In January of Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold follows the tracks of a skunk on an early Spring treatise through the wood to determine its destination and learn its purpose. As the trail leads him from underbrush to glen he observes myriad tales echoed in the landscape. He is privy to a field mouse as it scurries between the sun melted breaks in the subarctic cause ways which wind their way to his foodstores. He watches as a hawk sworrls above, and he likens to a king fisher. And he is atune to the stirrings of a squirrel from the pinkish urinations it had left behind as a marker to its pas snowy scriptures tell where the lattices of a rabbit and an owl had overlapped in a background of survival...of life.…
Strafford does a great job of illustrating the function of the animal in "Traveling Through the Dark." The deer is dead on the side of the road from a hit and run and the speaker wants to be respectful of the deer. The speaker is about to "roll them into the canyon" (3, Stafford), when he realizes that the deer is pregnant. This causes the speaker to rethink the importance of life while standing there in the dark. The speaker…
Poetry is a very powerful mechanism through which writers can tell their readers something about themselves or the world around them. The language within “Traveling Through the Dark” by William Stafford and “Woodchucks” by Maxine Kumin display the speakers’ psychology and what sort of relationships they have with the animals and their deaths in their respective works. Despite being similar in a few aspects, these two works are very different.…
There are multiple ways of perceiving the poem and the tensions between man and technology it presents. One viewpoint, as expressed by Judith Kitchen in her book “Writing the World: Understanding William Stafford“, suggests that the poem by Stafford, “Traveling Through the Dark” demonstrates “the encroachment of mechanized society on the wilderness” (Kitchen). For Kitchen, this poem deceptively simple and straightforward title of the poem by William Stafford, “Travelling Through the Dark” and its conversational style belie an incredibly deep sense of pain and guilt that the narrator suffers through. By examining the way the poem uses language to express these emotions, particularly by looking at the way certain objects take on a life (the car, for instance, which itself “aims” and swerves” as though it is the embodiment of man and technology) Kitchen expresses how the poem by Stafford “Traveling Through the Dark” hides a complex message about man and nature behind deceptively simple phrasing, syntax, and tone. She points out ways in which some very simple word choices in the poem by William Stafford, “Traveling Through the Dark” take on monumental importance, stating, for example, that when the poet refers to the “group” witnessing this event, “The group appears to be the man, the deer, the unborn fawn, and by extension, all of nature” (Kitchen). In short, Judith Kitchen assists the casual reader of this poem…
I believe that through our experiences or the way we are raised influences our morals and life-style. For example, because the creature was ugly and scary, humans rejected him and didn’t care to get to understand his intentions, they even threw rocks at him. (p.74) Because of these experiences, the creature grew hateful and resented humans and his creator because of the way he looked and the things he went through.…
Power is a concept that has existed for all of human history. The battle and struggle to maintain power creates stories that have come to shape our literary world today, and help us understand governement and its intended purpose. In V for Vendetta, we are introduced to a society where the government uses survelence, fear, and physical violence to ensure the country’s stability. What lies benaeth this surface however, is an entirely different world of rebels, terrorists that stand for justice, and innocent people being oppressed. In animal farm, readers are shown a similar type of society. In both novels there is a struggle for power, good and bad. The bad form of power is already in place, and the people want to reinstill justice and equality…
In the short story, “A Sound of Thunder”, Ray Bradbury employs detail of the consequences of killing one mouse to show how society has developed into one that has lost emotions and the true meaning of a life. This reoccurring idea of a chain reaction drives the story and eventually causes the death of the protagonist. From the beginning of the novel through the Time Safari guide, Bradbury places high emphasis on the one mouse and the after-lying effects of killing. Bradbury explicitly, yet indirectly, parallels the story of the mouse to society and humanity. Only through the explanation and story of the mouse, could Bradbury further the story and foreshadow the conflict that was to come.…
Like these two characters, each of us has a social monster inside us that desires to be free. For some, it could be the social monster of The Narrator, who feels the need to destroy the things in a society that have shackled him. For others it could be the Frankenstein Monster who on the outside looks hideous but has a loving, compassionate side that society does not get to see because of the way they have perceived him. Much like the racial and gender profiling of today or the way society has a perception of a so called…
