"CONCEPTS AND EXERCISES IN THE CLASSROOM USE OF CANADIAN LITERATURE"

"CONCEPTS AND EXERCISES IN THE CLASSROOM USE OF CANADIAN LITERATURE"Author(s): Stewart MooreSource: Canadian Journal of Social Work Education / Revue canadienne d'éducation en servicesocial, Vol. 2, No. 1 (1976), pp. 3-11Published by: Canadian Association for Social Work Education (CASWE)Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41668840 .

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"CONCEPTS AND EXERCISES IN THE

CLASSROOM USE OF CANADIAN LITERATURE"

Stewart Moore School of Social Work University of Windsor

RESUME L'utilisation de la littératue doit procurer

une expérience agréable qui remplacera avantageusement l'étude parfois ennuyeuse d'un manuel. If faut éviter toute interprétation ou toute utilisation rigoureuses ou dogmati- ques des textes et encourager les étudiants à user d'imagination.

Cet article reproduit des extraits de plusieurs nouvelles suivis de modèles d'exercises en classe. Les personnages représentent des clients du service social; les étudiants doivent in- diquer la façon dont ils traiteraient. Ils peuvent également jouer certaines parties de l'histoire afin de replacer le "cas" dans une perspective plus intéressante.

Les exercices visent surtout l'enseignement de la méthodologie, mais il en ressort d'autres aspects utiles: le comportement humain, le milieu social et la politique sociale.

En plus de recourir à des oeuvres d'imagination pour créer une ambiance de travail social, les étudiants peuvent aussi écrire l'histoire de leur propre vie ainsi que des saynètes repré- sentant des gens qu'ils ont connus. Ces exercices aident l'étudiant à se rendre compte de la continuité de sa vie personnelle et profes- sionnelle; il perçoit ainsi le besoin qu'il y a de s'étudier et de s'assagir aussi bien de sa part que de celle des clients. Ces exercises ont en- core l'avantage d'initier lentement l'étudiant à la rédaction analytique ou résumée et à la préparation d'histoire de cas.

In a previous article in this Journal, I proposed the use of Canadian fiction, poetry, and drama in social work education as one means of adding a rich- ness, variety, and balance that are

often lacking in a strictly textbook approach.1

A number of readers have expressed a desire for more specific details of just how this literature might be used. The present article attempts to re- spond by outlining some classroom exercises, techniques, and procedures utilizing Canadian fiction.

Two basic principles can be stated at the outset: First, the element of en- joyment should not be curtailed in any way. The story or novel, poem or play should be a delightful experience in its own right, and not take on the tone of drudgery nor the burden of a textbook assignment.

Second, inasmuch as stimulation of the imagination is one purpose in using literature, nothing in this article or the previous one should be construed or used in any way as representing a dogmatic interpretation of the literature or a rigid manner of using it. Readers are encouraged to work out their own interpretations, and to try various ways of using literature ac- cording to their own needs - and fancies! Indeed, instructors and students may be encouraged to compile selections from favourite stories and poems into their own anthologies, heeding the advice of Northrop Frye, that "anthologies ought to have blank pages at the end on which the reader

1 Stewart Moore, "Use of Canadian Literature in Social Work Education," Canadian Journal of Social Work Education , Volume 1, Num- ber 1, Fall 1974, pp. 14-25.

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may copy his own neglected favour- ites."2

Rationale for Using Literature 1. From the perspective of the total curriculum, the use of literature fulfils objectives of balance:

a. inclusion of literature offsets the tendency to neglect the imagin- ative dimension in our zeal to quan- tify data. b. we can appreciate the art as well as the science in social work, allowing literature to enhance our vision and insight. c. the academic, theoretical textbook approach is balanced by in- troduction of an emotionally stim- ultating experience through literature. d. a balance may be achieved between subjective and objective, general and particular, intuitive and factual.3

2. From a pedagogical standpoint, the use of literature facilitates movement between "conceptually mediated knowledge and the immediacy of concrete experience."4 This should be of further value in the integration of classroom and field experience. 3. The use of literature provides a practical and stimulating way of build- ing empathy in student responses as

they identify with the fictional characters or compare them with clients. 4. The use of Canadian literature in- troduces a relevant cultural back- ground. One may agree with Margaret Atwood that every "country or culture has a single unifying and informing symbol at its co re... and that... the central symbol for Canada... is un- doubtedly Survival"5 - such a symbol also representing many clients and their struggle for survival. Or, one may oppose such a sweeping na- tional symbol, and rather seek region- al, sub-cultural motifs expressed in fiction. Yet another alternative pre- sents itself in Robertson Davies' com- ment upon seeing Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard performed in Cob- ourg: he contended that the play was really about the local Canadian people who were viewing it, but they didn't know it. "In fact," he said, "some- times I get irritated with people who complain that Canada has no drama. The two great Canadian dramatists are Chekhov and Ibsen."6

My point in citing these varying perspectives is to counter any paro- chialism which might exclude world literature, but at the same time to em- phasize the relevance of a literature written in the culture where one practises social work.

