In the essay, “The Words Nature, Wild, and Wilderness,” Gary Snyder describe the differences between the words. Although many dictionaries have one definition for each of the these words, the word “nature”, “wild” and “wilderness” has plenty based on perception. By reading the essay, these words mostly resemble the Caribbean to me. In terms of the author’s interpretation of the word “nature”, every little feature of the Caribbean is nature. For instance, once you see the view of the Caribbean on the plane, you can see the beautiful blue waters, the tall palm trees, and the vibrant colors of the houses. More specifically, once you set foot in a Caribbean country, you can understand what nature is. For instance, in Haiti, on the beach you
According to William Cronon’s “The Trouble with Wilderness”, the main concerns with the wilderness term being humanly constructed and lack of concern with the local environments. Cronon emphasize much of the historical and philological meanings of wilderness as a human construct via spiritual and religious perspectives. He desired for people stop putting so much emphasis on the above and beyond that is out of our reach and focus on the present. He pushed this into the idea of one should start putting emphasis and care into one’s own environment rather than just focusing on environments beyond the local one. He believes change should start locally.
A Wilderness so Immense by John Kukla explores the events leading up to and the enduring effects of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Kukla begins his story almost twenty years before Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory from France and analyzes how factors ranging from major revolutions to personal relationships all culminated to make the most famous land acquisition in American history possible. He argues that the Louisiana Purchase was not only a case a good luck on Jefferson’s part or solely the result of Napoleon’s failed caribbean ambitions, as some historians that came before him argued. Rather, Kukla explains that the roots of American expansionism are older than the republic itself. American politicians worked and made very
At the beginnings of the 1900s, some leading magazines in the U.S have already started to exhibit choking reports about unjust monopolistic practices, rampant political corruption, and many other offenses; which helped their sales to soar. In this context, in 1904, The Appeal to Reason, a leading socialist weekly, offered Sinclair $500 to prepare an exposé on the meatpacking industry (Cherny). To accomplish his mission, Sinclair headed to Chicago, the center of the meatpacking industry, and started an investigation as he declared“ I spent seven weeks in Packingtown studying conditions there, and I verified every smallest detail, so that as a picture of social conditions the book is as exact as a government report” (Sinclair, The
Sixty days of carrying 80-pound backpacks, sleeping under a tarp for shelter in the Utah winter – welcome to “wilderness therapy.”
John Krakauer’s novel Into The Wild, tells the story of a young man who intends to disappear from society, and contains numerous relatable themes. Although difficult for many to understand his reasoning in doing so, Krakauer intends to demonstrate to readers the positives and negatives of such an experience. Upon thorough examination of this piece of writing, it is possible to truly gain a vast amount of self-knowledge in relation to the text. A tale full of invitations to face ourselves, John Krakauer’s Into The Wild prompts me to examine myself in respect to concepts of great significance such as materialism, conformity, and intimacy.
In my opinion I believe the authors main point in this essay was to vindicate anything that Chris McCandless did in his life. When reading I could definitely sense Krakauers natural liking for McCandless. He was sympathetic to McCandless, based on Krakauers sense of a shared experience in their youth and up until McCandless eventual death and Krakauers perceived near death experience on the Devils Thumb.
Tobias Wolff is a writer known for his memoirs and realistic short stories. “Hunters in the Snow” is a story about three friends, Tub, Frank, and Kenny, who go hunting in the snow. Wolff writes about humanity through the friendship of the three friends and the events they go through.
“30 for 30 Broke” is a documentary ESPN film, which was premiered on October 2, 2012. The founder of this film is Bill Simmons. The film has 30 presentations, presented by Buick Verano. The major athletes who were involved in the film are Bernie Kosar, Andre Rison, Keith McCants, and Cliff Floyd, Sean Salisbury, Jamal Mashburn, Homer Bush, Bart Scott and Leon Searcy. The aim of Broke is to explore the factors that lead to professional athletes to have such a dismal record when it comes to post-career financial security.
Wilderness in its true state is lush, sleek, and channels water. It is because of its true natural state that is has the ability to generate billions of dollars into America’s recreational economy. One provident example, is the San Gabriel Wilderness in California. Now of course protecting this land has natural benefits,
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is widely dubbed an anti-Communist film by those who have seen it. The plot of the movie is that unfamiliar, extraterrestrial “body snatchers” are taking over the bodies of people in a small town in California while they sleep, and replacing them with clones that lack emotion. For the most part, a general consensus has been reached that the mass hysteria about the “pod people” in the film is reflective of the red-scare consumed society of the 1950’s. However, the article that I read that was written in response to this film suggests that it is instead a cynical representation of post-WWII, traditional American domesticity.
Alexander Von Humboldt was a Prussian naturalist whose work has helped shape and define our modern understanding of nature. He used enlightenment rationalism to navigate his way through life and his deep connection to his natural environment inspired a visionary movement in ushering out the monotheistic creationist worldview. “Humboldt’s books, diaries and letters reveal a visionary, a thinker far ahead of his time. He invented isotherms...discovered the magnetic equator...came up with the idea of vegetation and climate zones that snake across the globe…and revolutionized the way we see the natural world.” (Invention of Nature, 5). Although his work was extensive, author of ‘The Invention of Nature, Andrea Wulf suggests that his work has largely been forgotten due to his polymath approach of including art, history, poetry and politics that made him unfavorable. While Humboldt gave us our concept of nature itself, “the irony is that Humboldt’s views have become so self-evident that we have largely forgotten the man behind them.” However, although his work individual work may be overlooked, Humboldt’s success in making science more accessible work and as a result, his legacy lives on as the source of inspiration for many influential thinkers throughout history.
Where the Wild Things Are written and illustrated by Maurice Sendak, is one of my all-time favorite children’s book because as a little girl, I remember before going to bed and picking out this book for my father to read to me. My father had a wonderful speaking voice that allowed for these characters to come alive in my mind. I could imagine being the protagonist character Max, and sailing off to place full monsters and mystery. There is a part in the middle of the story called “The Wild Rumpus” and during that time, my father would start making drumming noises to help me imagine the monsters and Max dancing in the forest. His story telling voice and music making helped this book come to life. For those reasons, this book will always be
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.
Nature and wilderness were very important ideas, to some extent, 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 valued nature greatly, whether it be from looking at it as something to be proud of, to using nature as an example in his work, such as how we are a part of it and how random it can be. Crevecoeur believed that every land has its own form of culture as it does its own kind of nature. He describes how the land and nature was, and how it will be, by giving details of it in his pieces of work.
It may sound like a slight cliché but this is an experience that you will truly never forget, as you feel such unity with nature and this cannot be explained until you have witnessed it yourself. You start to think “maybe this is how life should be lived?” A life without worries, responsibilities or stress, a life that is to be lived out how you want, without any authoritative figure forcing you how to live, presenting you with an immense urge to just leave the dull and dark cruel society that we are faced with everyday to go and discover the kind of rare tranquillity that can be found in an such an incredible place unfound and unscathed by the greed of man. The crystal clear sea, the incredible exotic creatures and the peaceful life style of the Caribbean is what makes it so remarkable.