William Cronon Trouble With Wilderness Analysis

The author argues the issues and troubles with wilderness by using the frontier and sublime thoughts. The author argues that there are two primary thoughts that explain this evolution: the sublime and the frontier. The sublime is about the idealistic origin of a wonderful site that stimulates the inner reflexes. In his article, he wrote about sublime landscape. In his opiniom, it is a place where “one might meet devils and run the risk of losing one’s soul, but one might also meet God”. This religious thought of wilderness was an embryonic thought (Cronon).

Similar to the concepts in Introduction: In Search of Nature, Cronon challenges popular concepts of wilderness. Cronon begins by saying “the time has come to rethink wilderness.” The author elaborates on this idea with support from the general concept that wilderness isn’t what it seems. Cronon implies that wilderness is a product of civilization, and wilderness isn’t as pristine as commonly thought. Similar to Introduction: In Search of Nature, this text claims that we see wilderness from our own biased perspectives, which are influenced by our longing/desires. The author states that wilderness was once perceived as a bad thing (e.g. Adam and Eve being cast from Eden into the wilderness), but today we search for a soul cleansing, anti-civilization,

The film’s account of “wilderness” thinking differs from the narrative that Cronon offers in his article, “The Trouble with Wilderness”. Beliefs and ideas about “wilderness” that influenced this process are spiritual references. The film honors John Muir in an admirable sense. The fact that John Muir knew the bible by heart and worshipped all of God´s creations explains his love for nature and how can we seriously not believe in a higher power with such beautiful scenery nature provides for us. If nature didn’t cause us such an emotional impact then it could possibly be referred to as ¨wilderness¨ but it’s far more intense than that. William Cronon presents a fairly convincing argument about the effect of civilization in the wilderness.

Prior to diving into the many new insights that can be comprehended while viewing history through a natural lense, it is important to define nature in this context. While man is technically a creation of nature, and therefore nature himself, he shall be excluded from this brief definition of what composes nature. Here, nature will be considered everything living or otherwise on this earth that is not a creation or product of humanity. All other creatures and parts of the environment are to be considered nature.

This type of exposure to wilderness is merely an extension of the many desires that are inherent in the American culture to which society is dependent. In other words, wilderness has become part of the consumer society, the same society that deep ecology claims to aim to reconceive. Guha refers to this as a consequence of economic and political dominance. This dominance leads to wilderness being a manifestation of American nationalism. Admittedly, the American national park system is one of America’s defining characteristics. Hence, Guha states that Western civilization is the ideal medium for both wilderness and civilization to live in conjunction yet this medium dismisses its economical and social consequences.

Throughout history, people encounter a stage in their lives where they feel the necessity to assert their independence and challenge their abilities and self-worth. In the book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the author shares his understanding and kinship with the main character, Chris McCandless, a young man who thrusts himself into a life of solitude and a harsh environment during his search for meaning to his life. Krakauer depicts himself and McCandless as modern day transcendentalists with an abundance of competency, resourcefulness and skills as naturalists. Although McCandless chose to experience a life of solitude and face the hazards that nature presents, his lack of preparedness prevented him from completing his endeavor successfully.

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.

“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin”-William Shakespeare. The relationship between humans and nature is that we are a part of nature. As per the study of human evolution, scientists discovered a wealth of evidence that shows how closely we are related to the other primates. We humans are an animal species: primate order: mammalian class: vertebrate sub-phylum. The study of Human genetics gave a proof that we are connected to each other and also to other organisms which are part of nature. The Earth is a natural thing, with all earthly inhabitants originated on earth naturally, that means we as humans are natural.

What is nature? The answer to that question is unique not only on a cultural basis but also unique to every person. When many people are confronted with different viewpoints or opinions on a particular subject, they often have the desire to conform that person’s opinions to their own. This creates a binary way of thinking. You either agree or disagree. This binary really is not effective, however, when discussing the topic of what is nature or what is natural because it is not a question that has a clear answer. We all have different connotations attached to the word nature. None of these connotations are wrong. They are just different. They are a product of our religion, our biology, and the experiences of our life. There have been many provocative thoughts expressed about what is natural that have either directly or indirectly defined nature to us. Whether it is an ancient story passed down through oral tradition throughout generations or modern writing, we have always looked to define nature not just for ourselves but for others around us. And this has caused only gridlock and confrontation.

The discussion of poverty, or what it means to be poor, seems to be very straightforward in the twenty first century. However, as one ponders what it means to be living in poverty, the meaning starts to become less clear. The problem lies on what one group of people believes poverty compared to another group of individuals. Group A can think Group B is a poor community: Meanwhile, Group B can think the opposite. A perfect example of this scenario is immigrants moved from Europe and began settling in America with the Native Americans. William Cronan describes how the interaction between the two different cultures was confusing for the two different groups. Cronon’s book, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England, presents the problem of the one-sided poverty idea. Cronon says, “Many European visitors were struck by what seemed to them the poverty of Indians who lived in the midst of a landscape endowed so astonishingly with abundance.” The best way to understand why the Europeans interpreted the Native Americans this way, is to look at

Changes in the land, by William Cronon, is about the way of the Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. It tracks the way the Indians lived in comparison to the newly arriving Colonists while also, acknowledging the changes in the animal and plant population and the changes in the landscape. In the first chapter, Henry Thoreau writes about how his home has changed due to European settlement. He uses William Wood's book, New England Prospect as a guide to base the changes on.

Nature is most important for us but some of the people do not realize it. How is nature important to us? The thinking, acting and reacting has changed. Also, human helps them to survive in this world. In the article” we are from wilderness” by Chrisna Byck.

When in conversation about his motives for going west with Mr.McDonald Andrews thinks to himself,”Whatever he spoke he know it would be but another name for the wilderness he sought. It was a freedom and a goodness, a hope and a vigor that he perceived to underlie all the familiar things about his life...what he sought was the source and the preserver of his world.” (21) This quotation quickly illustrates Will Andrews’ naive mind set, he sees the west as some form of a retreat from the industrial east, a seemingly relaxing location, when in reality it is a harsh unforgiving landscape that will swallow an unprepared man whole, a hard truth Andrews is soon to learn. In context to a humanities classroom, this section can give context to the viewpoint of many on nature as a whole, a place retreat and escape from their busy city lives. In contrast people like Miller, a seasoned veteran buffalo hunter, display more of an exploitational mindset about the great west, they see great herds of buffalo not for their natural beauty but for a walking mass of potential profit, in modern terms this mindset is the one that has systematically begun destroying our great outdoors in the name

Nature has a great effect on individual. I was connected to nature in so many ways, especially in my youth days. Looking deep in to nature, I came to understand that nature is also a part of science which consist of the plants, animals and human being ways of life.

The typical view of nature is a place that has been untouched. The connotation of nature is green, animals,