5. The uses of literature suggested in this article fit most readily into methods classes; but, as will be proposed later, there are relevant applications for human behaviour and social en-

2 Northrop Frye, The Bush Garden , Toronto: Anansi, 1971, p. 108. 3 Margaret Laurence quoted in Clara Thomas, Our Nature - Our Voices, Toronto: New Press, 1972, Vol. 1, p. 156, stated one purpose in her writing: "To express something that in fact everyone knows, but doesn't say..." 4 Lewis A. Coser, editor, Sociology Through Literature , Toronto: Prentice-Hall of Canada, Ltd., 1963, p. 5.

5 Margaret Atwood, Survival , Toronto: Anansi, 1972, pp. 31-32. 6 Robertson Davies quoted in Donald Cameron, Conversations With Canadian Novelists , Tor- onto: MacMillan of Canada, 1973, p. 32.

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vironment classes, and for social policy classes.

Hopefully, the reader will discover other purposes and objectives to ful- fil as his or her personal use of literature expands. The possibilities appear limitless. Other specific purposes will be detailed later in the article. First, let us review some specific examples of the classroom use of Canadian fiction.

Classroom Use of the Short Story The short story offers a flexible and

manageable slice of fiction that can be put to many uses in a social work class. Some of the class exercises with Morley Callaghan's, "Luke Baldwin's Vow," may illustrate the versatility of this story.7

The story centres around 12 year old Luke, who has gone to live with his Uncle Henry and Aunt Helen upon the death of his parents. The uncle, manager of a sawmill, was a kindly man, but one of a very practical nature who saw that nothing went to waste. Luke respected his uncle but often grew lonely for his father. At such times, in order to cope with his loneliness, "he began to build up another secret life for himself around the sawmill, and his companion was the eleven-year-old collie, Dan, a dog blind in one eye and with a slight limp in his left hind leg." Together Luke and Dan were pirates, or hunted tigers, or would just lie on the grass where "Luke would say things to Dan he could not say to his uncle or his aunt."

Despite the big gap Dan filled in

Luke's lonely life, to the uncle, Dan was just a fat, lazy, half-blind old dog to be rid of; and one day Unclé Henry asked a millhand to drown Dan. Luke was able to save the dog's life, but then did not know where to go, real- izing his uncle would be angry for thwarting his plans. So Luke and Dan set out down the road to an unknown destination.

This is a crisis point in the story and a good place to stop the telling or the reading of the story in the classroom.

The exercise that follows may be either a written exercise or an oral group presentation in the classroom: 1) in the written format, students are asked to imagine themselves as the social worker assigned to Luke Bald- win at this crisis point in the story, and to write out how they would pro- ceed.

2) in the oral presentation, a small group of students volunteers to discuss the "case" in front of the class. It is assumed that Luke and Dan have been picked up by the police, wander- ing around, dirty and hungry, Luke unwilling to go home. What would a social worker do if called to see Luke? What social work principles apply?

Some actual role-playing of the characters will help to clarify the principles involved. In my class, for example, there were differences of opinion as to how Uncle Henry should be approached by the social worker. At this point the discussion was sus- pended and a role play situation took place between the social worker and Uncle Henry, first by telephone and then in person. Roles were reversed for a different approach; and other students in the class with different ideas were given a chance to play Uncle Henry or the worker.

7 Morley Callaghan, "Luke Baldwin's Vow," Morley Callaghan's Stories , Toronto: The MacMillan Company of Canada Limited, 1959. (Originally titled, "The Little Business Man"), p. 62.

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Some other points raised in class discussion:

How much self-determination is allowed 12 year old Luke?

How might a worker avoid being judgmental with Uncle Henry and his rigid, business-like approach to Luke and Dan?

What principles of family counsel- ing might apply if the worker made a home visit involving Luke, Uncle Henry, and Aunt Helen?

Have four in the class role-play such a session, including reversal of roles at critical points in the interview.

