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.
The wild is a place to push yourself to the limit and take a look at who you truly are inside. “Wilderness areas have value as symbols of unselfishness” (Nash). Roderick Nash’s philosophy states that the wilderness gives people an opportunity to learn humility but they fight this because they do not have a true desire to be humble. Human-kind wants to give out the illusion that they are nature lovers when in reality, they are far from it. “When we go to designated wilderness we are, as the 1964 act says, "visitors" in someone else's home” (Nash). People do not like what they cannot control and nature is uncontrollable. Ecocentrism, the belief that nature is the most important element of life, is not widely accepted. The novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer depicts a young boy who goes on an exploration to teach himself the true concept of humility. Chris McCandless, the protagonist, does not place confidence in the universal ideology that human beings are the most significant species on the planet, anthropocentrism.
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.
The effects that the physical environment, (nature) have on the main character, throughout any novel are so great. No one seems to notice the little details that slowly, yet gradually show, a main character's struggle, and the ironic role that nature plays in effecting their actions. Environment is always used some way, whether it is to help the main character cope with his or her struggle or, the strong emotional changes that it leaves the main character feeling after personal encounters with the cruel world. It happens more or less in every novel, although sometimes it's not as noticeable as others.
I think today the fascinations about nature have a great influence from entertainment to education. But Davis states that the importance and value of such ‘nature entertainment’ differs by race and class.
Wilderness is a highly idealized concept in today’s society – we simply put it on a pedestal and choose to admire it as we see fit. Nature and wilderness are considered distant and remote concepts, separate from our everyday, civilized lives. By approaching the natural realm in this sense, we simply detach ourselves from our origin, which leaves us to fantasize about the great outdoors as an escape from the artificial creations of our everyday life. This desire to escape our artificial lives has lead to the construction of locations such as national parks, which merely appear to be the natural world, yet in reality they are simply just facets of the modernized world we have created.
During the short story ‘The shining houses”, the author Alice Munro goes through a great extent in describing the protagonist Mary Lou Ross through her conflict between choosing to conform or pursing her personal desire. A personal desire is a feeling of wanting something strongly, and trying to achieve it in any way possible. The short story shows the idea of going through changes and conflicts that every human must face during their time on earth. This story expresses the actions of change during Mary’s life, and her having to choose between what will help her town flourish or what is right. Mary, in the short story “The shining houses”, suggests through the main character that if a person does not follow their own path and ideas in life they will never grow and change. Mary will only find happiness and fulfilment in her life is she chooses to follow her judgments based on situations.
Again, this section will give a working definition of the “urban question’. To fully compare the political economy and ecological perspectives a description of the “urban question” allows the reader to better understand the divergent schools of thought. For Social Science scholars, from a variety of disciplines, the “urban question” asks how space and the urban or city are related (The City Reader, 2009). The perspective that guides the ecological and the social spatial-dialect schools of thought asks the “urban question” in separate distinct terminology. Respected scholars from the ecological mode of thinking, like Burgess, Wirth and others view society and space from the rationale that geographical scope determines society (The City Reader, 2009). The “urban question” that results from the ecological paradigm sees the relationship between the city (space) as influencing the behaviors of individuals or society in the city. On the other hand...
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.
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.
In American Literature many authors write about nature and how nature affects man's lives. In life, nature is an important part of people. Many people live, work, or partake in revelry in nature. Nature has received attention from authors spanning several centuries. Their attitudes vary over time and also reflect the different outlooks of the authors who chose to discuss this important historical movement. A further examination of this movement, reveals prevalence of nature's influence on man and how it affects their lives.
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.,
... architectures would led to a more organic organization beneficial to the people that choose to make their lives in this city. Although this model of a sustainable city is not a perfectly closed loop, it lays the foundation for one that is. Over time, with constantly evolving and improving technology and new methods of design from the scale of products to buildings, the gaps in the loop could be closed, and a “true” sustainable city could be fully realized.
Ecocriticism asserts that humans are “peoples of 'place'” (Bressler 231), our lives defined by the environment that we inhabit and the necessities of survival that are dictated by nature. The more we recognize this innate and deep connection—for example, through the reading and analyzing of the nature-human dynamic in literature—the stronger and healthier this relationship will become. We as humans will recognize our dependence on the earth instead of our dominance over it; we will recognize ourselves as “guardians” and learn how to better appreciate and protect the environment for future generations of authors and poets to continue to explore.
If there are more people, more, density, and a good mixture of uses, it will be a safer city... You cannot find a single city that does not wish to make the city center more vibrant or livelier.” This quote from Jan Gehl, the principal of Gehl Architects, illustrates the importance of having a sustainable city. The Central Park project has showcased to the world on how the landscape we design or occupy, can affect our daily activities and surrounding neighborhood. It sets an example of how design must be appreciated as a crucial factor in sustainability and emphasized on the fact the connection of people and nature should not be ignored. All in all, landscape architects are the ones to determine the physical characteristics of the public realm environment, to decide whether a city is attractive to people and whether people will choose to live in the city in the long