Nature’s Façade in Deliverance
Isabel Lane
Pleasant hikes through the woods, leisurely paddles through calm water, surrounded by happy campers—these are all things one should not expect to encounter much when reading James Dickey’s Deliverance. The story centers around a middle aged man, Ed, seeking a change from his routine life that rarely strays from boring. He gets the opportunity to escape for a few days with three friends, and they go on an adventure on a river in North Georgia that gets out of hand when they are attacked by two men living up there. The trip turns into a fight for survival, which none of the men could have predicted. Nature is very prevalent in this book, especially because no matter what happens, Lewis, Bobby, Drew, and Ed are always surrounded by it. Ed begins the adventure with an ideal of nature in his mind. He feels excitement under his almost constant annoyance, but he also feels separated from nature, like he’s merely observing its greatness. His attitude towards nature evolves as the trip progresses. He finds himself exploring the unknown more, but still with the mindset that nature has perfection in its power. But as the plot thickens and the four men’s lives are at stake, nature becomes a vastly more daunting obstacle, and its power over them finally seems evident. After dealing with the prospect of death looming over their heads as they run from killers, and experiencing nature’s true wrathful form along the way, the men now feel a personal connection to the river and nature in general. In the beginning, Ed experienced nature as a thing of beauty to be admired from a slight distance, but little did he know that in less than two days he would realize that nature has several sides—calm and perplexi...
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...e river is one that the reader definitely would not see in the beginning, when the middle-aged man was complaining about simple, mundane things in his simple, mundane life. It took him this trip—and all the terrifying experiences that came with it—to realize that his ideal of nature was very different from its true form, however complex it may be. He went into the adventure with a cautious attitude, even when he tried to explore the unknowns surrounding him. But once he had ridden the rapids like they were a bucking bull, ran from rabid hillbillies, buried a body, and climbed a cliff with only his body as a tool, he was finally able to see nature’s true self and accept that it was not all pretty trees and a lone river. It was an unstoppable beast that one had to have firsthand experiences with to make a connection with—a connection that changed Ed Gentry for good.
Barry defines the Mississippi’s unpredictability through an “uncoiling rope.” One cannot experience an act such as that of an uncoiling rope, in it’s smooth, but quick movements. Its destination cannot be anticipated and its course of action can only be speculated. By using a single phrase, like “uncoiling rope,” Barry guides his audience to a complete picture of the fascinating Mississippi. He gives life to the Mississippi by relating it to a snake. His snake-related diction, such as “roils” and “uncoiling” present the river with lifelike qualities that extend Barry’s purpose in saying that the incredible river can actually stand on it’s own. Furthermore, Barry describes the river in similes in order to compare the Mississippi to a snake, in a sense of both power and grace. The river “devours itself”, “sucking” at the surface around it, and “scouring out holes” in its depths. Barry’s combination of personifying diction and similes provide his audience with a relation in which one understands the Mississippi’s paradox of strength and unpredictability, and
Overcoming obstacles in one’s life can lead someone along the path of ultimately taking pride in themselves. This is apparent in William Bell’s novel Crabbe, in the case of young Franklin Crabbe. Firstly, Crabbe’s ordeal in nature teaches him to put others before himself. At the beginning of his journey, he is self-centred whilst making decisions, whereas at the end of his journey, he is able to consider others first. Secondly, during Crabbe’s time in the wilderness, he gains self-satisfaction from hard work. Crabbe learns about how good it feels to accomplish something in his waking hours, and continues to realize this after his encounter with nature. Lastly, throughout Crabbe’s time in the wilderness, he learns to take responsibility for his own unhappiness. In his bounty of moments for reflection, Crabbe realizes his parents are not to blame for his every moment of depression. During Crabbe’s journey in the bush, he overcomes frequent obstacles which send him back to civilization as someone he can be proud of.
In "Two Views of the River," an excerpt from Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi, Twain comes to the realization of the realities of the river. After a life along the river and knowing "every trifling feature that bordered the great river as" well as he knew his alphabet, (Twain 1) Twain sees the reality behind the "beauty" (1) and "poetry" (1) of the river. A comprehensive analysis reveals Twain's argument questions the value of learning a trade, as his images of "the majestic river" (1) and the peril it may cause for the steamboat, show the comparisons of the beauty and the reality of the river.
The world of Ernest Hemingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River” exists through the mostly unemotional eyes of the character Nick. Stemming from his reactions and the suppression of some of his feelings, the reader gets a sense of how Nick is living in a temporary escape from society and his troubles in life. Despite the disaster that befell the town of Seney, this tale remains one of an optimistic ideal because of the various themes of survival and the continuation of life. Although Seney itself is a wasteland, the pine plain and the campsite could easily be seen as an Eden, lush with life and ripe with the survival of nature.
In Tim O’Brien’s “On the Rainy River”, the environment and it’s surroundings are correlated to the daily life and emotions of Tim O’Brien. These locations each represent a mental state in which Tim is using as his cognition for the events around him. For example, both Canada and Minnesota represent the two ideals Tim struggles with. In Canada, Tim attains the freedom from the Vietnam war he desires, but also leaves his family his family and friends in the shadows of humiliation. Meanwhile, Minnesota represents the war he believes is unjustified; where he must live and fight for, although he does not want to see many mutilated bodies from his homeland. Both Canada and Minnesota are representations of where Tim can go but also represent his
From the excerpt Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain, Twain describes his experiences on the Mississippi River while he is controlling a steamboat. Twain begins the story by describing the atmosphere of the river, the qualities of the river, and the spectacular view from the steamboat. He vividly projects the river by comparing it to a book that is legendary and nonetheless absorbing of attention. However, his perception of beauty towards the river changes as he encounters boredom, disinterest, and emptiness.
