Academic Master

English

The Vast Wildernesses and Mysterious Places of North America had deeply influenced early American writers

Thesis Statement

The vast wildernesses and mysterious places of North America had deeply influenced early American writers. This influence is also evident in their writings.

  1. Gatta, J. (2004). Making nature sacred: Literature, religion, and environment in America from the Puritans to the present. Oxford University Press.

One of the best portrayal of nature by Early American authors is that by Washington Irving in his short Story, “Rip Van Winkle.” For many authors, nature serves as the backdrop of the story. However, in his short story mentioned above, the author made nature as important as the title character himself. Rip Van Winkle lives with his wife and children, the former always criticizing her husband. He spends most of his time alone on his farm. His farm has been given a human attribute by Irving, who describes that the ground, the animals, and the plants act in spite of him. Irving has painted every aspect of nature with a human-like quality. He has painted the mountains with nobility as they govern the surrounding landscape as a monarch would govern over his kingdom. They would even “throw” shadows over the landscape and often appear as they are wearing a crown. Washing Irving, instead of using nature, as a surrounding for his characters, have made nature into a character itself, which interacts with the characters and influences them as the story progresses.

  1. Dekker, G. (2017). James Fenimore Cooper the Novelist (Vol. 6). Routledge.

Nature also plays a very important role in James Fenimore Cooper’s novel, The Last of the Mohicans. The natural landscape of the New World serves as the setting of the story. The novel depicts nature as wild, strange but immensely beautiful for the European settlers, who are bewildered by the American unsettled land. Both the Native Americans and the European settlers use the elements of nature such as rugged mountains, caves, and streams in a war against each other. Furthermore, Cooper has argued in the novel that native Americans are more close to nature than the Europeans. This can be judged by the Mohicans because they use the environmental factors to achieve military victories. The Last of the Mohicans depicted the amazement of the Europeans when they settled in America. The writer portrays the times when America was surrounded by natural beauty and how it required the efforts of the natives and the early settlers to conquer it.

  1. Thoreau, H. (2018). The Writings of Henry Thoreau (Vol. 3). BoD–Books on Demand.

Henry David Thoreau is yet another writer who sought closeness to nature. This is evident from his writing in Walden. Walden is Thoreau’s quest for self-exploration and spiritual understanding. He talks about letting go materialistic desires and seeking isolation. Thoreau explains that he views nature as a source of beauty, wisdom and spiritual sustenance. He dedicates many chapters of his book to the observations of the natural world. He views nature as an essence of human life as animals can give men companionship and may accept them as part of their environment. He paints the nature as sympathetic as well when he mentions that winter is waiting to blow its coldest winds only after Henry Thoreau builds a chimney and plasters the walls of his house. He also describes nature as a reflection of human emotions, for example, describing a pond as a mirror. When the pond is frozen during the winters, the author feels sadness, but it turns into glee when spring arrives. The changes in the natural surrounding have a deep impact on Thoreau, and he feels connected with nature when he wanders on the path of self-realization.

References

Dekker, G. (2017). James Fenimore Cooper the Novelist (Vol. 6). Routledge.

Gatta, J. (2004). Making nature sacred: Literature, religion, and environment in America from the Puritans to the present. Oxford University Press.

Thoreau, H. (2018). The Writings of Henry Thoreau (Vol. 3). BoD–Books on Demand.

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