent, eager to be against my family and upbringing – those old fashioned values that stunted one’s growth, one’s sexuality, one’s individuality. Like the heroes of the movies of 1969. I wanted to be an Easy Rider” (135). |
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Get me with those green eyes, baby 'Cause I see sparks fly |
“He was dark – very Moreno – and this in itself was exciting. What a striking couple we would make: He, Moreno, dark-eyed, black hair slicked back, while I stood next to him, his girl – no, his woman – light skinned, light-eyed, soft brown hair. His arm would be around me, protecting me, because I was his woman and he was my man” (161). |
Jay's Note:
I know. I know. When my students see see this post, some of them are going to think, "Oh, No!" This might look like a lot of work. I mean, we haven't even completed the novel yet. We are still working on our sixties research papers. My hope is that we can multi-task. That we can walk and chew gum at the same time. My students in the past have brought diverse performers such as Lana Del Rey, Christina Aguilera, Los Tigres del Norte and Metalica to this discussion. I chose Taylor Swift. Why? Because her song works. I enjoyed analyzing the lyrics and searching ]the novel for places where the ideas matched. For me, writing is a lot EASIER when it's FUN.
People… LET'S WORK TOGETHER. This is going to be great. You will see.
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