How is our character revealed through our interaction with the natural world around us? Do we adapt to fit in with nature, or do we force the landscape to conform to our ideals of lifestyle? In the short story “The Shining Houses”, Alice Munro addresses the contrast in lifestyle ideologies between two generations through their interactions with the natural environment they populate. The older generation is content to live in harmony with the existing natural world and develop its infrastructure amongst the present landscape. Meanwhile, the younger generation believes in destroying the original terrain by constructing a new environment fitted to a theme of exoticism and novelty. The observation of such interaction with the environment reflects the overall character of both populations. The city of the older generation is focused around practicality. Constructed through a forest, this “wilderness city” is not in any way irregular from any other city except for the complex integration of human structures into the forest. As a result, there is minimal impact on the surrounding environ...
In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, there are many themes, symbols, and motifs that are found throughout the novel. For my journal response, I have chosen to discuss nature as a prevalent symbol in the book. The main character, Montag, lives in a society where technology is overwhelmingly popular, and nature is regarded as an unpredictable variable that should be avoided. Technology is used to repress the citizens, but the oppression is disguised as entertainment, like the TV parlour. On the opposite end of the spectrum, nature is viewed as boring and dull, but it is a way to escape the brainwashing that technology brings. People who enjoy nature are deemed insane and are forced to go into therapy. Clarisse says “My psychiatrist wants to know why I go out and hike around in the forests and watch the birds and collect butterflies,” (Bradbury 23) which shows she is a threat to the control that the government has put upon the people by enjoying nature.
In the article, “The Trouble with Wilderness,” William Cronon depicts of how individuals are frequently making the incorrect distinction of what is natural or not. Cronon begins by describing the myths or stereotypes society has made throughout history. Men masculinity is said to rise in the wilderness for the reason he is left with small resources to survive; furthermore, creating the image of cowboys or people who live in a farm to be the perfect candidates for living a natural lifestyle. However, William Cronon towards the end of his article, clarifies his main argument to the audience that people live in the wilderness or coexist with nature. The lifestyles that people have are natural for the reason tress or other plants are found in our cities just as people would find them in the forests. “The tree in the garden could easily have sprung from the same seed as the tree in the
She also introducing new urban building standards. This this article she talks about, the idea some people have of tearing it down and rebuilding. She also talks about ideas people have about some parts of towns. In Boston, she talks about the area of North End, and the change that it was over gone. During her second visit to this area, she discovered that it had changed. She talked to other about it, although the statistic were higher than the city, the people still saw it as a slum. They felt that they needed to tear it down in order to build something better. This leads to the conclusion that the urban planners to do understand that the people of the city need. They have ideas that were developed years ago that they are still using. These ideas do not take account what the people want. The author also introducing new ideas of a perfect city to live in and what it would look like. The idea of a garden city was introduced. This city would be built around a park. Although the new ideas sounded great they could not be put into place today. The idea of a Garden City is something that sounds nice, but it is not possible in society today. Today a city should reflect economic status, and in order to achieve this the city should be big, and convey an image of power. A city that has aspects of nature in it would not convey that image. That upkeep of a city of that kind would also be difficult. The do understand the author's point of view. The planners often times do not take into account the desires of the people. The town that I grow up in want to become more urbanized. In order to do this, they are building a large shopping center. This shopping center is located in the canyon rim. This canyon rim has been important the people for many years. We come to the area to walk, what bass jumpers, and enjoy the scenic views. This new shopping center took away this area. Many of the people
Throughout history, humans have had an increasingly profound impact on the areas in which they inhabit. Human population has increased in a slow yet exponential pattern since their evolution. These growing populations, along with species evolution have directed humans such that they have domesticated themselves and the things around them in ways that are both functionally and aesthetically pleasing. Plant species were transformed into useful crops, wild animals were converted to willing (and sometimes not so willing) companions, animals were hunted for food and for sport, and man's surroundings were modified as were seen fit. However, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As the environment has become modified, harmful consequences have resulted causing many of the natural coevolutionary processes to fall out of balance.
The characters in Gary Shteyngart’s “Super Sad True Love Story”, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”, Russell Bank’s “Djinn”, and Alice Walker’s “Everyday Use” are similar in that they all display a relationship between humans and their environment. When each passage is broken down and analyzed, however, there are clear differences in how the authors depict the effects of the environment on the development of individuals and their relationships. While the characters in “Djinn” and “Everyday Use” are examples of being products of their cultural and family environment, Emerson argues the opposite by saying humans should not be controlled by their environment and should never conform in “Self-Reliance”, and Shteyngart
In Alain de Botton’s collection of philosophical essays, The Art of Travel and Tim Winton’s short story ‘Neighbours’ the representation of people and landscapes leads us to a greater awareness of the complexity of human attitudes and behaviours. This is explored through the idea that changes in one’s receptivity to the landscape can determine their perspective of it and thus influence their behaviour and attitude towards those people in the landscape.
