Domestication And The Apple Essay

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Domestication and the Apple Throughout my life, I have noticed an overwhelming need from the people around me to control the things around them. This can be as common as time management to a much more manipulative way of controlling the people they happen to be close to. One of the mass-spread ways of restricting and “house-training” nature is concept of domestication. Domestication, by definition, is the the process of adapting wild plants and animals for human use. Two of the first domesticated animals were chickens, dogs, sheep, and goats. The first types of domesticated plants were wheat, barley, lentils, potatoes, rice, and types of peas (National Geographic). “Most of the domestic animals familiar to us today were domesticated …show more content…

Grafting, according to dictionary.com, is to insert a bud, shoot or scion of a plant or tree into another tree or plant. The apple was introduced to Europe and Northern Africa by the Greeks and Romans. From there, the apple spread worldwide. Many of the origins of the domesticated apple are unknown (PLOS Genetics). Domestication relates to the book The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollan through what Pollan brings up in the introduction to the novel. He says, “Seeing these plants instead as willing partners in an intimate and reciprocal relationship with us…” (Pollan xxv). His objective with The Botany of Desire is to show the desires of humanity and human nature through plants that most people know. Pollan uses the apple specifically to show the desire “sweetness”. He shows sweetness as something altered and evolved that humans yearn to have. The apple began as a bitter, disgusting fruit that could only be tolerated in the form of cider (Pollan). Now, the apple is widely enjoyed by much of the population that has easy access to the fruit. Many of the apples today are artificially created through genetic reconstruction (Nature

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