Man vs. Nature Theme in Literature Essay Example

📌Category: Literature
📌Words: 657
📌Pages: 3
📌Published: 14 March 2022

Nature has two divergent aspects of life, the beneficial and the pessimistic. Both sides play an important role in man vs. nature. The poem, “Traveling Through the Dark” by William Stafford and the legend “The World on a Turtle’s Back” by the Iroquois, both display an example of juxtaposition between the righteousness and iniquity in man vs. nature. In the poem, it was the man who desired the goodness in nature, in the legend it was the older twin. Nonetheless, the merciless driver and the younger twin both displayed unfairness in nature. Given this information, both texts emphasized the variance of nature. 

Part of nature plays a positive aspect in man vs. nature due to its desire for peace in the world. In these two texts, the audience can infer the positivity portrayed. For instance, the legend “The World on a Turtle’s Back” by the Iroquois exclaims, "The wicked one said, “Let us go out of the side.” But the other twin said, “No, we might kill our mother.” Hence, the ‘the other twin’ called Teharonghyawago did not want to hurt his mother. Instead, Teharonghyawago refused to listen to ‘the wicked one’ which was the fair choice. Validating that he does not want to be sinful like his twin brother; Tawiskaron, rather, he wishes for peace. Considering that Teharonghyawago and Tawiskaron are both a part of nature, they both have different intentions for the world. Likewise, the poem “Traveling Through the Dark” by William Stafford also portrays positivity, as seen. “I found a deer dead on the edge of the Wilson River road. It is usually best to roll them into the canyon; I thought hard for us all—my only swerving—, then pushed her over the edge into the river.” (Stafford 2-3;17-18) To clarify, when the author said “I thought hard for us all” towards the end he decided to do what was best for the fawn. Indicating, the man wanted peace because he did what he believed was best for the animal, instead of letting the fawn suffer by gradually dying. The man showed genuine feelings towards the fawn because he felt a connection with it, which is why he thought it was best to end its suffering. Thus, both excerpts provide a clear understanding of how both main characters exhibit an urge for placidity in nature. 

Although nature plays a positive role, occasionally, nature portrays the iniquity in man vs. nature. As opposed to the previous paragraph, man vs. nature can be seen as vile to the audience. This appears in the actions of Tawiskaron in the legend, “The World on a Turtle’s Back”; “Meanwhile, the wicked Tawiskaron caught the animals of the forest and put them in a dark cave; by putting them all in prison he stopped people from enjoying them.” Implying the negative objectives of Tawiskaron, it creates misery for the mortals. Considering the animals were created for human needs this is a perfect example of unfairness. The quote demonstrates the villainy of Tawiskaron, who happens to represent nature. Here illustrates how selfish and barbaric Tawiskaron can be, as well as signifies the iniquity he is on account of his actions. Furthermore, the poem “Traveling Through the Dark” shows the inhumanity and negativity of hitting the pregnant deer. The killing of the deers creates an illusion of chaos between man and nature. Such action is unfair because the merciless driver could have stopped and called for help, instead they decided to keep driving. Thankfully, there was someone to put the fawn out of its distress. What the merciless driver did proves the wickedness of human nature. As seen above, this reveals the parts of nature that are an atrocity. 

The verse “Traveling Through the Dark” and the short story “The World on a Turtle’s Back”, expressed the positivity and negativity of man vs. nature through juxtaposition. Both texts included something about nature and how it affected man. The inconsistent parts of nature relate to Yin and Yang because one part is required for the other to survive. Yin and Yang connect with a part of nature due to their similarity. Additionally, without one half the other would cease to exist. Without the darkness, the light would not shine through. Uniformly, in nature without the iniquity, there would be no righteousness.

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