Comparing Nature In The Doe And William Stafford's Traveling

In both Molly Gloss's short story The Doe and William Stafford's poem Traveling Through the Dark, the authors explore humanity's complex relationship with nature. Both of these stories display the struggle gone through when dealing with the hurt of something innocent, in both cases this happens to be a deer. While the stories take place in different settings, they ultimately convey a similar message about respecting the natural world. The two stories have different ways of conveying these messages and so while providing different insights on what people view as the right or wrong decision. This is done in many ways, some of which are through vivid imagery, symbolic meaning, and ethical dilemmas. The first way this is done is through imagery and ethical dilemmas. Molly Gloss centers the story around the lives of two people,

Kate's inner conflict over what to do with the wounded animal shows a sense of vulnerability and fear when caught up in a situation of tainted innocence. Similarly, in "Traveling Through the Dark," Stafford sets the poem on a roadway where the speaker encounters a dead deer on the edge of the vehicle's headlights. Stafford's blunt statements and devastating imagery convey the intense and haunting connection between the human world and the natural one. The dead deer is symbolized as innocent and the narrator is faced with the ethical dilemma of what needs to be done. This concern is displayed by the imagery presented with the descriptions of the fawn never to be born from the dead deer. By physically moving the deer from the road, an act of attentiveness, the narrator seems to wrestle and conquer with what needs to be done given the situation. Both pieces of text utilize symbolism of the deer to display the internal and external conflict that comes with injuring something viewed as innocent, no matter the intentions behind