Contrasting Interactions with the Environment Depicted in Alice Munro's The Shining Houses

Through a multitude of significant changes physically, conceptually, economically, and more, the societal reformation of cities in the Progressive Era had set themselves as the foundations of American civilization. The juxtaposition between the rich and poor statuses in these urban areas show the drastic separation within developing cities. Through this division caused a wide variety of living conditions, the majority of which held the overcrowded sections of cities where the population mostly stayed while the higher end communities had more luxurious lives. Through this success of entrepreneurship and economic growth from all aspects in cities, the entire landscape, both physically through innovative architecture and the perspectives outside rural and suburban areas had on them, had transformed for the better in these areas.

As a child, I unraveled nature’s beauty and existence. Each new experience brought me feelings of excitement and joy, sparkling my imagination and igniting my curiosity. It all seemed so large back then. Oceans appeared endless as they reached towards the horizon. Treetops seemed to make friends with the puffy-looking clouds as they soared to the sky. Over the years however, as I have grown older and life has become more complex, I am beginning to think less and less about the natural world around me. I glimpse sunset stuck in rush-hour traffic trying to return school after debate practices and only listen to the pitter-patter of the rain when there’s a storm outside. Forests and oceans seemed less appealing as they became intertwined with the urban development. In a way, I was becoming more and more distanced from the so-called nature. So, with an overwhelming desire for adventure and to escape the masses, my family and I drove to Big Bend National Park in Southwest Texas last summer.

Nature is an entity that persistently progresses to be overlooked. When I was home one day for the long weekend I went down to the beach, then observed the sunrise overlooking the view of the Boston skyline. As the sun rose little by little It came to me that I saw a parallel with my life. As the sun rose I associated it with my life and with each experience I endured in my life I grew as an individual analogous to the sun rising higher up in the sky. As soon as the sun rehabilitated colors from a pinkish rosy color to an archetypal yellow sun it symbolized the transformation a person encounters growing up from being a kid to a man. Consequently, as the sun crept over the skyline it was

In the essay, “A Literature of Place”, Barry Lopez expresses the importance of nature as it applies to human life. Through this he states that humans’ imagination are inspired by the scenery around them. Lopez revolves around a central perspective; Ancient american literature has always been rooted in nature. By acknowledging that modern human identity has been interpreted by nature, Lopez describes how the landscape of an area can shape the structure of the communities and how it can help with spiritual collapse. Nature writing has often been summarised by being one of the oldest threads in american literature. With our nation's aging one needs to reflect on their literary past; therefore, Lopez insists that we find our path to nature that

In the novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless and Jack London both appreciated the beauty of nature. London said in a biography once, “ ‘When I first came here, tired of cities and people, I settled down on a little farm…130 acres of the most beautiful, primitive land to be found in California.’ ” Just like London, Chris had a great appreciation for the beauty of nature, and wanted to experience it himself. In Chris’s letter to Wayne he said, “If this adventure proves fatal, and you don’t ever hear from me again, I want you to know that you’re a great man. I know walk into the wild.” London and Chris both left their normal lives and escaped reality to go live among the wild. They both had a great appreciation for nature and wanted to experience it themselves. Chris decides to go into the wild to escape reality. In the authors note in Into the Wild Jon tells Chris’s reason for leaving, “And then he invented a new life for himself, taking up residence at the ragged margin of our society,

‘The sheer popularity’ of stimulating nature or using nature as ad space ‘demands that we acknowledge, even respect, their cultural importance,’ suggests Richtel. Culturally important, yes. But the logical extension of synthetic nature is the irrelevance of ‘true’ nature— the certainty that it’s not even worth looking at. (Louv lines 9-19)

Rebecca Solnit’s Walking and the Suburbanized Psyche stresses her concerns about the suburban wave that has plagued the world in recent times. According to her, the mind, the body, and the world have a special bond that is being vanquished by the lack of recreational walking. In the eighteenth century, there was a “golden era” for walking because recent accommodations made it possible for the general public to enjoy the untamed nature all around them. This era was short-lived, as suburbs rose to popularity so did their unorthodox labyrinths which made walking simple distances nearly impossible to the public. The reason why walking in nature is important, Solnit shares, is because it allows the mind to flow freely without the corruption of everyday obstacles that the suburbs brought. She explains that in order for the mind to avoid being molded into a sterile dull thing, it must imagine in nature. If we do not continue to walk, the history we have with walking will diminish as will the special bond our ancestors cherished so dearly. Without it, Solnit fears that we will no longer be able to produce such things, however, in recent times walking is not a luxury many can do. I disagree because society has changed to the point where walking is not only a rarity but also a threat to many.

