Wendell Berry The Loss Of The Future Summary
Wendell Berry is the author of the essay called “The Loss of the Future” which was published over forty years ago and is still prevalent in issues today. “The Loss of the Future” deals with the issues human behavior in the world. Humans do not see the impact their behavior effects the world as a whole, nor do they want to be held accountable for it to change their ways. He expresses the downfall of topics such as power, idealism and the government. He also emphasizes the play on words used today such as ghettos where they are meant to be more than just the negative connotation put on them.
Berry shows that humans are not taking topics seriously such as “War is funny. Sex is surreptitious, omnipresent, consumed only in advertisements. Stupidity
is only amusing, as are such personal afflictions as speech impediments” (1,2-3). Topics such as Christianity which are meant for so much more than using them as reasoning for having decent behavior, but that’s what many use it for. Berry emphasizes all of these topics throughout part one of his essay.
In the second part of the essay which was published later, Berry continues on the topic of Christianity. He also adds to the behavioral issues of society dealing with the government. He mentions how the number of people who are dependent on the government for their everyday needs has increased tremendously and that has led to the downfall on society as a whole. People are being classified on their income and being stereotyped by it as well. People are starting to think more in the “terms of the expedient rather than the desirable” (2,1). Berry also explains how too many laws and big government leads to limited morals of a citizen. The most respectable and responsible people are those who are not always told what to or are bossed around, but those who are given guidelines and respond positively. Berry’s main point is to emphasize that society needs to take responsibility for their own actions, not be so incredibly dependent on the government for daily needs, and think about preventing harmful occurrences than rather brush them off after they occur.
Berry shows that humans are not taking topics seriously such as “War is funny. Sex is surreptitious, omnipresent, consumed only in advertisements. Stupidity
is only amusing, as are such personal afflictions as speech impediments” (1,2-3). Topics such as Christianity which are meant for so much more than using them as reasoning for having decent behavior, but that’s what many use it for. Berry emphasizes all of these topics throughout part one of his essay.
In the second part of the essay which was published later, Berry continues on the topic of Christianity. He also adds to the behavioral issues of society dealing with the government. He mentions how the number of people who are dependent on the government for their everyday needs has increased tremendously and that has led to the downfall on society as a whole. People are being classified on their income and being stereotyped by it as well. People are starting to think more in the “terms of the expedient rather than the desirable” (2,1). Berry also explains how too many laws and big government leads to limited morals of a citizen. The most respectable and responsible people are those who are not always told what to or are bossed around, but those who are given guidelines and respond positively. Berry’s main point is to emphasize that society needs to take responsibility for their own actions, not be so incredibly dependent on the government for daily needs, and think about preventing harmful occurrences than rather brush them off after they occur.