Kate Hohfeler Burton United States History 23 September 2015 William Cronon’s book, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists and the Ecology of New England identifies, examines and explains the ecological history and changes that took place in New England between the late sixteenth to the early nineteenth century, and how it affected the future of the region. In the first part of the book, Looking Backward, Cronon highlights the works of Henry David Thoreau and William Wood. In Wood’s piece of work, he recounts his 1633 journey to New England and paints a literary picture of the scene; In Thoreau’s piece of work, Walden he is considering his Concord home and the ways in which it may have been altered.
Jon Krakauer, in the book “Into the Wild” argues that Chris Mccandless isolated himself from society in order to gain a sense of self in nature. Krakauer supports his argument by explaining how Chris struggled with many aspects of belonging in society so he looked to isolation and challenge to find himself. The author’s purpose is to persuade a general audience including groups interested in nature in order to prove that Chris had a valid reason to walk into the wild. The author's purpose is to convince a general audience including outdoor experts and avid nature adventurers that escaping the constraints of society into the wilderness was the best option for Chris McCandless. The author writes in an empathetic tone for his general audience,
This paper intends to investigate Jon Krakauer’s book Into the Wild (1996) through ecological perspectives, and how man takes/claims his own place in/above nature. Human beings are continuations of natural evolution/universe, but humans enjoy and are the centre of everything. Krakauer uses William Cronon’s essay The Trouble with Wilderness, where he argues the idea of sublimity in which the concept of anthropocene comes into being. Additionally, politicised nature, evidenced in, for example, The Wilderness Act of 1964, authorizes Congress to designate wilderness areas, reinforcing and legitimizing colonial expansion, blurring the line between nature and culture. I shall also discuss John Krakauer’s Into Thin Air (1997), where we see how climbing
But, nature does not exclude humans, human excludes themselves from nature. Within the “mists of [the] chopping sea of civilized life, such are the clouds and storms and quicksands and thousand and one items to be allowed for”(277). He uses clouds and storms and quicksands to convey that civilized life includes the same negativity included in the connotation of those conditions, but nonetheless, those too are apart of nature. The purpose of utilizing imagery is so evoke images people already have to connect with them on that level to make them understand that they must find a harmony and balance in the world. So, in order to restore order within one’s individual life, one must defy the social norms that distance themselves from nature to find harmony with it.
I had the opportunity to go to Mexico and visit the Yucatan rainforest and this lead me to be able to explore nature and feel the peaceful impact it can have on someone 's life. Chris McCandless was determined to create a new life for himself and be the one to control his own destiny. “Chris changed his name, gave the entire balance of a twenty-four-thousand-dollar savings account to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet…. His family had no idea where he was or what had become of him until his remains turned up in Alaska”. This quote is from Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild and shows how McCandless left everything from his old life in order to create a new life for himself.
Is The Wilderness really only a place outside the bounds of “civilization”? William Cronon describes The Wilderness as many Americans in his day
most important elements of this paper are these three things. This paper will tell you the Environmental Impact of the Wilderness after Act of 1964. It will explain the Economic Impact of the Wilderness act of 1964. And it will also provide the Social Impact of this Act. It will show how the economy acted after this act was passed, what changed in the environment, and how did it change the mind of society.
When thinking of the wilderness one might picture a scene from a camp site. Untamed dense forest, and endless jungle probably come first to mind and although this might be one meaning of wilderness, Mellor’s perception of wilderness and pastoral opens our thoughts on how we view the unpredictable and the known. In “Lure Of The Wilderness” by Leo Mellor, he shows the meaning of the unexplored wilderness and the surprises that come with the unknown, while humans try to tame what is wild and create a pastoral environment around them. Mellor’s writing helps understand hidden aspects in the short story “Wild” by Lesley Arimah, when Ada is blindsided with a plane ticket to visit her aunt in Africa. She travels to a place mostly unknown to her, besides the relatives living there.
Literary texts offer insight into other cultures by providing a new perspective of the beliefs, values, customs, and societal norms of that culture. Jon Krakauer's “Into the Wild” gives us a look into American wilderness, and the spirit of adventure and individualism that is deeply rooted in American culture. The protagonist, Chris McCandless, sets out on an adventure to explore the American wilderness, throughout the book we learn about his past and what he seeks to find in his journey. Into the Wild is set in various locations across America. Moreover, Chris McCandless travels to Arizona, California, South Dakota, and Oregon throughout his journey.
In his 1995 essay “The Trouble with Wilderness,” William Cronon declares that “the time has come to rethink wilderness” (69). From the practice of agriculture to masculine frontier fantasies, Cronon argues that Americans have historically defined wilderness as an “island,” separate from their polluted urban industrial homes (69). He traces the idea of wilderness throughout American history, asserting that the idea of untouched, pristine wilderness is a harmful fantasy. By idealizing wilderness from a distance, he argues that people justify the destruction of less sublime landscapes and aggravate environmental conflict.
The perception of wilderness can be problematic. One of the most prominent points that Cronon made in his evaluation is the ideology that wilderness is an illusion to escape reality. This perception can be ambiguous because it segregates humanity from nature, by establishing the idea that wilderness is separate from everyday life. Also, Cronon calls attention to the issue of dividing the land and calling it wilderness. The issue of this isolation is that it disintegrates humans and nature, rather than bringing them more in unity.
The frontier ideology is defined as an allure of nature that is culturally spread and shaped by people’s ideals of how the wilderness should truly be. The problematic effects resulted by McCandless’ journey into the undomesticated land of Alaska are analogous to the quandaries that the frontier ideology creates for our environmental. Just as the ideology is embedded in his mind; it is also embedded in the minds of many others. However, McCandless story can actually teach us about the plights with our culture and in doing so, allows us to move forward. This has turned into a myth in which many believe that the most important parts of nature are areas that have been untouched by human hands.
In Bill McKibben’s novel, “The End of Nature”, the main argument that McKibben is making is everything that humans touch, they destroy. He explains how the pristine natural world was one untouched by humans, but now everything reflects humans. McKibben laments the loss of the idea of wilderness, or untouched nature. Increasingly, everything in the natural world is in some way altered by human use. Along with the loss of the last remnants of natural environment, McKibben suggests, we are losing our idea of nature, so that we can no longer appreciate the value of an unspoiled natural environment.
The idea of wilderness has been a fabrication in our minds only to give us the pride that we are daredevils who delve into the beauty, the deepness, and the savagery that we associate with the word wilderness. It has become a place that people look towards when they want
Nature is a place of beauty, but not everybody completely understands that. Nature is a place to be alone just by yourself. Nature is there for your comfort as it lays a blanket of trees over your head. Nature is like a friend, but more loyal. It stays true to you as you are its guest.
