Nature

When I think of connections I have to the natural world, my first thoughts are always those of my experiences skiing in Maine at Sunday River.  My family of five has had a tiny one-bedroom condo at the base of the slopes since I was seven years old.  Growing up in what I affectionately refer to as a hectic household, the weekends we spent in Maine on the ski trails were my escape.  Over the years as I improved, I went out to ski by myself sometimes spending 5, 6, or 7 hours at a time outside before coming in.  Armed with a camelback and a few granola bars I made it my mission every year to ski every one of the 133 trails over the resort’s seven peaks.  My favorite area of Sunday River has always been Spruce Peak.  It’s a bit hard to get to, only has a few trails, and the chairlift is small and slow, but that’s why I love it so much.  It really is just you and the mountain.  It’s where I go to think, to destress, and to be free.

            Something that struck me this semester as we were studying American Literature was the evolving presence of nature in the different works the class read.  Nature and the natural world are very much connected to the history of the United States.  One of the first works we read, “How the World Was Made” is a Cherokee story which puts nature in what we might describe as a religious context.  This origin story focuses solely on the natural world, not mentioning the origins of humans and animals.  However, it does tie the natural world to the human world as “when the world grows old and worn out, the people will die.” (Cherokee 39) The spiritual tone of the piece conveys the importance of nature to the Cherokee people and its role in a higher power. 

            Philip Freneau’s poem “On The Emigration to America” also connects nature to a higher power, but in this case the higher power seems to be the Europeans arriving “to tame the soil.” (Freneau 423)  In her blog post Samantha made note of this too, “The poem may be full of faith in America, in Reason and in freedom from England, but the speaker never mentions a faith in God. In leaving God out of the poem, the speaker gives the colonists complete ownership of the land they have found.” (Gowing)  Freneau’s poem is an early example of the connection between nature and the emerging of the American spirit of manifest destiny.  He highlights typical American scenes like “fair plains” and “darksome wood”, yet also mentions the using nature for commerce, “And commerce plans new freights for thee.” (Freneau 424)  In the poem nature becomes not only the natural world but a natural process of separation from England, as immigrants come “From Europe’s proud, despotic shore” to enjoy the birth and development of the “new world.” (423)

            When reading Ambrose Bierce’s short story “Chickamauga” the themes present in Freneau’s poem celebrating America seem to be torn apart.  Nature has become a war zone pitting brother against brother in the Civil War.  Despite its subject matter the story is anti-war, exhibiting the unnatural elements of the natural world when war is present.  The author’s choice to tell the story from the point of view of a child blurs the line between real and fantastical.  Man and nature blend together as, “The very ground seemed in motion toward the creek.” (Bierce 1204)  The fact that the child is also a deaf-mute means his only means of understanding the world is through sight, and yet what he is seeing in nature he cannot fully comprehend.

            “Big Two-Hearted River” by Ernest Hemingway is also connected to nature and war, but has a different tone.  Instead of relying on nature to tell a story about war, Hemingway uses war to exemplify nature.  Nick’s journey into the wilderness leaves him alone and gives him opportunities to live in the present moment.  The autonomy and solitude he experiences is in heavy contrast to the war he has come back from.  The imagery and emotion felt with such simple languages reflects the physical space Nick is present in and his ability to keep “his direction by the sun.” (Hemingway 1876)  The allusions to the future like, “There were plenty of days coming when he could fish the swamp,” are hopeful and suggests a continuing positive relationship with nature (1886).

Works Cited

Bierce, Ambrose. “Chickamauga.” The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson, Second ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. 1199-1207. Print.

Cherokee. “How the World Was Made.” The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson, Second ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. 37-40. Print.

Freneau, Philip. “On the Emigration to America.” The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson, Second ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. 423-425. Print.

Gowing, Samantha.  “Freneau’s America.” Davidson College ENG 280. 10 September 2014. Web. 10 December 2014.  

Hemingway, Ernest. “Big Two-Hearted River.” The Bedford Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Susan Belasco and Linck Johnson, Second ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2014. 1871-1886. Print.