Sam Hammill Response

Any person that has a way with words can accomplish the impossible. Sam Hammill, for example, is a man that has a dazzling talent when writing, and very likely, speaking as well. In my opinion, one of the greater powers a human being can have is the ability to effectively speak his/her mind in a way that not many can. I didn’t expect to be that impressed with Sam Hammill’s “The Necessity to Speak,” but I gave it a chance and I am very impressed. His writing alone is an example of how much of a necessity human beings have to speak.
In his essay, Sam Hammill walks us through his life and gives us exceptional examples of his own personal experiences and gives us reasoning as to why we must be able to speak up. He really emphasizes the importance of speech when it comes to violence or harassment. Criminal activity should not be tolerated anywhere and yet it is. Not everyone has a conscience of the effects a single slap on the face can cause on a woman that does not deserve the abuse. He feels that if more people spoke about their incidents, then we would all have a better life. The fact that he admitted that he was raped at the age of fourteen by many boys was genuinely admirable on his part. That is something so personal that not everyone would have the nerve or desire to admit to a large audience. He deserves a great deal of respect just from this statement alone, I think. The point he was trying to make when telling us such a personal thing, was that he truly lived and therefore he can speak for many of us that won’t or can’t speak our mind. Unfortunately, his speaking for us doesn’t do us any good. We should all have the motivation to become good speakers and not be shy.
Hammill gives more examples than I could ever think of. I believe that this essay was stupendous because, not only is he exceedingly proficient with words, but he puts himself in the place of a victim and an executioner. He believes the best qualities of a good poet are being able to put themselves in anybody’s shoes. He clearly demonstrates his ability to do this in his essay. His professional abilities make the point he is trying to make very effective. His essay really inspired me to try and become better with speech and writing. He shows the world that you don’t need to be a very educated to have the drive to become a better person and change for the best. He states that willpower to become a better person can change everything. A person must be determined, but he is a great example that it is plausible for people to change with determination. He stated he was in jail and I would have never guessed by his use of words if he hadn’t mentioned it.
This essay relates to “The Colonel” by Carolyn Forche because she had the fortitude do speak of her experience at the colonel’s house through her poem. She had the nerve to state what she saw and speak of the alarming things she saw. She was probably frightened to do this considering he had a collection of so many ears and he was disliked and most likely very dangerous as well. She lived to tell the story though, and that’s what’s important. Things like these should also inspire us to make sure that justice happens. We can’t expect it to happen if we don’t do something about it.
“Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting” by Kevin Powers also relates to what Sam Hammill had to say in his essay. Powers’ essay was about war in Iraq and his love for a woman. Speech was important in his situation because he was brave enough to write a poem about how he really felt. Many men are shy to say what they need to say but he knew he needed to. In his poem, he spoke of how his superior stated that war was just a way to exchange metal (bullets) and his superior could be right. Hammill acknowledged the fact that many young men and women are enrolled in the military every year once a year and how the military is training them to be the victim and the executioner. Powers was a victim because he could have been injured in Iraq, yet he was an executioner because he was at war protecting our country, or so we like to say.
I haven’t read many great essays before, but Sam Hammill is a very talented individual with a drive and passion for what he does. I will be thrilled to read other work by him. He made a great point in this essay explaining the importance of speech and I know what to expect from other work by him. Speech is also important when we use it to explain how we feel about certain things, but this essay was beyond my level of aptitude. Even if I really tried, I wouldn’t have the words to describe how well I think this essay was written and what a brilliant writer Hammill is.


Port Townsend Poetry Project_Sam Hamill