This is a river that runs between the United States and Canada. By taking O’Brien on this trip, Elroy allows the climax to happen. O’Brien is able to chose running away to Canada or going to war. As O’Brien struggles to come to his decision, Elroy remained quiet. O’Brien writes about this and says “[Elroy’s] presences, hise mute watchfulness made it real. He was the true audience. He was a witness, like God or like the gods, who look on in absolute silence as we live our lives.” By comparing Elroy to God, O’Brien is able to show how much of an impact Elroy’s silence has had on the young post-war O’Brien. Elroy allowed O’Brien to make decisions without putting pressure on O’Brien. As Tim O’Brien is reflecting back on these moments by saying that Elroy is “the hero of my life.” Elroy’s non-judgemental silence shaped the climax and gave O’Brien the strength to make the decision of going to war. Through his cryptic and silent ways, Elroy gives O’Brien the power to decide his future without having the pressure he would have had back at
Setting in a novel plays a critical role in developing the plot line. Particularly, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the Mississippi River is the key setting for much of the novel. Jim and Huck both end up traveling down the river for different reasons, and throughout their travels they experience many events. An article that discusses the important role of the Mississippi River in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is by Carl Wieck called "Huck and Jim on the Mississippi: Going with the Flow?". In this article Wieck goes through many different viewpoints of the Mississippi River's role in the story, such as how it represents going with the flow, or against the flow, and how in the end the river truly relates to Huck and Jim's travels by saving their lives in some instances but also causing a few problematic events.
To the readers, this reveals a further truth within the narrator each time. This repeated image that is described is a signifier to her true trauma. The first mention of the body in the river is a critical signifier in the story.
Hughes emphasizes his message consistently throughout this poem, weaving in the most important line in the middle and end of the poem. He is representing his people. African Americans have waited and been abused by society, and this deepened and weathered their souls over time, just as a river would become deepened and weathered. Hughes’ soul, the collective soul of African Americans, has become “deep like the rivers” (5). This simile speaks that the rivers are part of the body, and contribute to this immortality that Hughes is so desperate to achieve for his people. Rivers are the earthly symbols of eternity: deep, constant, mystifying.
Using his experiences as a steamboat engineer, Mark Twain creates a realistic novel through meticulous detail in the descriptions of the setting, diction, and characters. The setting is described with much detail and imagery, so as to make it as close as possible to the actual surroundings. Twain uses a page just to describe the sunrise over the river.
...ut illuminating speaking from the start of evolution, to the dawn if civilization, ultimately to the founding of America and the New World. All these discussions lead the writers till today, the bright and golden morning the writer’s eventual destination. The loss of a dreadful, terrible, deplorable past brings us to this bright new glorious morning. The travel to time to nowadays much relates the poem to American history and the current society. The bright new day, the tree planted by the river, the deeply rooted plants in a garden of society, the solid rock where mankind stands now all pins down to the what the poet is trying to express. The stanzas graphically elaborate on the rock, river, and tree. The stanzas have no definite rhythm and no certain pattern. I think that the three main features-tree, rock, river-may affect everyone in some aspects of life.
Nature represents an array of differing personalities, whether it be a positive influence on one’s life or an attempt to control it. In Early Purges by Seamus Heaney, conflicting views between the city and country folk question the true meaning of what defines cruelty to nature. In the poem, the narrator does not seem phased by the merciless drowning cats on a farm. Heaney describes the act as a way to keep the animal population in the farm’s control, but from an urban citizen’s view, the act seems rather harsh. In William Wordsworth’s I wandered lonely as a cloud, the narrator finds his therapy in the solitude of nature. When the narrator feels reclusive, he looks back to his happiest moments in nature and then he is filled with joy. Finally,
In “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, the river stands as a symbol of endlessness, geographical awareness, and the epitome of the human soul. Hughes uses the literary elements of repetition and simile to paint the river as a symbol of timelessness. This is evident in the first two lines of the poem. Hughes introduces this timeless symbol, stating, “I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins” (Hughes 1-2). These opening lines of the poem identifies that the rivers Hughes is speaking about are older than the existence of human life. This indicates the rivers’ qualities of knowledge, permanence, and the ability to endure all. Humans associate “age” with these traits and the longevity of a river makes it a force to be reckoned with. The use of a simile in the line of the poem is to prompt the audience that this is truly a contrast between that ancient wisdom, strength, and determination of the river and the same qualities that characterize a human being. The imagery portrayed in the poem of blood flowing through human veins like a river flows ...
When Mark Twain first starts his job as a steamboat ‘pilot’ or captain he is just learning how everything works and is amazed by the river he will soon have to learn. He is taken back in awe when he first starts working as a pilot by the ‘majestic’ and beautiful river so much so he describes it in deep and thoughtful writings that show how much he admires a non living thing. Mark Twain goes on and on about amazing the river is when he first starts working on the river as a pilot but this ‘moment of awe’ is broken when he actually has to learn the dangers of the river to start driving the boat this ends his liking of the river and he now fears the waters and the edge of the water where the trail