What community resources might be utilized to help Luke?

Now, instead of putting yourself in a social worker's shoes, put yourself in the shoes of Morley Callaghan and finish the story! A group brainstorm- ing approach is productive with this.

Do you have any clients of your own similar to the characters in the story? Has this exercise given you any insight in working with your clients?

What coping mechanisms has Luke utilized in dealing with the loss of his father? with his loneliness? with ad- justment to his new home? with the threatened loss of Dan?

Three students in a "point of view exercise" tell how they feel as Uncle Henry, as Luke, as Aunt Helen. Some- one even wanted to play Dan!

As may be readily seen from the above suggestions, where fact and fiction mix, the possibilities are in- teresting and exciting.

Another Kind of Client Some modern (perhaps the word

is "mod") clients, like their counter- parts in fiction, cannot always be approached as one would approach the Lukes and Uncle Henrys on one's caseload. In illustrating this point, I

turn to a short story in a recent issue of a Canadian periodical devoted to fiction. I take the opening lines of this story as the first words a client says when he comes into the social worker's office. Classroom students put themselves in the role of the worker and try to formulate an opening response to him.

Yesterday my wife left me , no word of warning , no scenes , I walked into the bedroom and found her packing.

"That's right , jerk " she said , " I'm

getting out of your life , you prick , I can't get out of this house fast enough.

"

Fine , I said, are you taking the kid? " The kid , the kid , the kid' " she

said , " do you even know her name? You bet I'm taking her , she isn't safe here with y oui"

What have we done to our wom- en?*

Students are asked to write down their proposed response to this client at this point. Then I read on:

Not that it bothered me. I waved them down the hall and

out the door , told them if they changed their minds it would be all right with me.

If you want to come back , fine , if you want to make this permanent , fine - no hard feelings on my part.

My wife came running back inside a few minutes later to tell me she'd like to kick my ass , nothing would give her more pleasure. " Someone ," she said , "

ought to knock some sense into you before it's too late. If I was only big enough or strong enough or stupid enough , I'd

8 Leon Rooke, "Wintering in Victoria," in The Canadian Fiction Magazine , Autumn, 1974, p. 66.

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do it myself. Man , would I give it to you'"

Does this additional dialogue in- fluence your original response? What if the client had kept talking and stop- ped here rather than earlier, would your response have been different? Write your revised approach. What "sense" would you try to impart to the client, if any, before it is too late?

Some students who have been taking this client very "straight" up to this point now begin to get a puzzled look on their faces as I read on:

I put down the latest issue of Fiddle- head, got up out of the easy chair and bent over.

Go ahead , I said , this ought to make it easier.

This is a productive point at which to stop reading the opening dialogue of the story, and to have a class discussion. A spur to the discussion may simply be, "Our clients' stories, like this story, unfold in bits and pieces and layers. What happens if we jump in too soon? How can we protect our clients and ourselves from our very human tendency to jump to conclusions before the client has told his story?"

The discussion should trigger responses that deal with student ques- tions in working with similar or different clients they have in the field. The instructor's initial task was to get a discussion moving, to elicit student responses; now his task is to try to help students to conceptualize from the specifics of the story: what social work principles are involved here?

Another instructor task is to use the story as a jumping off place for en- hancing student skills: through role- playing parts of the stories, students gain experience in such interview skills as attending, listening, responding.

Selecting Stories Stories may be selected for specific

classroom purposes: - to call attention to a social work principle - to focus on a social problem - to sharpen student skills in certain areas (observation, listening, diagno- sis, etc.) - to focus upon the plight of a particular type of client (categorized by problem, class, race, age, for instance).

An example of the latter, an aged client, may be brought out in Alice Munro's, "The Peace of Utrecht."

As I watch my entertaining old aunts I wonder if old people play such stylized and simplified roles with us because they are afraid that anything more honest might try our pa- tience , or if they do it out of delicacy , to fill the social time , when in reality they feel so far away from us that there is no possibility of communicat- ing with us at all.9

Part of the whole communication process, of course, involves the tone as well as the content; and, although the aunt let her voice begin to show emotion when discussing another's death, she soon brought it back under control, "for having lived this long who would not be an old hand at grief and self-control?"10

The element of control, rather than self-control, is portrayed in stark nar- rative portraiture in the same story. Their father dead, two sisters are car- ing for their dying mother. In the fol-

9 Alice Munro, "The Peace of Utrecht," in Canadian Short Stories , (Second Series) ed. by Robert Weaver. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1968, pp. 275-76. 10 Ibid., p. 281.

