How the humanities teach teachers about carrying burdens

¶ … Creative Resources

Three works of art have been selected to show the importance of a solid foundation and appreciation for the humanities by anyone in the teaching profession. Even those who teach science, math, engineering and technology (STEM) subjects can benefit from the study of humanities for the lessons they can then bring to their own pedagogy and practice. The selected works include a book, the Things They Carried; a film, Precious; and 1960s pop song, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother." A common theme among these works is the weight of burdens we carry as human beings. Some of our burdens are physical, while others are emotional and psychological. Teachers carry all three types of burdens at various times in their careers. It is the nature of the profession, but to understand some of the burdens one will be asked to carry as a teacher will, hopefully, prepare one to shoulder the load when the weight is too heavy, either literally or figuratively.

Three Works About Burdens: A Book, a Film and a Song

The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien, weaves fiction and personal narrative in a collection of stories about the Vietnam War. All the soldiers carry burdens, some of which can be easily seen and some of which are secret, known only to the person who carries the burden.

For soldiers, there is the required burden, which includes a weapon and rucksack and various tools necessary for survival and basic comfort, including "can openers, pocket knives, heat tabs, wristwatches, dog tags, mosquito repellent, chewing gum, candy, cigarettes, salt tablets, packets of Kool-Aid, lighters, matches, sewing kits, Military Payment Certificates, C rations, and two or three canteens of water" (O'Brien, 1990). Beyond the basics, men carried other physical objects that separated them by tastes and habits: canned peaches for Henry Dobbins, dental floss for Dave Jensen, tranquilizers for Ted Lavender. The men carried emotional burdens, such as the unrequited love Lieutenant Cross felt for pretty Martha, the girl back home, and psychological burdens, such as those suffered by many men both during combat and upon their return home to the United States after their tours of duty.

Precious, the title character in the film of the same name, is an inner city teen who carries burdens too heavy for her years. Physically, she is extremely overweight and her self-esteem suffers because of it. She lives with her lazy, abusive mother and tries, with the help of her grandmother, to care for her young daughter, a child of incest, who has Down's Syndrome. Throughout the film, we see glimpses of Precious' daydreams in which she is happy, successful, and admired. The daydreams help her cope with a bleak life in which she struggles under the weight of responsibility and hopelessness.

The song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" was inspired by the motto of Father Flanagan's Boys Town (Steinberg, 2002). Around 1917, when Flanagan founded Boys' Town, he saw a picture of a boy carrying a younger boy with a caption from which the song lyrics were much later taken. The boy is carrying his brother physically. It is implied, in the picture and in the song, that carrying the brother also means caring for the brother. The lyrics include a line that states "his welfare is my concern." It is not just the physical weight, but also the weight of responsibility that is being carried.

Objective Analysis: The Things They Carried

As a literary work, the Things They Carried borrows from the short story in that it is a collection of vignettes, rather than one main story from beginning to end. The author mixes fact, fiction, and autobiography. The book is about the burdens men carried with them during and after the Vietnam War:

1. Physical burdens: weapons, supplies, items with personal meaning (such as letters)

2. Emotional burdens: unrequited love, sadness, fear

3. Psychological burdens: responsibility for fellow soldiers, memories of horrible sights, sounds, and smells of war.

He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother

The Hollies' song, which has also been recorded by other artists, is both somber and dramatic. It is considered a pop song and its form is that of a ballad. The music starts quietly but soon rises and swells. The lyrics are in the first person and describe carrying someone. The person assures anyone who might be watching that the burden is not heavy, although it may seem to be. The willingness to carry the brother overshadows any physical hardship it might impose to do so. The "long, long road from which there is no return" is life's journey. The narrator urges everyone to help one another ("why not share the load") and sets the example by carrying the brother. By "brother," he does refer to a sibling but to his fellow man. He is helping someone in need. He is accepting responsibility for another human being and does not that the weight of the responsibility is too great. It is what one human being does for another.