Interaction with the natural environment is an inevitable part of being human. Regardless of where one is born or raised, the natural environment is present to some degree. Furthermore, narratives and impressions around this natural environment become formed and imprinted on individuals through cultures and societies. These narratives can differ significantly, however, based on context and cultural implications. Within Heart of Darkness, “Abiku”, and “The Silent Traders”, the natural environment plays distinctly different roles.
The human nature can be seen to have adapted to all the situations in the environment while showing whatever the circumstances, there is always an advancement in the human nature as they get smarter and adapt to their own surroundings. They also shape their own surroundings according to will. Driftglass tries to lay the power lines about humanity on an ocean floor habitat with a better precision at hand . Such a message depicts that there is no failure or rather, the human kind often tends to possess a greater ability for adapting towards their own environment and surroundings (Delany, p. 109).
In the short story, “The Shining Houses “ the author Alice Munro, suggests that change may be inevitable. The main conflict is between the older generation, Mrs. Fullerton and the newer generation, the residents of Garden Place. The older generation has to adapt to change and towards a modern society. Conflict can be avoided if Mrs. Fullerton agrees to have her house demolished. However, because of the sentimental value her households, she is firm against change.
It is human nature to create an altered reality that is more suitable for habitation both physically and emotionally to protect the psyche. It is within this innately human subjective perception of realit...
A city which conforms to the popular misconception of modern town planning, that is; symmetry, balance and order of structure has the tendency to be monotonous, utilitarian and unfulfilling. As a journey is commenced by an individual or group through a city’s urban fabric; physical transitions, spatial significance, relationships and material manipulations translate into a dynamic grammar which either hinders or excites the inherited human response which is perceived by those undertaking the journey. At this level of consciousness we are dealing with a series of intuitive experiences and subconscious emotive responses stemming from sequential and sudden revelations which are imposed on the traveller by the city’s physical attributes; often
Ever wonder how urban design affects our daily lives and the way we build? Rural, urban, and suburb areas have many positives and negatives that impact us and determines how we accomplish our tasks and manage our time daily. Some of the areas might be difficult for people to live in or might be easy for others. The areas manage the money and time we spend in doing activities or accomplishing our needs such as transportation, education, health care, and more. Urban areas regulate the type of architecture and urban design that is being built around us with their features and the urban ecology.
Coming from a more urban place going up I am use to concrete and tall building. The wilderness is something of a fantasy seen mostly in books. The tallest tree I’ve seen where I am from now seem small and insignificant, being here and being surrounded by nature some of which has been around for hundreds of years. In an article called ‘Walk on the Wilder side’ an English teacher experiences how detach from nature her students are firsthand. “Somewhere in the recent past her students had become the Net generation, weaned on electronic text, instant messages, and virtual reality. The gap between word and world had widened at the time when cotemporary environmental authors cry out for reconnection.” (Mary Ellen Dakin, 2011). A need to bridge the gap between kids that grow up in urban setting and nature itself has never been more important now. People are now spending so much time on their phones and computer not only can they get disconnected from nature, but they can also get disconnected from the world. When the English teacher in an urban area found that many of her student did not have a good understanding of the nature around them, she had them go outside and sit in a park and write about what they saw and heard. “She would see that they lack a vocabulary specific to the natural world, unable to name types of trees, birds, insect, grasses, flowers, and weeds they observed (one student would write
Humans are part of natural ecosystem of earth, hence they are inseparable from the nature and its biodiversity of living organism. Every habitation has its own natural ecology, even cities has its own ecosystem which not only occurs in open green spaces and water bodies but also in every element of city and its development. Urban landscape is developed to increase green spaces in cities and spaces of interaction for the people; it’s more focused on planning and designing of the space and attraction to the visitors, and less focused on natural ecology of the place for example plantation of native trees which attracts native birds and its species which prevents the natural biodiversity of the place. Developing urban open spaces without taking natural ecosystem into consideration can end up extinction of particular type of species which cannot adopt it. Hence urban development of place should have integrated approach towards natural ecology, social and use of technology (Davies et al.,
Surely there exist cities that are determined to transform into more eco-friendly representatives of urban civilization, yet these efforts are typically focused on minimizing the harmful output of cities rather than rew...