Both pieces of text refer to the idea of solitude and self-reflection. The first passage has to do with the author comparing her self-realization to that of Moby Dick. Captain Ahab stares at the white whale to see himself revealed. Houston went into the white wilderness to see nothing but her reflection. Kerouac’s passage is referring to the mind staying pure in a world clouded with poor judgement and bad decisions. When I went hiking in Montana, I experienced whiteness when looking out into a valley on top of a gorgeous peak next to a water fall. I saw natural beauty and clarity and it all reflected upon what I wanted in my life. In my life, there will be people that try to interfere with my judgement by clouding my air with unreasonable ideas. I simply have to make sure that I stay true to my intuition in order to avoid being corrupted. Humans get caught up in the whiteness and the factory smoke because it’s easy and it’s what’s most common in society. People are too quick to take the easy way out. One will find themselves as soon as they realize the path less traveled is the path most rewarding.
Being put in small groups encourages kids to socialize and vocalize their interpretations for discussions. It makes kids think out loud and therefore they bring more ideas out of their head to share with others. Teachers gain because the end result is a classroom full of kids that are involved and aware of what’s being discussed in the class at the time. Group work highly encourages participation and thought from students. Problems that can arise from group work include: interfering ideas, exclusion of a member, and rarely, lack of cohesion between members of the group. For the most part, group discussions tend to end well rather than badly.
Washington Park Expeditions 