Issue 11.1 Fall 2015

11.1 cover image

 

Evan Nave's Thoughts Like: and many other fine chapbooks are available through Press 254

 

The Value of X: an Individual or a Number?

 

Alissa Williams

 


Evan Nave writes: “I was / too busy calculating my / mortality to bother solving / for the
value of x.” (1518).

 

In these few lines, someone can easily think of a time when they were inschool and they had other things on their minds besides the actual subject of school. It can be difficult for students to focus on the subject of school when they are facing personal problems in their daily lives. Students are often forced to disregard personal problems or face the consequences of their grades suffering because they brought their issues along with them to school. In our education system, there is not any room for a student to bring their personal lives with them once they enter the doors of the institution. The poem, “17” by Evan Nave accurately displays how in our education system, there is more often than not an obvious disconnect
between a student’s everyday life and a student’s “school life;” our educational system does not
provide room for a student’s emotional needs but instead has a wide girth for a student’s
statistical capability.


In order to clearly see the disconnect between a student’s everyday life and a student’s school life displayed by the poem, it is important to look at the overall structure of it. Each line of the poem reads as an incomplete thought, except for lines 1 and 10, which read: “I am choking/.../ I was not well” (Nave). Even though these lines can be considered complete thoughts, they are still choppy and short in content. These two lines introduce us early on to the student’s internal conflict versus the setting that the student is currently in. Besides the fragmented thoughts, the poem as a whole appears as one large stanza and there are not clear breaks where a new stanza begins or ends; or in other words the syntax of the poem is difficult to cipher through. In order to help piece things together, I broke it up into four stanzas for each sentence of the poem. Three out of four of the sentences begin with “I,” while the other begins with “my algebra teacher.” This is important to note because the student, 75% of the time, is thinking about his
personal situation rather than the subject of class. The disjointed thoughts throughout the lines of
the poem stand out in the last couple of lines of the poem. Evan Nave writes: “my thoughts are
not / math.” (1920).

 

These two lines exemplify how our educational system is focused on what a student can bring as a statistic. It exemplifies this because math is a black and white subject, and one can infer that these lines are saying that the narrator’s thoughts are more sporadic, while the educational system as a whole is calculated like the subject of math. Another example of this disconnect, within the structure of the poem, are the number of lines that can be considered as openended questions, such as line 7, “how I am,” or line 14, “how can I explain to,” (Nave).

 

These open-ended questions are focused on emotional responses and not premeditated expectations. These questions display how within our educational system many students’ questions are left unanswered because the institution does not cover real world material but instead provides plenty of material that will provide our education system with positive statistics. As well as the overall structure of the poem, the reader must also examine the language and wordplay of the poem. The words the narrator chooses are very determined and deliberate.


Some examples of this are choking, twisted, paper basket, abacus, and mortality (Nave 1,3,5,13,17). The narrator’s words leave a metallic kind of taste in the reader’s mouth, meaning that the words almost cut the air, or they have a heavy tone to them. All of these words imply that there is some sort of tension around the student. This displays the disconnect between the student’s everyday life and the student’s “school life,” when the reader is introduced to the algebra teacher. Evan Nave writes: “My algebra / teacher walks by and asks / how I am/ well enough to sit / through lunch if / I was not well / enough to sit / through his morning / class /” (513).


This scene is an example of when a student is having personal problems and it is hard for
the student to go about the mundane tasks of school. The algebra teacher has no concern for the
student’s wellbeing, but instead why the student was unable to provide what the teacher wanted
in class. Nave writes in the scene beforehand: “I am choking / down lunch after / my thoughts
twisted my break / fast into the school nurse’s waste / paper basket./” (15), and the reader knows
that the narrator had an impossible time keeping down food this morning and that the narrator is
barely able to eat at that moment. The teacher is a representation of our educational system and
how it requires all who enter the doors of any institution to leave all outside thoughts of life at
the door. The wordplay throughout the whole poem is very heavy. For example, in line 15, Nave
uses the word “abacus” to describe his algebra teacher. An abacus is an old, outdated manual
version of a calculator. Nave uses this term in a sarcastic tone and implies that the teacher is a
manual, or autopiloted, version of the education system, which displays the disconnect between
the student and the algebra teacher. Another example of wordplay found in the poem is line 18:
“for the value of x” (Nave). The word value can mean worth in a numerical sense or how useful
something is to a certain situation or person. The way that Nave is using the word value, on the
surface, it appears that Nave is simply talking about value in the numerical context, but under the
surface one can infer that Nave is also using the word value in the personal context. This displays
how the narrator is internally evaluating their value as a person and an individual while they are
learning to find the numerical value of a given equation; which in turn, is an example of how our
school system is not concerned with a student’s emotional value, but instead their numerical
value.

Along with the overall structure and language of the poem, another element that is
significant in displaying the disconnect between students’ everyday lives and school lives is the
subject the poem discusses. Out of all of the various school subjects Nave could have selected,
he chose mathematics. In my opinion, math is a very cold subject; and by this I mean that there is
not any freedom in the subject of math. People do not have the option for creativity or “rulebreaking”
when math is involved. In any equation, there are wrong answers and there is singularly a correct answer. This is notable because it contrasts what Nave is actually discussing internally while the narrator is sitting in the hallway trying to eat lunch. The narrator is trying to express that his thoughts are irregular and unrestricted while the subject of math is very rule-oriented. This helps display this disconnect because typically students are not very structured in life and are often spontaneous, while within our school system there is a set structure and no room for spontaneity. Also, throughout the poem, Nave uses math lingo, or terms, to help describe his personal feelings. For example, some of the terms Nave uses are: “algebra, calculating, solving, and value of x” (5, 1618). Nave’s use of these terms extends the poem’s
subject matter into the realm of mathematics. The subject matter of math is substantial in
displaying the disconnect between a student’s everyday life and their school life because math
does not allow for emotional processes, but instead statistical and numerical processes much like
our educational system.

 

Although this poem is short in content, it is rich in context. Through the use of this short structure and being concise to depict the setting and emotional state of the narrator, the reader is able to identify what the turmoil and conflict is that the narrator faces. One can easily relate to the difficulty that students face trying to achieve academic success with little to no emotional support in the school environment. The poem, "17", by Evan Nave holds substantial evidence to support the obvious disconnect between a student's everyday life and a student's "school life" in our educational system. It also makes a point to show that our educational system does not provide room for a student's emotional needs. Instead, students are seen as numbers based on their individual academic achievement and what they bring to the district in statistical data of school achievement. The reader can feel this obvious disconnect and need for change in order to meet the student’s needs by the author’s use of language, word choice, subject matter and overall structure. Upon reading this poem, one should hope for a better way of helping students with all of their needs. Perhaps, through structural changes schools will be able to relate students’ personal lives to their academic lessons in order to produce wellrounded individuals that are able to cope and contribute to society upon entering the real world at their time of graduation.

 

Works Cited
Nave, Evan. "17." Thoughts Like: . Ed. Steve Halle. Normal: Press 254, 2012. 28. Print

 

 

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