Death by Landscape - Analysis

This is due to the state that Lois is in throughout the story. Lucy is not alive in a body, but in the obsession of Lois’s mind. Society deals with death in many ways, whether it is in ritual or locking it behind a wall in the mind. Lois locks Lucy in the depths of her perception and mind as shown by the paintings she has collected, “every one of them is a picture of Lucy. You can’t see her exactly. But she’s there, in behind the pink stone island or the one behind that.” (Atwood 129). Due to the disturbance that Lois is dealing with it’s explainable that this is Lois’s way of coping with Lucy’s death. However this end doesn’t solve the question the reader frequently asks. Where, why and how did Lucy die? The questions which cannot be answered neither by the reader or Lois. Leaving out the answer creates the dreadful terror that humans pursue, the answer of death and it’s unexplainable control of events.

For many, Fresh Kills conjures up images of the “World’s Largest Landfill” - bulldozers pushing mountains of trash, flocks of seagulls fighting over table scraps, and plastic bags fluttering in the wind. After the closure of the landfill, many hope that this image will be replaced by Fresh Kills as a public park. The international design competition, Fresh Kills: Landfill to Landscape was the first step in transforming this image. Six finalists suggested six different visions of how Fresh Kills could be re-imagined. The winner of the competition, Lifescape by the landscape architecture firm Field Operations, proposes a design that focuses on nature not only as the antithesis of landfill, but as an agent of cultural change. James Corner, founder and director of Field Operations, first asked how might landscape architecture be a force that enriches and informs people’s perception of nature in his 1997 essay Ecology and Landscape as Agents of Creativity. Through Lifescape, Corner proposes an answer to his own question, and the resulting design responds to Fresh Kills landfill past, and it’s post-industrial future as a park.

“Perhaps an individual must consider his own death to be the final phenomenon of nature.” In this small excerpt from his short story “The Open Boat” one can clearly see that Stephen Crane was a firm believer in the concepts of naturalism. After the harsh and violent Civil War the United States was no longer the nation it had been before. Previously, Americans had focused on the positive or romantic side of their surroundings and had written in a romantic style, glorifying man’s communion with nature. However, after the civil war that wasn’t the case. Some American’s had now experienced the harsh reality that nature was completely unbothered by the events that occurred to man. They realized

. . took on, over time, the nature of one more hillock in the dramatic rise and fall of the coastal landscape.” (141) Expressed in this statement is the idea that although the Larkins experienced a tragedy that held the town‘s interest for a period, adversity is a natural part of the unpredictability and ups and downs of life. In other words; tragedy and adversity are part of the landscape of life.

Death is inescapable. In the same way, life is inescapable. The Appalachian short story, “Jake Pond”, portrays this inevitable cycle through the depiction of a young boy enjoying nature. Lou Crabtree writes of the many inner workings of life through symbolism. While some would say this story is a literal telling of a boy and his surroundings, it does, in fact, include a plethora of metaphors to display the complexities of life through figurative language (Crabtree). In Lou Crabtree’s “Jake Pond” symbols such as the young boy, black snakes, pond, hollytree, and other natural entities portray themes of life and death, while detailing multiple aspects of change.

Social and physical environments are an integral part of a well developed story. The physical environment is a stage for the introduction of characters. The Stage will immerse the characters within a story and give it context. Social environments are defined by external social constraints. These constraints are used to build and define a culture. The social constraints of a culture will place bounds and limits to the actions of it’s members. This paper will briefly discuss the importance of Social and physical environments, within “Paul’s Case “by Willa Cather and “Death by Landscape” by Margret Atwood

Margaret Atwood is the Canadian author of "Death by Landscape" which is a short story pulled from her novel, Wilderness Tips. This story highlights a huge problem in today's society, teenage suicide. Wilderness Tips was published in 1991, which is during the time of suicide "clusters" in the teenage population. These so called clusters began in the late 80's. Some experts indicate that suicide has always been a problem but was never seriously acknowledged until the late 1980's. Ms. Atwood incorporated this real life epidemic in her short story. Margaret Atwood is known for her effort to discuss real life matters in her writings. She believes that expressing oneself is not the goal to

Robert Frost's deeply-rooted beliefs in nature influence him to view death positively. Through enticing images of solitude