Subjective Analysis

The Things They Carried is a serious book, but O'Brien also writes of instances in which the soldiers found happiness and opportunities to laugh and relax. O'Brien does his best to recreate the characters, setting and mood for his readers. He makes the soldiers seem very real and very human. There are heroes in the stories he tells, but mostly the stories are about young men caught in a situation beyond them and doing the best they could. It was easier for some to cope than it was for others. Some, like Lieutenant Cross, made choices they could not live with and carried a deep sense of disappointment in themselves, as well as sadness, anger, and shame. O'Brien's writing style makes it easy to put one's self in the mind of the soldiers and get some understanding of what they went through and what they thought and felt. One can see that they keenly felt the weight of their burdens, both the tangible and especially the intangible ones. The notion of the various kinds of burdens people carry is the overarching theme of the book.

The Similarities Among the Works

The book, the film, and the song all deal with the tangible and intangible burdens we shoulder throughout life. Each work of art demonstrates physical burdens: O'Brien's soldiers carry their packs, Precious carries excess fat and also carries a pregnancy, and the Hollies' narrator calls to mind the picture from Boys' Town where one boy carries another. Each work of art also demonstrates emotional and psychological burdens that people either choose to bear or are forced, by circumstances, to bear.

The Differences Among the Works

Although the three works have the same overarching theme, their impact is different, partly because of form, partly because of content. The Hollies' song is quite brief compared to the time it takes to watch a film or read a book. Its impact is not insignificant, however, because the song was an enormous hit and most Americans, at least those of the Hollies' generation, can probably sing the song note for note and word for word. The message stays with us because the music and lyrics are memorable. Precious provides images that we can carry in our minds. Unlike text, where we must use our imagination to create pictures of characters and scenes, film does that for us. Anyone who has seen Precious surely finds it difficult to forget the images of violence and despair. The Things They Carried is part memoir. Author O'Brien has written other books about Vietnam, but this one is much more personal. It is the work with which most of us can most identify because there are a variety of character types and one is bound to resonate with the reader, reminding him of himself, perhaps, or someone he knows. O'Brien wrote the book in part as self-therapy. He carries the weight of what happened to him and his fellow soldiers in Vietnam.

The Burdens Teachers Carry

As teachers, we carry some physical burdens. These can include piles of textbooks and papers that travel back and forth between home and school in preparation of lesson materials for students. Teachers may also carry laptops, hamster cages, or supplies for a special art project.

Teachers carry many other burdens as well. The greatest of these might be responsibility. Teachers are charged with the task of educating children and that in itself is an enormous responsibility. Teachers often find that they are cast in other roles as well, roles which have additional sets of responsibilities. Teachers may be required, at least part of the day, to be friends, confidantes, counselors, nurses and even surrogate parents. Students have needs that go beyond the academic, and teachers must be prepared to shoulder these responsibilities. They may find that they share the weight of their students' emotional burdens as in, for example, an instance where they must report child abuse. Teachers have their own emotional and psychological burdens, too. They wonder whether they are doing enough for their students. They may feel some guilt about neglecting their own needs or the needs of their loved ones because they are devoting so much time and energy to their students. Teachers may also face financial burdens, as they struggle to pay back their own student loans and as they spend money out-of-pocket for things they want for the classroom.

Although parts of the Things They Carried are grim, the book should remind teachers that, like some of the soldiers, their career is their choice. As such, they agree to shoulder the responsibilities inherent in accepting a place in the profession. Precious should serve to remind teachers that, while they have burdens of their own, they need to be mindful that some of their students might have burdens that are much greater. Teachers may not always know what goes on in the lives of their students. Teachers can draw inspiration from the social worker, teacher, and the nurse, all of whom try to ease the burdens Precious carries. Finally, teachers can draw inspiration from the song by the Hollies. The song is the most hopeful of the three works of art. The lyrics say, in effect, that we are all in this life together. If we can help someone, it is imperative that we try to do so. We must not see it as burden so much as an opportunity to help someone else. If we are able to carry someone, then we are already shouldering the burden. It is not too heavy.