Abbey’s connection to his environment is quite beautiful. He
has accepted the creatures’ presence and allows them to be around his
home/territory. Most people are repulsed by mice and snakes and want them gone
and nowhere near their personal sanctuary. Abbey first lets the mice live
within his trailer house, but when he notices that the mice start to attract
snakes he becomes wary, but before he decides to set traps for the mice he
falls upon a gofer snake which in a way he domesticates and keeps in his house
to eat the mice and keep the rattle snakes away. Instead of following his human
instinct to kill the rodents and serpents he gets what he wants by using the
cycle of nature for his own benefit. He becomes a mutual friend with the gofer
snake and they use each other for their own purposes. I feel that he feels more
connected to nature than most people but also disconnected to it at the same
time. When he was witnessing the “pas de deux” of the two gofer snakes he was
helplessly drawn to the dance but also when he was discovered and the snakes
were slithering toward him he freaked out and let the fear of the snakes lead
him to stand up and make the snakes go away. He mentions that, “If I had been
as capable of trust as I am susceptible to fear I might have learned something
new or some old truth so very old we have all forgotten it.”
I feel that it would be beneficial to experience this at
least once in a lifetime. Aside from the serpent ordeal he experiences I can
relate to his early morning gazes and appreciation for nature. I have moments
like those very often. The world is indescribably beautiful and mysterious.
It’s mind blowing to think how everything in the world works together to make a
masterpiece. Everyone should have these moments of exquisite clarity. I think
that Abbey wonders about the unknown and is intrigued but he has also accepted
it as a mystery. He states, “We are obliged, therefore, to spread news, painful
and bitter though it may be for some to hear, that all living things on hand
are kindred…” which means that in a way he has already figured out the surface
of the mystery.
I strongly agree with your perception of Abbey relationship with the creatures in his environment and I would like to add a few things. Abbey, being a park ranger, does seem to feel quite connected to the creatures within the canyon. Though at the same time recognizes that he is very different from them as well as them being very different from him. When forcing words into the birds’ beaks, he assures the reader that “no doubt this line of analogy must be rejected. It’s foolish and unfair to impute to the doves, with serious concerns of their own, an interest in questions more appropriate to their human kin.” The fact that he recognizes the possibility of doves having “serious concerns of their own” as well stating that humans are their “kin” demonstrates the connection that he feels with these creatures. The fact that he can’t understand their concerns adds to his Bewilderment and acceptance of the unknown.
ReplyDeleteThough it seems that you didn’t comment on the second reading, I will. If the theory that Greene proposes holds true, then I think that would have profound implications towards our perception of reality. An outer reality where things actually happened would indeed be a better place to live if one wanted to be sure of their external reality. We would not be sure that any of our actions were genuine. I think that Greene touches on a more profound point: that there are lots of things in philosophy and in physics that heighten our Bewilderment. We can’t be sure of our reality. Are we in the matrix? Greene argues for Bewilderment and for the acceptance of the unknown when recollecting on his childhood says, “It was mesmerizing. All the reflections seemed to move in unison-but that, I knew, was a mere limitation of human perception.”