The Metaphor Of The Ocean

We live in a materialistic world. We can’t go anywhere without a car, and the unimaginable tragedy of going camping with no cell reception. That’s not to say our materialistic view doesn’t have it’s merits. It leads to a constant flow of inventions and technology that makes society run more efficiently. However, efficiency and technology have started to overshadow the natural world, which has nurtured the human race for thousands of years providing it with food, shelter, peace, and beauty. Despite the large role nature has played in the upbringing of mankind, society has justified neglecting it’s responsibility to take care of nature by disassociating the human world from the natural world.
In Albert Wendt’s Black Rainbow, a glimpse of the
past is shown as Eric recalls “Ships hooted from the harbours. Owls were gods once, my wife had said” (31). The memory of the past connection and present disconnection with nature in the novel is laid beside each other in comparison. The fact that this futuristic society is able to replace a living creature with an inanimate vessel of transportation shows a value in productivity over beauty and the natural world. Delving into a closer examination of Wendt’s use of literary devices, animals as gods acts as an allusion to Native American religious totems. Owls, and many other animals of nature, where seen and treated as sacred spirits and gods that represented each clan. By referencing that owls “were”, not anymore, seen as gods shows an unwillingness to associate humanity with not only nature, but also our pasts, in which accepted it’s natural connection. While the two sentences serve a nostalgic purpose of what we have forgotten and left behind, it also serves as a beacon of hope. Eric’s wife represents the few who continue to see the value of nature, and point out to others when it is being forgotten.
At the end of the novel, the reader is left to ponder, “We are, in the final instance, allegories that are read the way the reader chooses[…]we are allegories that invent and read themselves.” (265). This suggests that we shape our own stories and our own planet. We are responsible for what happens to it, and we decide it’s fate. Moreover, stating “Readers are free to improvise whatever other endings/beginnings they prefer.” (267), shows that we can change the state of our society in order to save nature and our connection to it.
The subtle theme a mother figure (nature) and child (humanity) is ever present. As a child grows and develops connections with objects and people outside of their parents, they start to drift away from the important connection they had with them. While they may subconsciously still need support and time allows them to slowly forget their gratitude and memory of their dependency as a child. Forgetting the years of nurture and simply remembering fragments and memories of the connection and admiration society once had for it. This also leads to the theory that, just like a child, our growing apart and forgetting is part of a choice in our human nature.
Jetnil-Kijiner also uses the mother and child representation of our relationship with nature, specifically the ocean, in her poem Dear Manafele Peinum in order to show the codependence between both nature and humanity. She first introduces the ocean as a “ lucid, sleepy lagoon lounging against the sunrise…they say it will gnaw…chew…gulp…and crunch”. Jetnil-Kijiner models the ocean’s behavior after a baby’s, drawing on a representation of innocence that needs to be protected and cared for, such as a mother to it’s child. Bringing about this perception of an innocent being, she shoes the ludricousy of “men say[ing] that one day/ that lagoon will devour you”. Instead of accepting responsabilities for their actions, these targeted blame the very victim we are harming in order to obliterate sympathy and realize what we are doing is wrong. This allows us to distance ourselves from the issue. However, Jetnil-Kijiner does not allow for the disconnection and says “no greedy whale of a company/ sharking through political seas/ no backwater bullying of businesses with broken morals/ no blindfolded bureaucracies gonna push/ this mother ocean over/ the edge”. She is connecting those who wish to detach themselves from the ocean in order to justify ignoring the destruction they are causing, back to the ocean. Not only does this cause for a shocking imagery, but it also serves as a realization that just because you ignore the ocean does not mean you can just disconnect yourself and be unaffected by it. She puts these people into oceanic roles to represent themselves being destroyed and being solely responsible for the destruction of others. .
The metaphor of the ocean as a child seems to be contradicted when Jetnil-Kijiner says, “this mother ocean” towards the end of the selected passage.
However, it seems that Jetnil-Kijiner is trying to portray the ocean as both the mother and the child; the protector and the protected. The role she places of the mother figure serves as a reminder of how the ocean has nurtured and helped us. Through the seafood we consume, the waters in which we use to travel, medicine from marine plants and animals, and the recreational uses of sports and leisure, the ocean has provided humanity with substance and enjoyment for thousands of years. Jetnil-Kijiner draws attention to the provisions the ocean allots to us and uses the reminder to get the audience to realize that taking care of the ocean is a necessary task we must do in reciprocation for what it has done for us. Moreover, calls herself “mother ocean”, displaying her different interpretive roles of being the ocean’s mother, the ocean as her own mother, and her and the ocean as one being. In complete opposition to the people she talks about who blame the ocean for the destructions and tsunami’s around the world, Jetnil-Kijiner counters this ignorance with the lack of blame she puts on the ocean, even though it is the physical being threatening to destroy her home. Her ability to see past the physical threat, and look beyond to the root cause allows the audience to do the same. Just like Eric’s wife in Black Rainbow , Jetnil-Kijiner is able to show the innocence and beauty that nature is, looking beyond the materialistic world and into humanities hand in the destruction of the natural
world.
While both Black Rainbow and Dear Manafele Peinum try to inspire the call for change and chance of a better future, the Wild Blue Yonder points to human flaw and greed to lead to the downfall of nature. Throughout the movie, humans are shown to be driven by infrastructure, wealth, leading shallow lives without respect for the natural world. While small glimpse’s of hope for humanity to revert back to it’s original respect for nature, exist in the other literary and cinematic pieces, the Blue Yonder sends a clear message that the only way for the planet to truly heal itself and the natural world is through the absence of human life.
Human’s have a huge impact and influence on nature, that dissociation from the issues and the problems to come is the only way to continue to live without guilt or worry. But blatant ignorance does not will away the issues that are erupting. With pollution and global warming at a constant rise, humanity cannot afford to forget what nature has done to allow them to thrive. These authors and directors resonate through their work the importance of human realization and change.