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lowing passage Alice Munro portrays the struggle for control of parent and child. The passage depicts human behaviour in stark relief, and as such may elicit the interest and study of social work students:

I'll be out in a minute , I have to deal with Mother. It might be that we had to perform some of the trivial and unpleasant services endlessly re- quired , or that we had to supply five minutes' expediently cheerful con- versation, so remorselessly casual that never for a moment was there a recog- nition of the real state of affairs , never a glint of pity to open the way for one of her long debilitating sieges of tears . But the pity denied , the tears might come anyway - the melo- dramatic sobs rising out of the half- paralyzed throat in an unbearable celebration of misery , so that we were defeated ; we were forced , to stop that noise , into the most fright- ful parodies of love , in which she tried , through her creaking throat , to plead for kisses in coy pitiable child- ish tones , and we gave them , she watching with a little cunning at the bottom of her glazed eyes for the signs in us , of revulsion or coldness at which she might weep again . But we grew cunning too , unfailing in cold solicit- ude; we took away from her our anger and impatience and disgust , took all emotion away from our dealings with her , as you might take away meat from a prisoner to weaken him , till he died. 1 1

The passages quoted from Munro deal with the aged and the dying, and as such might be useful in classroom discussions of these two topics. However, it would be short-sighted to

limit the use of such insightful fiction to these areas. And therein lies the generous utility of fiction in social work education: it can usually be ex- tended beyond the specific situation, and thus has wider implications for student learning; and, customarily, it has a freshness and vitality lacking in a strictly textbook approach to learning. Some strange things hap- pen to the vitality and vividness of human behaviour on their way into many social work monographs, "and in their place we find abstract categories..."12

Use of an Entire Story Some of the exercises suggested to

this point concentrate upon selected passages for classroom use. An example of a story that might be used in its entirety is Ralph Gustafson's 'The Pigeon."

This is the story of 10 year old Deborah, left alone in a big house while her parents are out one evening. She hears noises up in the attic, but has been forbidden to go there. She wants to be brave, in large part to answer to the disdain her father has for her; he had communicated many times to her, "for God's sake why weren't you a boy, Deborah?"13

Deborah held her breath . Her thought came enormous and com- plete. It would be the bravest deed of all her life if she went straight into the attic as he would want . Every-

11 / bid., pp. 269-70.

12 The quotation reflects a similar plight in the field of anthropology, and is from, Anthro- pology Through Literature , edited by James P. Spradley and George E. McDonough. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1973, p. xiii. 13 Ralph Gustafson, "The Pigeon," in Cana- dian Short Stories , London: Oxford Univer- sity Press, 1960, p. 217.

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thing would be made different . Deb- orah sat , believing hard . S7ze could tell him it was just nothing in the attic . ,4/îrf Ae would like being her father. 14

Although terrified every step of the way, Deborah went up into the attic and found a pigeon there was making the noise. Her terror subsided and she got some milk and bread for the pigeon. Her fear was replaced by a love for the pigeon, an affection that filled her great loneliness in that house. She planned a secret life in the attic, just the pigeon and herself; but when her parents' car was heard com- ing in the driveway, Deborah rushed down to her bed to feign sleep. Fear gripped her again, however, when she thought of her father's gun, and how he would use it to kill the pigeon. So she returned to the attic, opened a window, and tried to chase the pigeon out to freedom. In her anxious panic to drive the pigeon out of the attic, Deborah accidentally killed it and then ran down to her parents' bedroom, sobbing, "I killed it! I killed it!" Her mother tried to comfort her, thinking Deborah had experienced a nightmare. Her father was just dis- turbed and wanted to get to sleep, but the mother convinced him to go into the attic and see what was bother- ing the girl. He came down with the dead pigeon dangling from his hand. " What the hell have you been doing in the attic?" he asked her.

The guilt , familiar but now com- plete , whelmed Deborah's mind. " I didn't do iti I didn't do iti she told him.

"Stop yelling he ordered. "Georgel" her mother turned to

Deborah. " It isn't your fault , I'm sure , darling." She looked back at her father.

" Can't you see the child's hys- terical?"

" Then she better get over it" he said.

Deborah looked up from the pigeon to her father's face. The hate seared alive.

"/ never willl I never willl" she screamed at him.15

In one classroom exercise utilizing "The Pigeon," three students volunteer to role-play the three characters in the story: Deborah, the mother, the father. The entire class will have read the story beforehand, and the three characters will read or speak the last lines of the story as a refresher and to set the mood. Some of these lines have been quoted above. The exercise at this point may take one or several paths for student learning: 1. A home or office setting may be staged in the classroom, and various students may demonstrate how they might conduct both individual and family interviews.

