Whitman's life, as thought by many authors, could have been affected by the events occurring around him. Among the many events that shaped Whitman in to the great writer that he was were the Civil War and the Irish riots. As Leonard Unger quotes, " The killing's from the Civil War were as memorable to the people of the United States as to Whitman" (Unger 335). Whitman often volunteered in local hospitals to help out the injured solders of the Civil War. While helping them recuperate the solders often dictated letters to Whitman so that he could write and mail them to their worried relatives. During the Irish riots Irishmen immigrated to the United States and were welcomed with mal treatment and racism. Because of the hundreds of Irish and American people looking for work not many jobs were needed to fill. This issue was the cause of Whitman's large amounts of occupations that varied from clerk, typesetter, office boy, essayist, printer, editor and soon teacher. You might think, how could a man that dropt out of school at the age of eleven become a teacher? This is a simple question; because of Whitman's incredible experience in the writing field especially in the newspapers the board of education accepted him as a candidate for teaching at their school.
While working as a country school teacher near his parents home he visited them as often as he could and was drawn even more closer to his mother, yet separated more and more from his father. Having experienced war, riots, and lack of communication between his father Whitman began to write short stories and poems expressing his emotions. Whitman soon wrote "Wild Frank's Return" which deals about a boy who runs away from home to escape his father's harshness; Collow Quotes, " This could have been a way to tell the history between his fathers separation" (Collow 41). During the start of his writing career his works weren't easily accepted because of his frankness towards issues about democracy, sexuality, death, and immortality.
