As an avid fan of "Breaking Bad," I was very interested in the reference brought up by Onno in class on Thursday about Whitman's influence and relation to Walter White. Continuing the conversation of the article posted by Onno, I also came across this article that draws parallels between Leaves of Grass and Walter White [Spoiler alert: the article discusses the show up to season 5 episode 8]. Even if you haven't watched the show, this article poses several interesting points about the nature of Whitman's poetry and the "visions of freedom" that the poem describes.
As the article notes, "in 'Song of Myself,' two concepts of freedom emerge: an idea of awareness or transcendence, and an idea of an individualism that honors personal experience over the ideas of sacrifice for the better good of society... 'Song of Myself' can be interpreted as a call to experience life, and that through experience, one can find fulfillment and freedom from the mundane." Walter White lived a relatively monotonous life as a high school chemistry teacher before he became involved in the meth industry. However, he found escape from the uniformity of his every day life through a sense of individual accomplishment and control, and as the show later reveals, his addiction to cooking meth stemmed from a selfish desire to satisfy himself rather than to benefit his family. As a result, we see that he is driven by motivation to find his own sense of freedom. I found it very interesting to see how these different ideas of freedom relate to Whitman's perspective and the overall "American dream." Particularly in the 19th century, the "American dream" heavily relied on the idea that coming to America would provide a transformative experience where people could be free to separate themselves from their past selves. Immigrants saw America as an opportunity to become someone new. It's also interesting to note the contradictions that arise from the ideas of freedom inside the United states as the article also mentions, "freedom is both blessing and curse, and a nation that believes in liberty is also one that suppresses and controls certain parts of its population and goes to war with itself over that control."
"Song of Myself" demonstrates how these ideals of freedom shaped American culture and raises questions about the nature of self-sufficiency, control, and self-fulfillment, and all the contradictions that these entail. How individualism plays a role in characterizing our ideas of freedom is integral in defining what we think of when we think of "Americanness."
Having never watched more than the first three episodes of "Breaking Bad," I cannot speak to how Walter White experienced freedom. However, the American brand of freedom, particularly that the individual has a fundamental right to freedom is very clear in Song of Myself. Whitman spends the poem writing his experience as an individual free to experience rather than writing of himself as part of a group or as part of a shared experience. Emphasis on individuality is also present in Whitman's multiple instances of encouraging the reader to figure something out for themselves instead of relying on another for an opinion.
ReplyDeleteLike Taryn, I too haven't ever gotten into "Breaking Bad", but think this is a very interesting parallel. The subliminal references to Whitman make sort of an inside joke with those familiar with Whitman's work, while being not at all crucial to understanding to the show. Wiith so many of these ideas being Emersonian as well, I wonder how different an Emerson-influenced character would be from Walter White.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that article, it was a really interesting read. I was particularly excited to learn about the episode "Gliding Over All", and how that was a reference to Whitman, because I hadn't known that.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to hear about possible connections between Whitman and White, and your point about Walter White breaking from free from the mundane does make sense. But I still have trouble connecting the two men. I loved watching Breaking Bad, and was a fan of Walt, but I wonder if the connection lies not only in Whitman's sense of freedom, but also in the fame that Whitman experienced in reality. Whitman we remember; he's in American history textbooks and countless English classes. But one of the reigning questions of Breaking Bad was (and I don't believe this gives anything away), will Walt succeed in the meth business, or go down, forgotten, in flames?