ZIGZAG: An Analysis

“Whitman gave my spiritual needs plenty to think about. His ideas were so much more companionable to me than the quibbling over how baptisms were conducted or whether infants needed saving because of innate sinfulness. The spiritual path I was following was not one of conventional religious faith. Literature was meeting my spiritual needs. The minds of fellow humans were highlighting what mattered in life, were revealing emotions people experienced, were articulating ideas I felt in my bones and other ideas I hadn’t thought about. I was content with that” (Romano 76).

I found this passage, among many others, particularly interesting. Here, Romano is referring to literature as religion. You get a foreshadowing of this passion earlier in the narrative when he speaks of his childhood. In chapter four, as a young boy Romano begins his first writing assignment on heavyweight champion Jack Dempsey. He is enthralled in the juvenile biography and even more-so in his own writing on the novel. “But what a transformation! My tilted pedestrian handwriting squeezed… just as you saw in books” (Romano 22). Then merely twenty pages later, we learn of Romano’s experience with organized religion. “Yet in that catechism there was no discussion… and not appropriate for Lutherans” (Romano 47). Then, again, in chapter eighteen we see through discussion how much Romano values literature and learning. In a discussion with a student Romano is frustrated he cannot sway a boy to choose knowledge as the quality to carry with him in his life. Instead the boy chose pleasure. A strong case is made for each, and yet Romano finds himself discouraged when class is over. Not knowing, Romano himself learned a lesson through this discussion through teaching (88).

If looking at just this passage, without knowledge of the rest of the book, I still find it compelling. It is full of passion. He gives praise to one of his favorite authors, and compares the ideas having knowledge can create much more important than any “conventional faith.” The words he read on paper were better than confessing your sins and being cleaned of sin. This entire paragraph could be a poem in my mind- it is full of metaphor and description for knowledge.

Each chapter tells a story, each linking a time of his life to a future lesson, each chapter giving insight, whether spelt out or undercover, as to why Tom Romano is passionate in teaching and writing.