Nature and the Mind
Please answer this question by Wednesday morning, July 8 at 8:00 a.m. to receive full credit.I recently ran across this article on a study of the effect of a natural setting on the human mind and on learning (cognitive ability). Take a look and see what you think.
Given our recent discussion of Emerson's concept of Oneness and the "wise silence" of a mind that perceives itself as being part of its surroundings, our question this week concerns the link between nature and how we understand our world.
Please use specific examples from the 19th-century book you are reading--The Deerslayer, The Scarlet Letter, Walden, Huckleberry Finn, or Summer--to comment briefly and completely here on the role that nature plays in affirming, shaping, or opposing the character's world view. Use a quote or two to support your observation. See my comment to this post as a model for how you should respond.
You have until Wednesday at 8 a.m. to make your initial comment for credit, and you may comment as many times as you wish. Please also read the comments of others. If your comment indicates that you have also been reading and can respond to the observations of others (including myself), that will count in your favor.
posted by lisa schamess @ 9:00 PM
9 Comments:
The Scarlet Letter is full of contrasts between the growing (but still modest) town of Puritan Boston and the natural environment of bay and woods. One of the earliest images in the story, in fact, is of a rose bush that has sprung up along the prison wall, a natural, unjudgmental, and refreshing contrast to the man-made system of punishment under which Hester Prynne is taken to task.
Hawthorne tells us that after her shame is made public, she takes up residence in an isolated cottage at the edge of town, on the water and near the woods. A Walden or sorts, though one of necessity rather than choice. Here, it would seem, she has plenty of time for reflection as she raises Pearl, the child born to her after her secret affair.
Later in the book, Hester is portrayed as being, literally, in a "moral wilderness" (did Hawthorne make up this long-coined phrase, I wonder?). The author says of her,
"She had wandered, without rule or guidance, into a moral wilderness. Her intellect and heart had their home, as it were, in desert places, where she roamed as freely as the wild Indian in his woods. The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread."
So her physical and psychic states reflect one another: in both cases she is alone on the edge of civilization and in the wilderness.
I focus here on the phrases "her mind and heart had their home" and "where she roamed freely"--is Hawthorne saying that the fact of Hester's sin, her loss of status and her existence in a figurative state of nature (fallen) has given her the freedom to really perceive herself, to really know herself in a way that she otherwise might not have? Doubtless, his constant reference to wilderness and nature are there to indicate that these environments contribute greatly to her view of herself and, perhaps, to her insights into her own nature and situation.
At one point in the novel, Hawthorne describes the walks taken together by Roger Chillingworth and Reverend Dimmesdale. he carefully describes how they walk abd talk against the backdrop of natural sounds, the lapping of waves at the bay and the song of the wind in the treetops. These walks seem almost enviable and peaceful until one reflects at Chillingworth's true purpose: he wants Dimmesdale to relax enough to drop his guard, reveal himself in this soothing natural setting, slip up and show his secrets.
Just a quick question. Can i use elements from "The things they carried"?
That would be fine--I'd rather have it be the 19th century book to keep us on track chronologically and because 19th century books feature nature as a more prominent theme. But there is good material in all the books, and it can be found.
Also, nature's effect in your story does not need to be a helpful or pleasant effect. Nature can oppose the characters, make it harder for them to understand themselves, actively even seek to destroy them.
In Huckleberry Finn, Huck is running away from his father. The father was abusive towards him and wanted to keep him because he knows that Huck has(had) money. He is running from from the world. Nature protects Huck from getting caught.
Huck landed on a 3 mile long island. He stayed there for 3 days,"But the next day I went exploring around down through the island. I was boss of it; it belonged to me, so to say, and I wanted to know all about it". Here is where nature sort of shapes Huck because he becomes curious about his surroundings and possessive. He becomes king of the wilderness.
During one night, a storm occurred and a ship had crashed. Huck and Jim decidee to check it out. On board, Huck learned that Bill and Jake are trying to murder a man. Huck and Jim decided it was best to stay out of it because Bill had a gun. They stole the only boat on the ship and headed up river. The storm started to get bad and the current got strong. Huck felt convicted for leaving Bill and Jake down there to die. Luckily, he found a sailor and convinced him to save Bill and Jake. Huck learns that he is that he can forgive people, even if they have bad intentions.
