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Popular culture makes it increasingly difficult to teach classical literary themes that engage high school students and stimulate their interest in reading. Music, film, video games, and television dominate the lives and minds of our youth, and they see little need to explore, understand, and apply such media to their literacy lives. However, teachers can oftentimes tap the wells and resources of popular culture to find new and exciting ways to teach the literacy skills students need. As our classrooms become more diverse, we must address our shortcomings and develop our students' skills with the help of popular culture itself. Sparked by a lesson plan from Susan LoGuidice (2001) on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum's website (see Other Resources for more information), this column examines how blues music—specifically the life of 1930s blues guitarist Robert Johnson—can be used to teach the Faust theme of selling one's soul to the devil for personal gain while developing students' literacy skills for the modern world.

Teaching the blues often begins with correcting many common misconceptions. Contrary to popular belief, the blues is not music of the depressed and downtrodden. Blues lyrics take a realistic view of the world and human relationships and attempt to provide a sense of relief from the anger and frustration engendered by life's obstacles. Blues lyrics may sound sad and depressing at first, but the primary goal of the music is to lift up the listener from melancholy and provide the strength necessary to meet the world head on. Blues is music of honesty and conviction--music that provides an antidote to the ills of everyday life. Through this spirit of optimistic renewal, the listener finds humor in situations that may have initially appeared to be disastrous—a skill our students desperately need!

As teachers, we (the authors) realized that our interest in the blues could easily be brought to our classrooms. We wanted to use the blues to teach the universal Faust theme of selling one's soul to the devil for personal gain, which was a common motif expressed in many lyrics coming out of the Mississippi Delta region in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s. We also used this opportunity to open our students' eyes to a musical form often overlooked and misinterpreted in mainstream culture and to improve our students' critical reading, listening, thinking, discussing, writing, and viewing.

The Faust theme also appears in numerous musical compositions from a wide range of artists—from Franz Liszt's Faust Symphony (1995) and Charles Gounod's opera Faust (1989) to The Eagles's "Hotel California" (1976) and the Charlie Daniels Band's "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" (1983). (See Other Resources for more information.) Likewise, blues artists incorporated this myth into their work to stimulate interest in the origins of their musical prowess. Several artists openly claimed that they had sold their souls to the devil in exchange for extraordinary talent. In a time when religious and political leaders were condemning the blues as "the devil's music," many blues artists discovered, much like the entertainment world of today, that controversy is a powerful form of advertisement. Their explanation of exchanging their souls for musical mastery made good business sense and attracted people from all over the region to come and hear their music. This myth of the bluesman reached a climax in the mid-1930s in the life and work of the particularly shadowy and illusory blues artist Robert Johnson.

Until recently, factual details of Johnson's life (1911–1938) were almost a complete mystery. Even now, the details are sketchy at best. Johnson was a very private man, and his closest associates described him as "shy." He traveled the Mississippi Delta region making a living playing the blues until his death at the age of 27. Along the way, he managed to change the sound of music forever and build a foundation for modern blues and rock and roll. Johnson, however, did not share the popular success of many of his contemporaries. His most popular recording in the 1930s, "Terraplane Blues," sold only 4,000 copies. But after Sony Music released a compilation of his music called The Complete Recordings (1990), it became the first album in blues history to sell over 1 million copies. The music and the mystery behind the man have transformed Robert Johnson into an icon of popular culture.

In class we are always careful to explain that the factual details of Johnson's life will probably never be completely known. But the myth about his life is perhaps even more powerful. As Davis (1995) wrote, "the mystery that continues to shroud Robert Johnson only strengthens his grip on our imagination" (p. 133). Through accounts from Guralnick (1989), Santelli (1994), and Davis (1995), we have assembled Johnson's myth.

The myth of Robert Johnson lends itself well to the teaching of the Faust theme and provides the opportunity to pull blues music into our classrooms and continue teaching the literacy skills students need. Blues music is truly cross-cultural, encompassing nearly all races, religions, and nationalities. We teach at a large suburban high school with little diversity—bringing multicultural viewpoints into the classroom is necessary to prepare our students for the real world.

Our blues unit includes instruction in the research process, a detailed examination of the Faust theme, creative writing, and the exploration of a common thread through various media. Specifically, we work to meet the following objectives: (a) to recognize the blues as an important expression of African American culture and history, (b) to develop an understanding of the musical roots and basic elements of modern blues, (c) to define the Faust theme and understand its long history as a means of understanding the struggle between good and evil, (d) to recognize examples of the Faust theme in music, film, and literature, and (e) to create a project depicting a contemporary individual struggling with a "Faustian" dilemma.

