The Wilderness in Literature

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that, in the short story, "Days of Heaven", by Rick Bass, the main character comes to terms with his love of the land, although he knows that it will soon be gone and he must bear part of the responsibility for its disappearance; and that, in "The Big Two Hearted River", Ernest Hemingway, wrote of Nick Adams attempts to return to a land he had loved, after it had already been destroyed by development and construction, knowing that it would never be the same. The author points out that nature could be considered a main character in these stories: In one story, the land is about to be destroyed; in the other story the land is renewing itself. The paper relates that each author makes full use of the symbolism and human identity associated with the destruction and renewal.

From the Paper:

"Both of these stories display a strong relationship between the main characters and nature. The caretaker in "Days of Heaven" has a longstanding relationship with the land that he has been chosen to care for. To find himself in a position of seeing that land being taken away, land that he strived to keep natural is a great disappointment to him. To put it simply, it is like seeing something you treasure be taken away and destroyed. Imagine the greatest treasure that a person holds dear to their heart being ripped away and sold off into smaller pieces so someone else can use it. How heartbroken would that person be? This is the situation the caretaker finds himself in. He is also somewhat responsible for it, as he cannot or is not doing anything to stop it from happening. The opposite is true of Nick Adams, who has come from a place in his life where he was an element of destruction for nature. He is no longer a part of that life, and has transformed himself into someone who lives with the nature surrounding him. He has found that peace that the caretaker had."

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