-Toneisha
Summer is about a beutiful young women (though not fully aware of it) who is bored by life and people in general. She has a craving for the bold city life instead of the plane little town life that she leads. She works as a librarian in hopes of earning enough money to get away from her "provider" who attempted to seduce her when she was seventeen. However, she is sure he would never do such a thing again after her rebukal of his actions. Meanwhile, she meets a man whom she begins to take interest in for the first time because she has thought that all people are boring. Even though she says she does not care what people think in general, she admires the girl Annebell whom she thinks gets everything and is in addition richer and more beutiful.
This small town setting is tipical in my oppinion for such a story to take place. Anyone who lives in the coutry wants to live in the city, strives for "bigger and better things" as is reflected in this quote: "Have you a card-catalogue?" "A what?" "Why, you know-... No, I dont suppose you do know." And anyone who lives in the city wants a simpler, more peaceful lifestyle that the country provides. Having this story take place in the country sets a peaceful mood. Having it take place in the summer sets an ambicious tone as summer should be the place where you either relax or catch up on the things you need to to get ahead.
I think that in the end the protagonist should learn that bigger is not always better.
...and that she should be happy with what she has.
I'm going to use my 21st century novel to answer this question because I haven't started on my 19th century yet... Nature is expressed in my book The House on Mango Street in a few ways. The most dominant way that nature is expressed is through the description of Esperanza's (main character) neighborhood. She describes it as unique and unconventional. Her neighborhood consists of all different types of people and ideas. There is Cathy "the queen of cats", Joe "the baby-grabber", Rachel and Lucy who tried to sell Esperanza a bike. All of these people show significance as a part of Esperanza's neighborhood. She describes Mango Street as always changing but not perfect. Her parents say their house is "temporary" but all Esperanza can think about is that it is "sad, red and crumbly in places." All of these descriptions lead me to infer that the nature Esperanza is used to is the city life she lives in. Her environment makes her feel good, like she is home. It is much different from what most people think "nature" is. For Esperanza, nature is a very different place.
Instead of Walden, I'm going to talk about the natural settings in "The things they carried" by Tim O'Brien. As i read, i think natural is one of the key factors in the book. More specific, the forests and the surrounding had effected lots of the soldiers and especially our author. The forests were difference when they are in peace and when they are at war.
The woods came up to up to us as the supporter for the author, when he was on the way to to Canada, get rid of the war, the government, or I may say the vampire. Just by getting through the woods in Minesota, O'Brien could go to the great wild of Canada, and get rid of everything. But also in this adventure, the nature also changed his mind about the war. By living in the woods with an old man, the owner of a tiny lodge, it calmed and weakening his idea about the war. It made him feel ashame of not going to the war.
But in Vietnam, during the war, the natural is the worst place you can think of. Walking into the woods, the shades is the same as walking into a dead trap, a mouth of a monster which would swallow you smoothly. Inside the shade, is a whole new world, the world which is full of trap, mines, things that killed you in a second. But besides that, sometimes, the natural was just plain beauty. Once again, the surrounding, the natural would just calmed the soldiers by its beauty, with the betiful color of the sunset, or it may just the sun light shined on the face of a passing comrade.
I haven't started in on Walden yet, so I'm going to use The Big Sleep, if that’s all right. General Guy Sternwood is an old man dying of a degenerative illness. He spends his days confined to a wheelchair in a sweltering greenhouse full of orchids. The general invites the main character to remove his coat, stating “it’s too hot in here for a man with blood in his veins.”
Because of his disease, Sternwood has developed the need for the same environment as orchids, alienating him from “men”, and pushing him towards something else: in this case, nature. He says, “I seem to exist largely on heat, like a newborn spider, and the orchids are an excuse for the heat.”
Instead of taking Thoreau’s approach and embracing nature, he rejects it and grows bitter. The General says of the orchids, “They are nasty things. Their flesh is too much like the flesh of men. And their perfume is the sweetness of a prostitute.”
The greenhouse creates imagery of oppression and confinement, subtly illustrating the Sternwood’s agony.
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