Interpretive Reading Analysis
Q1
Neil Scott-Barbour begins the poem “Sick” with dramatic facial and body expressions to tell Peggy Ann McKay’s story who fakes illness because she does not want to go to school. The girl showed adverse signs that her parents fell for it, thus letting her stay at home. Neil uses body language to emphasize on Peggy’s sickness (Silverstein, 2003). The story is purposefully meant to describe human nature. People would do whatever it takes to get what they are looking for.
Q2
Neil uses various nonverbal communication techniques when reciting the poem. He uses vocal variety to avoid monotony. Vocal variety is when Neil varies the speed and volume of his voice. For instance, Neil’s voice volume is high at the beginning of the poem. He does this to capture the audience’s attention, besides implying how firm Peggy’s decision was concerning not going to school. Besides that, his voice volume reduces when he says, “My belly button’s caving in” (Silverstein, 2003) to show how intense Ann’s pain was regarding her sickness. Through this, he was able to vary his pitch, which keeps the audience lively. The speed of Neil’s voice slows down when he says, “I think my hair is falling out” (Silverstein, 2003) to show Peggy’s perplexity. At the start of the poem, Neil’s posture is straight to show confidence. However, as he continues narrating the poem, he slightly bends to use gestures, especially when describing the line “My elbow’s bent, my spine ain’t straight,” (Silverstein, 2003) to show how adverse Peggy’s sickness was. He also uses gestures when he covers his eye with his hand when saying that Peggy’s one eye was going blind. Throughout the narration, Neil tries to maintain eye contact with the audience. He only looks down when referring to the line of the poem. Neil leaves the podium to stress Peggy’s happiness because she realized it was on Saturday. Thus she did not have to give her parents more excuses for not going to school. It is when Neil changes the pace of the poem to avoid boring his audience. He does this part dramatically to express how the story unfolds.
Q3
The one thing that Neil fails to use is pauses. They are moments of silence incorporated when narrating the poem. It is used to emphasize the meaning of the poem lines, besides showing their importance. Neil narrates the poem continuously; he should have incorporated a moment of silence before unfolding when Peggy was going to do after realizing that it was on a Saturday.
References
Silverstein, S. S. A. (2003). Sick.