Some people attracted to living a long time in their communities. As a youth, I’m scared to see one day our cities will be full of homeless people, armed robbers, jobless citizen etc. All this is in the name of gentrification. Gentrification is the way of renovating and improving property values but often displacing low-income families and small business. After the renovation, some people thought that the wealthy people will come and occupy the districts. So the low-income people decided to fight for their community. Nowadays, people who live in their communities for a longer period of time find an interest of staying

Throughout today’s society there are several different cultural perspectives which form theoretical and practical understandings of natural environments, creating various human-nature relationship types. In this essay, I will describe and evaluate different ways of knowing nature and the impact of these views on human-nature relationships. From this, I will then explore my own human-nature relationship and reflect on how my personal experiences, beliefs and values has led me to this view, whilst highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of each and reflecting upon Martin’s (1996) continuum.

Unlike most of the persuasive essays needed many “power” words to persuade readers, R. Crumb’s comic, “A Short History of America”, reflects the change of the natural, ecological landscape to urban area without using any words. Nevertheless, his drawing deeply shows us the down side of the urbanization and we human-being are destroying our indispensable nature. We are going the exact opposite direction to a better life; we are going to live in the life where we totally rely on technology and advanced, luxurious materials. Humans will never be satisfied and keep changing. However, while we’re keeping changing, have we ever asked: What are we doing to our nature?

The beautiful blossoms that bloom in Californian spring, the summer daisies alongside the cooling lake, long after the summer the trees have lost their leaves entering autumn to fresh white snow out in the mountains. Nature is able to show us its true beauty without any falseness and modifications. After all, is it not ironic how people go to museums to look at paintings of colorful flowers, green hills, and clear water streams; those are beauties that can easily be observed in real life outside of the urban environment which are surrounded by them, or how people buy recordings of the calming sounds of nature, similar to what you would listen to at night in the woods or smell nature aromas of the candles. What we are doing is trying to mislead our minds and pretend to think that we are in the woods but are instead cornered inside our small, well-furnished, and full -with-technology apartment.

In the narrative, A Literature of Place, Barry Lopez discusses the topic of your relationship with nature. He digests the importance of how we bond with nature. Lopez explains that if you become intimate with a place in nature and establish a connection with it then nature with respect you. Your imagination is shaped at an early age which contributes to your personality. So, geography and what surrounds you is what shapes you into the person that you are.

“The best that can be said of the conception is that it did afford a chance to experiment with some physical and social planning theories which did not pan out. “ This quote reflects Jane Jacob’s philosophical ideas in an attempt to criticize the social housing’s design approach and its associated urban planning in modern era. “The physical and social theories” outlines the urban planning idea of social housing (Utopian idea) and according to Jane’s statement, such experiment of these theories were deem to be unsuccessful. It is inevitably certain to some extent that a provocative statement towards modern era social housing approaches would hold true due to the minimal success the plans brought to the city, such as solving the working class commendations temporarily. Nevertheless, it is a failure to deliver long-standing social improvements corresponded with the increasing suspicion of modernism, one cannot simply attribute ill fate to its “innovative physical features” (As Jane said, the Utopian and Utopia), but should rather considered a range of other elements in the larger aspect of society: factors such as difficulty of racial integration, problems of financing and management, lack of bridging between architecture and planning, as well as the increasing preference of suburban lifestyle from the rising mid class. These problems reflected evidently in some stereotypes of social housing communities built in the modern era such as Pruitt-Igoe, sunny side Gardens, Paul

His first comprehensive city plan was La Ville Contemporaine (the Contemporary City) a project to house three million inhabitants designed in 1922. This was Le Corbusier’s first attempt to reconcile man, nature and machine (Fishman, 189). The city starts at the center with a transportation hub for busses, trains, cars and planes. Surrounding this hub there will be an organized cluster of 24 60-story skyscrapers. These glass and steel skyscrapers are cross-shaped. Each individual skyscraper is to be set within a large rectangular green space. The skyscrapers house the “brain” of the city. The city is beautifully geometric and symmetrical. Placing the skyscrapers in the city center reinforces the emphasis on capital as a means of creating a successful city. Because of the shape and mass of each skyscraper, they have more usable space than an entire neighborhood but also relieves density and congestion because of the organization (Frampton, 46).

Nearly everything that a human does is in response to the environment. Our lives are defined by what is around us and what we find in front of us, whether this means accepting, dealing with or changing it. This has been the pattern since primates first stood up and became Homo erectus, and has continued until we considered ourselves doubly wise. The shape of the land affected where humans moved. Weather was something with which to contend. Fire affected humans until they conquered it – and herein lies the core of the relationship. The earth affects humans, and humans affect it back, viewing characteristics and patterns as problems and challenges, and finding a solution.