The CEA Forum - Special Section: Empathy and Ethics - Spanning the Gulf

Oct 15, 2026

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Explores how empathy, dialogue, and harmony help teachers bridge the “gulf” between diverse students and perspectives. Using the metaphor of a gulf as both separation and protected space, it argues that classrooms can feel like an abyss unless communication connects individual experiences. Drawing on a teaching context with varied student demographics and literature selections, it describes strategies such as recognizing personal “pre-texts,” using reading journals, and structuring discussion to transform difference into collegial understanding.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

SPECIAL SECTION: EMPATHY AND ETHICS

SPANNING THE GULF: EMPATHY, DIALOGUE, AND HARMONY IN EXPLORING LITERATURE OF DIVERSITY

Bridging the gulf in classroom communication

Likeness and difference in discussion

Classroom challenges and teaching approaches

Fostering empathy through individual recognition

Listening, dialogue, and reading journals

The CEA Forum Winter/Spring 2007: 36.1 SPECIAL SECTION: EMPATHY AND ETHICS SPANNING THE GULF: EMPATHY, DIALOGUE, AND HARMONY IN EXPLORING LITERATURE OF DIVERSITY Murray McCowen Sellers Any beachcomber can tell you how vast and consequential a “gulf” can be. When I lived in Florida and spent many happy times on the beautiful Gulf of Mexico, I would often refer to it as the ocean because, gazing out over its expansive waters, I felt the same sense of wonder and respect that I felt for the Atlantic on Florida 's opposite shore. A gulf, though, has its own definition. It's a large area of an ocean that is, to some extent, protected—partially enclosed by land. Although it's not nearly as vast as an ocean, it can certainly seem to be, for another definition of a gulf is an abyss. Figuratively speaking, it is often used to refer to a great separating distance—a wide gap. Although our own classes do reflect a closed—even protected—space, they, too, can represent “a great, separating distance,”“a gap,” even an abyss. No matter how small our classroom space or how few our students, I'm sure that all of us have, at times, perceived a kind of gulf—between our students and ourselves, between our students and each other, even within our individual students as they can be separated from the true nature of their own thoughts and feelings. And yet, there are those magical times when that gulf seems virtually nonexistent. No matter the size of the classroom or the number of students, we find we are communicating and understanding—that we are bridging the gaps and building connections that span that gulf. Everybody enjoys spanning the gulf that separates us as individuals. But that gulf—between our backgrounds, our experiences, our priorities, our essential points of view—is not always easy to span. So how do we connect—especially as we read and relate to literature that evokes so many strong differences of opinion, insight, and emotional response? I believe that, in the classroom, "spanning the gulf" of diversity is best achieved through empathy, dialogue, and harmony. One of the most fascinating paradoxes is that of likeness and difference in the ways that individuals view the world. How often in a spirited class discussion do we—and our students—share what seem to be initially similar reactions—only to admit later that we do have some notable differences in our points of view? Yet, as instructors, we want our students to share their fascinatingly individual viewpoints—and, through this sharing, to celebrate the diversity of their perceptions. One of the challenges of every literature instructor is to help “span the gulf” between individuals and thus foster collegial communication. Different venues of teaching call for different approaches. This was my first year of teaching English at a small state university. Many of our 3,000 students haven't spent too much time outside the state of South Carolina.“So where's the gulf?” you might ask. Well, it results, in general, from some out-of-state and out-of-country students and, in particular, from a racial mix of approximately 30% African-American students (in some individual classes, closer to 50%) and from an entire student population which exhibits marked diversity in economic, social, and educational demographics. When I chose “Growing Up in the South” as the unifying theme for my 200-level literature class, I knew that the majority of my students had done just that! But just as they had very different individual experiences in this process, I knew that they would react quite differently to the diversity of books I chose for them to read: Zora Neale Hurston's Dust Tracks on a Road, William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, Eudora Welty's The Optimist's Daughter, John Grisham's A Painted House , Pat Conroy's The Water is Wide, and Dori Sanders' Clover. How could I orchestrate a class of thirty-five students (not English majors, but members of a required General Education course)

FAQs

What does the “gulf” metaphor mean in this essay?

The essay uses “gulf” to represent both a gap between individuals and an abyss-like separation, but also a protected space that can be bridged through communication.

How does the author say teachers “span the gulf” of diversity?

The author believes empathy, dialogue, and harmony are the best means for spanning diversity in the classroom and in discussion of literature.

What classroom approach does the author describe to build empathy?

The author begins by helping students recognize each other and understand how individual “pre-texts” shape responses to texts, then supports this through journals and class dialogue.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by SANS