Nature in a Passage to India

Stephen Crane’s “The Open Boat” and Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” include parallel ideas of Man’s hopelessness in the natural world. Through out both short stories the authors bring up questions of man’s fate and his relationship with nature as well as carry a theme of naturalism. When nature seems to repeatedly play against man, the reader wonders we whether nature is cruel and sinister, making it difficult for man to live. Evidence in the the two stories such as the animal’s presence, the environments, and the different human characters, in both stories leads one to believe that nature is not in fact out to get man, but it is a neutral, indifferent factor.

This essay depicts a relationship between society and nature, referring to the woods. Society is changing rather quickly which prevents an individual from truly seeing everything around them. It has destroyed nature and the clarity that the woods provide. Berry notices how people do not see where they are anymore. Many are going through life never actually looking to see what is around them or observing closer. He goes into the woods and immerse himself in nature. As Berry states, “The faster

Nature is the playground for every human. It is essential that we include nature in our lives; it keeps us on our correct path. However, if we dismiss ourselves from nature, we begin to stray from our correct path. We become engulfed in the distractions from the modern world . The only approach to appropriate this quandary is to break our pervicacious ways and return to peaceful serenity known as nature.

Emerson claims that when the Earth and everything in it is “...in its forms and tendencies, describing its own design” (142). Annie Dillard and Barry Lopez are both well-known American authors, heavily influenced by the works of previous transcendental essayist’s, Henry Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. In Emerson’s work, Nature, he discusses how he believes that the true meaning of transcendentalism is the complete opposite of social conformity, going against the norm, and doing right for our own lives and nature (143). Dillard, sharing Emerson’s thoughts, ponders the differences between good and evil and how we perceive things. In Heaven and Earth in Jest, Dillard talks about how she does not blindly follow society, instead looking and admiring all sides of everything. She says, “The sign on my body could have been an emblem or a stain” (Dillard 868). Similar to Dillard, American writer Lopez has a deep understanding of Emerson’s transcendental thoughts, and recognizes the problems a lack of such understanding creates in modern society. Although his writing is still relevant to the nature writing of Emerson and Dillard, Lopez’s American Geographies essay mainly focuses on the ignorance of geography by many Americans and the issues that stem from this.

In the beginning of creation of humans, nature has always been there as a friend. Nature is the phenomena of the physical world that includes plants, animals, the landscape, and other features that are on earth. Nature has all of the wild and domestic living things. Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American poet that led the transcendentalist movement and influenced other through his ideas and thinking. Ralph wrote “Nature,” and he describes his true feelings toward nature and God and how they have taken part of what has been created and also the relationship to humans. Ralph Waldo Emerson writes the passage “Nature” and he uses comparison between humans and nature and also uses figurative language to convey his appreciation and gratitude for nature.

Humans have often struggled to define their relationship with nature throughout history. In the early periods of their existence, humans were ruled by the brutality of untamed nature. They utilized nature to an extent of survival, but had not yet developed a system to thrive within it. As humans advanced, both mentally and technologically, their aptitude and desire to exploit nature increased dramatically. These two polar relationships between humans and nature are mirrored in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest and Aimé Césaire’s A Tempest. In The Tempest, Shakespeare fixates on Caliban’s attachment to nature and Prospero’s exploitation of it, while in A Tempest, Césaire employs nature as the dividing force between Caliban and Prospero. These two separate themes both represent the consequences that occurred throughout history as a result of two ideologies about nature colliding during colonization.

The nature imagery used expresses the flaws of Puritan thought and anxieties towards outside forces, both seen and unseen. Through his use of nature imagery and diction, the reader obtains a better understanding of such Puritan anxiety within the community as they try to maintain their utopian society from collapsing to these supernatural forces caused by an irritated and vengeful Devil.

The interconnection between the human race and nature is complex, and can be interpreted an infinite amount of ways. Mark Jenkins’ ‘King of the Dirtbags’ and Wendell Berry’s ‘An Entrance to the Woods’ are both very similar in the ways they represent philosophical ideas regarding the relationship between the modern man and nature. Both literary pieces discuss the benefits of simplicity, and explain how mankind has a tendency to overcomplicate much of what they develop. The two authors also share the idea in their writings that the ability to adapt to different environments is a crucial trait in evolution and progression as a society. Another major concept that is prevalent in both of the author’s pieces is that man must be able to reach beyond his comfort zone to understand nature’s consistency throughout time.

Nature is used as a metaphor for many things in life and in the pages of a novel. One can use spring as a rejuvenation of the soul, winter as a barren wasteland, summer the splendor of someone’s life, and autumn the bringer of death. Zora Neal Hurston uses these and similar aspects of nature as a pillar in her novel Their Eyes were Watching God to describe the progression of the life of Janie, the main character.

“Nature”, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, explains the author’s perspective of nature and life. Emerson explains that nature and man should be in balance because they have a supernatural connection. After analyzing both passages, one can understand that “Nature” and Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury, corresponds with each by showing Montag’s journey into nature reflects into Emerson’s and how one can believe Emerson’s thought.

There are many authors who write poems, stories, and books about the relationship with nature and mankind, a bond that needs to be molded once again. The relationship with nature that mankind has is sad, for we have a forsaken it. We destroy nature and don't care, in fact, we are trying to leave it, this planet. To proudly survive in this world, the human race needs to reconnect with nature, otherwise it'll strike back on humanity for its destruction of the world. Authors like Ralph W. Emerson and Jack London wrote stories of nature and of their beliefs about it and what mankind should do to reconnect with it. I will give quotes on to those stories, their ideas, and what I think about nature and mankind together.

Steinbeck’s passage appeals greatly to the reader’s senses and gives a firm basis on which to picture the setting. Throughout the passage, one sense that Steinbeck appeals to is sight; for example, his description of the “farm buildings huddled like the clinging aphids on the mountain skirts” gives an excellent visual reference that can be used to picture the buildings in relation to the geographic setting. Another example is his use of sound to simulate the sea, as with “the hissing white waters of the ocean.” Steinbeck’s description of the wind is an appeal to the sense of touch where one can imagine being “beaten by the damp wind”; moreover, his description could also be understood as an appeal to taste, as his description relates the fact

Nature and wilderness were very important ideas to some extant for St. John de Crevecoeur and Ralph Waldo Emerson, each had their own opinions and ideas that contrasted against each other and were somewhat similar to each other. Emerson who valued it and looked at the nature as something to proud of had used it many times in his works as examples and that we are part of nature as well and make whatever choices from it as it can from us. While Crevecoeur believes that in every land it has its own form of culture as it does its own kind of nature, and describes how the land and nature was then and how it will be giving details of it in his pieces of work. How they use and see nature is described equally important in both their works “the American Scholar” and “What is an American” but shows how different their views really are in them.

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.

Its perspective is compelling because it contains accounts of spiritual and aesthetic qualities of nature that convince the reader about the value and beauty of the place written about, the need to preserve it and the inherent lovability of the 'new ' land.