Cipher in the Snow

I think that George Mead's theory of Symbolic Interaction can be seen in the story of "Cipher in the Snow". Mead says that symbolic interaction is more than just talk (Griffin, p.54). In the story, Cliff was known not to communicate verbally well. I think it becomes the responsibility or the parents, past teachers and people around Cliff to recognize this. I believe that if people of influence would have gotten involved earlier in Cliff's life, maybe he would have felt more comfortable telling people around him if he wasn't well. Not only that, but recognizing he did not verbally communicate well, others could have recognized signs he was not well he probably was giving off physically.

George Mead talks about taking the role of the other, or looking glass self, as the mental self-image that results in taking the role of the other (Griffin, p. 58). I think that the people around Cliff that relentlessly run him down, from the teachers to a somewhat verbally abusive step-dad, they helped form what Cliff thought of himself. Even the teachers that Cliff named as his favorite, remembered him in an insignificant role.

The story uses self-fulfilling prophecy (Griffin, p.62) in a way that people had expectations of Cliff, that Cliff was not able to live up to. The article tells of Cliff's relatively high I.Q. levels up to 7th grade. I think Cliff and his teachers had the expectations of him to keep it up, but the teachers did not recognize that would have to help continuing to mold Cliff into an intellectual student, and without their help he would shut down instead of excel.

My personal feelings about the story goes along with a lot of what I feel is wrong with society these days. Used to, a teacher could spend more time worried about how a child was doing. They had the right to call the parents and talk to them about what may be troubling them. Now, if a teacher were to step in, they have to be concerned by backlash from the parents or school administration about getting too involved. Also, in the family unit, I have step-children myself. Some I have a better relationship with than others. But the one thing I find important, is getting to know them well enough to know if there is a real problem with one of them, and if I don't feel like they would be receptive to my help, make sure I find someone that can talk to them.

Sources Cited

Griffin,