I can just tell by the way Cather rights the scenes and how the characters act that she has a naturalistic view of life. Cather describes the field as; “A mist of fine snowflakes was curling and eddying about the cluster of low drab buildings huddled on the grey prairie, under a gray sky. The dwelling-houses were set about haphazard on the tough prairie sod; some of them looked as if they had been moved in overnight, and others as if they were straying off by themselves, headed straight for the open plain.” She describes the land as grey and cold. But when the land “wakes up” she writes happily about the land. “The divide is now thickly populated. The rich soil yields heavy harvests; the dry, bracing climate and the smoothness of the land make labor easy for men and

Landscape is a beautiful piece of land, an approved appearance, similar to the way our society use to be. When Jameson says “the degraded landscape”, he is referring to our society changing, and not for the better, going downhill and not up like we should be. The movies we watch allow many more things to be said, shown, and discussed. In 1939, “Gone with the Wind” was the first movie that had one of the actors to say a curse word “damn”. The world was shocked at first, and after a while it just became the norm. If you look at the way we advertise clothing, especially revealing clothing, women proudly stand in front of the camera advertising a little more than the clothes they are wearing. The music we listen to and the language that is used

Just like in the rest of the works, Sharon Olds’ poem, Still Life in Landscape, is presented on a confessional note. The speaker, who is the author, is a child. This child narrates about her experience as a witness of an accident caused by recklessness due to drunk driving. It is easy to tell from the line 1, “It was night, it had rained, there were pieces of cars and half-cars strewn,” that a terrible accident had happened on the road during that night. The poem presents a truthful meaning of how real reality is, and it can be elucidated and viewed via varying viewpoints by the audience, the child and the reader. The interpretation of the poem by the child is that it is a traumatic exposure to the raw life reality that likely cannot be undone nor can he forget the happenings of the night.

In American Literature many authors write about nature and how nature affects man's lives. In life, nature is an important part of people. Many people live, work, or partake in revelry in nature. Nature has received attention from authors spanning several centuries. Their attitudes vary over time and also reflect the different outlooks of the authors who chose to discuss this important historical movement. A further examination of this movement, reveals prevalence of nature's influence on man and how it affects their lives.

Our universe is an ever-turning wheel that maintains a beautiful balance of life. On the spokes of this wheel the existence of all things is assured; life is given, bodies and souls are fed, each position on the wheel is cultivated by the next, and then one day we will pass away, only to start the circle again in another mysterious way. Take a moment to look around you and see the many cycles that exist for the sole purpose of keeping our wheel in motion, and then recognize how little these great givers of life are celebrated, or even noticed. Without a second thought we will all at one time or another dishonor the same things that pay tribute to us. But that, too, is a part of the cycle. It’s not good, nor is it bad. It just is.

My Wooded World Sheila Visingardi tells a story about how nature plays a huge part in her life. As a child she would sit in the beautiful, relaxing, woods and let her mind wander. It was as if the branches would call to her. (Lines 2-4) As the speaker grows older the woods have become an escape for her. The woods represent a sanctuary. This is where she feels inspired and creative, and also safe and at home. It is “a world full of imagination, creativity, resourcefulness, as well as inspiration.” (Lines 7-8)

Irwin (n.d) wrote, writes “I believe our biggest issue is the same biggest issue that the whole world is facing, and that’s habitat destruction...some 46-58 thousand square miles of forest are lost each year equivalent to 48 football fields every minute.” (para.7/5). “In Asia the elephant population is dwindling to around 20% because of the habitat loss from people who live in or around their habitat.” (World Wildlife fund, 2014, para.) The Asian conflict primarily revolves around elephants being taken from the wild while alive, for Thailand’s tourism industry. The brazilin soy plantations not only harm the environment around it but also the poor people who are taken from villages and slums to be forced to work in the plantations in barbaric conditions. For example, children work inhuman shifts, even at gunpoint, and those who get sick are abandoned and replaced by others. For hundreds of years habitat loss has been plaguing the human race, but more so the animals because people are not only destroying their home but forcing them to come into the city, and then most people would call them nosiness and try to kill them. The three major causes of habitat loss around the world are deforestation, agricultural development, and overgrazing.