It seems someone was interested about Whitman's upbringing and family ancestry and how it correlates to leaves of grass. He seems to go backwards rather quickly, mentioning facets of his family identity which might be considered important to most, which he treats indifferently. During a time of sickness, he compiled this information for someone else that was interested, and has now presented this info to someone else who required it.
People ask the wrong questions, sometimes. And sometimes we give them the wrong answer. When a person asks me a question out of curiosity, that i find quite irritating, i give them a stupid answer or even an answer that can be as far off from the truth as possible. But what does that say about my history with questions? The probing can be bothersome, but the memories and answers that gag up and get caught in my throat, maybe theyre are to intimate or worrisome to disclose. Pain, though experienced by all can be quite personal. Consider the questions a child will ask and the answers we give them.. we don't dig deep to satiate their curiosity, we give them enough.
Leaves of Grass attempts to push all that intellectual nonsense behind. We might be from different places and stock and raised in different ways in similar places, but location and heritage can only mean so much...
After all two siblings eventually become individuals with their own ambitions and goals. Whitman is not one to deny a request, especially by a friend, but i can sense that what he is trying to convey through leaves of grass is not so much his past and heritage and even upbringing, but mostly what he has learned and the means of which to learn what he has through this process.
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