One assignment that engages and motivates students is Writing Your Own Blues Lyrics, and it is vital to the blues unit for two reasons. First, the activity is an effective method of showing musical and literary merit within blues songs; and second, by giving the students a chance to write their own blues lyrics, the music is made more applicable to their lives. We give students a sheet of blues lyrics and play a few songs (see Other Resources for examples).

The music demonstrates a traditional form of blues called "call-and-response," which is quite simple. The first line is repeated as the "call" for help, and the final line is the "response," or the answer to the problem at hand. The last word of each line rhymes within each verse. This poetical form provides just enough structure (similar to Haiku poetry) for students to easily complete the task, yet it challenges them with whatever content they choose. We brainstorm with the class for ideas of possible lyrical topics that might interest teenagers. The list we create gives the less creative students topics to write about and provides ideas for class examples: homework blues, test-day blues, essay-writing blues, lunchroom blues, and alarm clock blues. After checking to be certain everyone understands the concept, the students are set free to write overnight. The beginning of the next day's class always provides interesting and hilarious examples of blues lyrics. The following student example was written by a freshman in high school. Many say that adolescents can't really feel the blues, but one student not only proves here that she understands blues but also demonstrates a creative way of dealing with her biggest problem.

We use an activity called the Blues Artist Research Presentation so that students gain a greater cultural understanding of the elements surrounding blues musicians. This project gives students the opportunity to practice computer-based research and requires them to work cooperatively with a partner. Each pair of students chooses a blues artist from a suggested list and is required to uncover biographical information, influences and inspirations, and major works in a formal presentation. A visual aid must explain and reinforce information effectively. We assign the Blues Artist Research Project as work to be completed outside of class, but it could be used as a guided research project because some blues artists are more difficult to research than others. We find the presentations help the class to better understand blues and its culture.

In addition to our work with reading, writing, speaking, and listening, we feel students must also prepare for the fifth language art—viewing. Film has become an important aspect of media, and the responsibility to teach this new literacy falls into the hands of educators. The film Crossroads (Hill, 1986) starring Ralph Macchio and Joe Seneca provides priceless insight to this study of blues life and the Faust theme. We use clips of Crossroads to provide a clear sense of what it might be like to be a blues musician, what it means to go the crossroads, and what the culture in parts of Mississippi is like today. There are some great scenes throughout this film, but we strongly caution against showing some of its content and would not use it in its entirety in our high school classrooms. Crossroads provides a realistic sense of the triumphs and trials of aspiring American musicians.

The movie O Brother, Where Art Thou (Coen, 2001), starring George Clooney, contains a great scene where the three main characters pick up "Tommy" Johnson, guitar in hand, at a Mississippi crossroads. Tommy explains to the Soggy Bottom Boys that he has just sold his soul to the devil. The group travels to a radio station and recording studio to perform their song "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow." This scene provides a hilarious yet realistic look at blues life and touches carefully on the issue of racism through the "eyes" of a blind radio disc jockey. Most of our students have already seen this film, and we like to use this clip toward the end of our unit on blues so they can demonstrate the knowledge about the genre they have gained. Many students are amazed at the importance of this scene as an expression of history once they see it placed in a "blues" context.

At the end of our study of the blues and the Faust theme, we challenge students to create a contemporary Faustian dilemma—a literary example that employs the Faust theme in present times. The project tests the literacy objectives of our content unit while providing a cooperative and creative finish. There should be as few limits on this assignment as possible to encourage students to think and write creatively as they apply this theme to a modern situation. Students might write a short story, film a movie, create a hypertext and graphic presentation, or write blues song lyrics. The only requirement is that the project must use the devil's pact legend to bring a contemporary ethical, social, or political issue into sharp (and often entertaining) focus. This is also a wonderful lead in to satire.

In the past our students have created wonderful contemporary Faustian dilemmas. As students work on this project we encourage and help them to break the activity into smaller, more manageable steps and prompt them through several brainstorming, drafting, and revision sessions. The final products have been examples of outstanding unit synthesis that attempted to explain everything from Bill Gates's keen business sense to Mark McGwire's amazing home run totals—all with the help of contracts for their souls.

We teach this unit for our students and not ourselves. Although we love and cherish the blues and the positive messages the music portrays, we use the blues as a scaffold to lift our students from their environment of popular culture to the classical and traditional literary content they need to understand. The lessons inherent in the blues and the content teaching that can be bridged with this genre of music offer tremendous potential for teachers struggling to teach traditional literary themes to students who are most often engaged in a world of mass marketing and consumerism. Actor Joe Seneca, at the end of Crossroads (Hill, 1986), may have said it best: "You have to take the music past where you found it." Like everything we do in our classrooms, we cannot be content to settle for what has always worked before. We must strive to incorporate new forms of literacy and popular culture into our classrooms to better prepare our students for the skills life demands. We must take the music past where we found it.