“Not responding is a response - we are equally responsible for what we don't do.In the case of animal slaughter, to throw your hands in the air is to wrap your fingers around a knife handle.”, therefore, according to Foer, going with the norms and continuing to buy groceries and meat products from these factory farms is basically making a decision to support them without actually thinking that it is the right thing to do. We are responsible for not supporting humane factories and being willing to give up meat as well as factory farmed products. “Perhaps in the back of our minds we already understand, without all the science I've discussed, that something terribly wrong is happening. Our sustenance now comes from misery. We know that if someone…
Animals and other living creatures in this world, share the same right as us to have their own independent existence and modes of living. Edward Freeman in his famous quote regarded to the relationship between humans and animals states “The awful wrongs and suffering forced upon the innocent helpless, faithful animal race forms the blackest chapter in the whole world’s history”. Even though the human race slaughters animals to fulfill resources needed to sustain the population, still is not satisfied with the bounty of products that nature offers, but have got more greedy in over consuming every single part of these poor innocent creatures without necessity. Peter Singer in “Animal Liberation” suggests that human should leave animals alone “as much as…
Because animal cruelty has had such a negative impact policy makers have decided to act in favor of protecting our animals. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA), enacted in 1966, protects animal lives as it argues that they are equally as important as humans. The AWA grants the animal the right to positive quality of life while being used for research purposes. The notion of animal rights is “the idea that some, or all, non-human animals are entitled to the possession of their own lives and that their most basic interests—such as the need to avoid suffering—should be afforded the same consideration as similar interests of human beings” (“Animal rights”). As humans, there are certain laws and securities we are afforded to protect us from harm and experimentation.…
Animal Farm is a book that gave promise to the victims of the Holodomor Genocide to not lose hope of having their story heard and acknowledged. During 1932 to 1933, a devastating event called "Holodomor" occurs which is a man-made famine Stalin has created. He steals grain from families and working individuals and leave them to starve. His men even "destroyed chimneys, tore apart mattresses, and poked and penetrated every square meter of the peasants' yards" (Chalupa, 2012, p.38) due to his order of searching the people's quarters to look for any hidden grains and punish them for any visible signs of keeping. The owners behave cruelly without an ounce of sympathy for the workers. Furthermore, this story about the forced starvation on the Ukrainians…
In “Thoughts of Capital Punishment” and “Traveling Through the Dark” they illustrate different imagery. In Mckuen’s poem the imagery described is cartoon like: “And then found guilty, after too fair a trial should be caged in a cage with a hyena’s smile or maybe an elephant with an elephant gun should shoot out his eyes when verdict is done.” This stanza illustrates silliness and rather immature from the poet. If we try to imagine the poem, we wouldn’t be able to imagine the situation because of his lack of imagery: “for her husband who lies with his guts spilling out cause he didn’t know what automobiles are about.” Although this part may illustrate some imagery, we would not be able to imagine the killing of “Mrs. Badgers husband”. While in Stafford’s poem he shows real life imagery: “My fingers touching her side brought me the reason—her side was warm; her fawn lay there waiting, alive, still, never to be born.” Stafford is showing genuine emotion and real tenderness towards the deer and we can have a visual of deer and its unborn fetus.…
The container car is filled beyond capacity. It is dark and cramped. There is no room to move. They have no food or water. There is no place to relieve themselves so they stand in their own waste and filth. The conditions are not much different that what they have known all their lives. They don't protest as while boarding. They have no clue a gruesome death awaits when they disembark. Is this the train to Auschwitz? No. It's the end of a short and miserable life for factory farmed animals.…
In both poems “Traveling Through the Dark” by William Stafford, and “Woodchucks” by Maxine Kumin are comparing humans to different things. “Traveling Through the Dark” compares the doe, car, and man and how they each conflict with each other. In “Woodchucks” it is comparing the conflicts between man and man with the allusion of a woodchuck. Both poems use strong imagery, and state a shift in the tone, revealing their change of mind, and have similar conflicts showing the different relationships with nature, and their themes.…