2. One or more specific techniques might be demonstrated by the instructor or students: e.g., how does a worker prepare family members for seeing them individually without giving the impression that secrets and plots are being discussed behind their backs? It is much easier to demonstrate such points with the use of the story, for the students will have been immersed in both the details of the problem and also the dimensions of the characters.

14 Ibid., p. 218. >5 Ibid., p. 228.

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3. The three characters may present separate monologues to the class, ex- panding upon the story in giving their unique points of view. This exercise serves very well as a corrective to student (and worker) over-identification with certain clients (in this case, Deb- orah). How, then, does the mother feel, torn as she is between daughter and husband? How does the father feel - and, more important, can we put ourselves in his shoes so that we can reach him and help resolve this family conflict?

4. Workers in a wide variety of agen- cies will try to serve clients who have experienced rejection. "The Pigeon" illustrates the rejection of a girl who was supposed to have been a boy. What other kinds of rejection do clients experience? In other words, the story may be used as a jumping off point to discuss one of the concepts related to social work practice. 5. These are only some suggestions. Instructors and students will find numerous other ideas once they get into the spirit of using fiction in the classroom. One other idea is the use of an Inner Group - Outer Group technique. In this format, a group of students sits in a circle and discusses the story or a section of it. Outside this circle the rest of the class, or another group in a circle, will listen to the inner group comments and make its own suggestions and criticisms from time to time.

Although the exercises outlined in this article infer their use in methods classes, they are also adaptable to human behaviour and social environ- ment classes (applying age-and-stage concepts, was Luke's behaviour age appropriate? Was Deborah's? What defense mechanisms did each use?)

and to social policy classes (classroom use of stories may present the plight of a minority group, or dramatize the urgent need for certain policy changes).

The use of literature in the social work classroom provides for one means of allowing total immersion in the people and places and problems of the stories. This facilitates training in empathy, surely one of the cornerstones of social work: to see and to feel, as much as possible, the client's world.

Another use, described by Robert- son Davies through the words of one of his characters:

These literary figures , you know , provide us with an excellent short- hand for talking about aspects of ourselves, and we all encompass several of them.16

This implies a use in social work training which perhaps might be made more explicit: social work students are trained to assist clients in self-exploration, growth, and change. It is hoped that they are also engaged in a process leading to their own self- exploration, growth, and change; and that social work principles and values become a way of life rather than gim- micks intended only for client con- tacts. Social work principles are not all that esoteric, but make good sense in all interactions: beyond the agency walls and consultation room doors; for example, to listen to one's spouse as well as one's client, to keep con- fidential the neighbour's as well as the patient's secret. The use of literature in the classroom demonstrates the con- tinuity of life in fiction, in a profes-

16 Robertson Davies, The Monticare , New York: Viking Press, 1972, p. 93.

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sional setting, and in the student- worker's own life. Students may be encouraged to write their own stories, as autobiographical vignettes, or as character sketches of relatives and friends they have known. This is val- uable preparatory work, especially for beginning undergraduate students, who may then move more freely into writing process and summary recordings and social histories. The leap is not so great from personal to professional, from familiar to strange, from I to Thou.

The leap which is not so simple to make - and which fiction may help them to bridge - is between concep- tual and concrete and then back to the concept again, from particular to general and then to particular. These bridges are made by social workers in the field, and they form the basic patterns of social work textbooks. But much of the flavour of the personal is lost in the textbook aim to delineate categories and generalities. Through use of fiction, students can re- turn to the vitality and reality at the fountainhead, observe and study clients (characters) from the inside, and then analyze and conceptualize for themselves rather than having a ready-made textbook example set before them. The bonus, of course, is that this whole process of utilizing fiction can be a delightfully interest- ing experience.

Recently George Woodcock wrote: Not so very long ago , even in Ca-

nada , the idea that there could be anything worth calling a Canadian literature was widely greeted with something very close to derision and contempt.11

No more. A substantial body of fine writing exists in both French and English, offering a variety that should suit every taste in the novel, short story, poetry, and drama. In this article and the previous one, a number of selections has been suggested for utilizing this literature, and for bring- ing to the classroom a fascinating and interest-provoking way of enhanc- ing social work education.

17 George Woodcock, "Books" in Maclean's , May, 1974, p. 100.

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