The Myth of Robert Johnson

At the age of 17, Robert Johnson would shyly stand just offstage while musicians entertained the masses with verses and riffs of the Mississippi Delta blues. And in the wee hours of the morning, when the couples had worn themselves out on the dance floor and the men on stage were picking at what was left of their callused hands, Robert Johnson would quietly ask if he could play a few songs on the battered strings of his guitar. In their exhaustion—and orneriness—the men would nod their approval, and Robert Johnson would take the stage.

Before the end of the first song, the groggy stragglers in the audience would holler up taunts and jeers at the young boy on stage. And when he refused to quit and continued to play, patrons would begin throwing whatever was within their reach—glasses, whiskey bottles, chairs—in hopes of convincing this pathetic wretch to return to the cotton fields where he belonged. But Robert Johnson kept playing. He did his best to sing and strum with a passion that boiled up from the depths of his soul while he ignored the ridicule. It did, however, take its toll.

Eventually, when the bar patrons left for home with the first rays of the rising sun, Robert Johnson, frustrated and embarrassed, would make his way home with his guitar case dragging along like a tail between his legs. And the very next week, the entire scene would play itself out again in a different "jukehouse" with the same disconcerting result. Until one day, when he no longer desired to face the derision, Robert Johnson simply picked up his guitar and vanished into thin air.

Months later, a road-wearied Robert Johnson returned to the Delta taverns and bars, looking unmerciful and indifferent, to wait his turn for a little time on stage. He offered no explanation for his disappearance or his whereabouts. He simply stood quietly against the wall, sipping a bottle of whiskey with his guitar in hand, waiting for his chance at redemption. And as the evening came grinding to a halt and the musicians began packing up, Robert Johnson once again climbed on stage to the jeers of the audience that remained.

Despite his long absence, the sense of torment still had not left his soul. Every time he tuned his guitar, he remembered the embarrassment, frustration, and humiliation of his previous performances. Nevertheless, he continued.

When Robert Johnson fell into the verse of the first song of his mysterious return, the people's attitude and demeanor changed almost instantly. As his mournful voice, full of a brooding sense of despair, filled the small confines of the predawn light, the myth and the reality of Robert Johnson began to take shape. He continued through his set, rarely pausing in his sweeping visions of a darkened wasteland mirrored against the ominous moan of his tenor voice.

As the morning light started to filter through the cracks in the shuttered windows, Robert Johnson continued to entrance the minds of his audience. When he reached a technical guitar phrase, he would turn his back to the audience to conceal his fingers upon the instrument's neck, and the cataract in one of his eyes would make his gaze appear to drift evilly over the dance floor. By the end of his final haunting note, the audience stood mesmerized by what they had seen, heard, felt, and lived. The legend of Robert Johnson had begun. To this day, experts are mystified by some sounds Robert Johnson was able to produce with his guitar, for there appears to be no manner in which one human being could play such music by himself.

As the legend grew, people became more and more curious about the origin of Johnson's phenomenal skill and expertise. It seemed impossible to comprehend the vision of the man on stage and the boy they had laughed at only a short time before. His long absence had certainly been curious enough, and there were several claims that Johnson had been seen during that time alone in the town cemetery, strumming away on his guitar while seated on a tombstone in the black of night. Despite the questions of how he acquired his amazing skill, Johnson refused to offer an explanation. The only semblance of an answer resided in his lyrics. According to the myth, the greatest of all Mississippi Delta bluesmen, Robert Johnson, traveled to a country crossroads and, at the stroke of midnight, sold his soul to the devil in exchange for masterful musical abilities on the guitar.

His assault on the world of the blues lasted only a few short years; in the middle of a 1938 performance in Three Forks, Mississippi, he crawled upon his hands and knees out into the street and collapsed in the gutter. Eyewitnesses said that Robert Johnson spent his final hours "barking at the moon"—a reference to the guttural sounds of severe vomiting associated with strychnine, the poison a jealous husband had placed that night in Johnson's whiskey bottle. However, according to the mythology of Southern culture in the United States, a person barked at the moon when the devil appeared to claim his or her soul. Even Johnson's infamous last words, "I pray that my redeemer will come and take me from my grave," seemed to point to a mysterious connection with the afterlife.

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Copeland and Goering teach at Washburn Rural High School, 5900 SW 61st, Topeka, KS 66619, USA.

The editor welcomes reader comments on this column. E-mail Lmeier@ksu.edu. Mail Lori Norton-Meier, Kansas State University, 206 Bluemont Hall, 1100 Mid Campus Drive, Manhattan, KS 66506-5301, USA.

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Citation: Copeland, M., & Goering, C. (2003, February). Blues you can use:Teaching the Faust theme through music, literature, and film. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 46(5). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=/newliteracies/jaal/02-03_column/index.html