Nature In Native American Literature

The Role of Nature in American Literature
The role of Nature in human life is a recurring theme in American literature from early Native American writings, through the Romantic and Transcendentalist eras, and is even examined in contemporary works. In the early Native writing, Nature is portrayed with divinity as something that not only enables, but also sustains human life. However, in the seventeenth century, European settlers largely rejected this view of Nature as they embraced the intellectual safety of strict religious institutions such as Puritanism. The progressive, intimate view of Nature that Natives embraced is not reflected in American works of literature again until it influences the writers of the Romantic and Transcendentalist
This seventeenth century attitude is exemplified in John Winthrop’s A Model of Christian Charity as he writes that Massachusetts’s settlers are destined to build “a city upon a hill.” In this metaphor, Winthrop explains that human civilization should be placed above Nature, which in turn would enable a closer connection with God. European settlers shared a belief that in order to have a spiritual connection with God, civilization must be separated from Nature to keep the untamed wilderness from penetrating their immaculate society. Settlers also believed that it was their duty to introduce their advanced civilization to the wild and deprived land. Because they associated the forest with the unknown, white settlers believed that wilderness was a haven for all evil and savagery. Mary Rowlandson’s narrative of her captivity with an Indian tribe exemplifies this view. She writes, “But now, the next morning, I must turn my back upon the town, and travel with them into the vast and desolate wilderness.” (Rowlandson). Understandably, Rowlandson was not willing to leave her community because it was place for security and predictability. In her narrative, Rowlandson continually describes nature with dark imagery, displaying her belief that civilization is brighter and thus better the wilderness.
One example of this approach can be found in Thoreau’s book, Walden. He writes, “Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I might say innocence, with Nature herself” (Thoreau). Thoreau cites the positive affects of Nature on human life and uses diction that would normally be associated with Natives such as “equal simplicity” to describe the harmony he has with Nature. He also personifies Nature by using the word “herself,” which is also found in Indian writing. Furthermore, Bradford Torrey, in his essay on the life of Henry David Thoreau, writes, “Thoreau’s love for the wild…was as natural and unaffected as a child’s love for sweets.” Torrey also acknowledges Thoreau’s assertion that there is innocence in the pursuit of one’s life meaning through Nature. Thoreau’s work also echoes Hawthorne’s theme of non-conformism to social institutions in order to gain a better understanding of nature and of oneself. In Walden, he writes, “I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that