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Nature as an active subject vs. as a separate sphere from human society

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Nature as an active subject vs. as a separate sphere from human society

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Nature writing aims to understand how we comprehend and live responsibly in the world through all parts of nature. While both Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Muir can be considered nature writers, Kimmerer’s relationship with nature is more ecological as she views nature as an active subject and something intertwined with society and her identity as a Native American, and Muir’s view is based more on the idea of wilderness, believing that nature is a separate sphere from society and advocating for preservation of national parks. These differing styles of nature writing are shown through two excerpts from Kimmerer's Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants; as well as Muir's The Yosemite.

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A citizen of the Potawatomi Nation and long-time advocate for protection of nature, Kimmerer seeks to understand how natural sciences, indigenous traditions, and literary artistry can all influence and enrich one another. She is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental biology, as well as the founder/director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at SUNY's College of Environmental Science and Forestry. She is one of the representative writers of ecology, which refers to the aesthetic/intrinsic worth/utility of nature, representing nature and culture as permeable and interconnected, while humans are often presented as a disruptive force.

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John Muir, courtesy of the Library of Congress

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John Muir, based in California, was the founder of the Sierra Club (1892) and had a hand in the creation of many national parks, including Yosemite, Sequoia, Mt. Rainer, the Petrified Forest, and the Grand Canyon National Parks. He lived between 1838 and 1914 and is often considered the "Father of National Parks." His view of nature mainly centered around the idea of wilderness, which refers to understanding of environment and paradise in its representation, drawing a hard conceptual division between civilization (here) and nature (there), with humans often presented as beneficiary of or enemy to an external environment “over there."

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“The land grew and grew as she danced her thanks, from the dab of mud on Turtle’s back until the whole earth was made. Not by Skywoman alone, but from the alchemy of all the animals’ gifts coupled with her deep gratitude… In her grasp were branches- fruits and seeds of all kinds of plants… And now that the animals, too, had plenty to eat, many came to live with her on Turtle Island” (Skywoman Falling, Braiding Sweetgrass 5, Kimmerer). Here, Kimmerer describes a relationship of mutual benefit between humans and nature, each helping and needing each other to survive. Through her writing, she details how intertwined we as people are with nature, our creations entirely dependent on one another.

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“In the settler mind, land was property, real estate, capital, or national resources. But to our people, it was everything: identity, the connection to our ancestors, the home of our nonhuman kinfolk, our pharmacy, our library, our source of all that sustained us… These are the meanings people took with them when they were forced from their ancient homelands to new places,” (The Council of Pecans, Braiding Sweetgrass 17, Kimmerer). This quote by Kimmerer explains how connected her culture as an indigenous person is with nature, feeding her, healing her, giving her a home, and more. Her identity is entirely dependent on nature, showing how intertwined nature is with human culture.

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“In general views no mark of man is visible upon it, nor any thing to suggest the wonderful depth and grandeur of its sculpture. None of its magnificent forest-crowned ridges seems to rise much above the general level to publish its wealth” (The Yosemite 2, Muir). As stated in this quote, the natural world is a completely separate sphere from human society, as no man is visible within nature, emphasizing the idea of wilderness. Muir believes in the idea of wilderness, which states that nature is completely separate from us, it isn't intertwined with us like Kimmerer states in her writings.

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“At the top of the fall they seem to burst forth in irregular spirts from some grand, throbbing mountain heart. Now and then one mighty throb sends forth a mass of solid water into the free air beyond the others which rushes alone to the bottom of the fall with long streaming tail, like combed silk, while the others, descending in clusters, gradually mingle and lose their identity” (The Yosemite 10, Muir). Muir's writing is mainly filled with descriptions and a little personification, intended to impress people and fill them with awe, so they feel more of a need to both visit and experience the national parks and to protect them. By describing them in such a magnificent way, he hopes to motivate people to advocate for the national parks he describes.

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Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. 2013. goodreads, https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1366775928i/17465709.jpg. Photograph.

John Muir. 1902. National Endowment for the Humanities, Library of Congress, https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2011/marchapril/feature/john-muir-natures-witness. Photograph.

Kimmerer, Robin Wall. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. 2013. Perusall, https://app.perusall.com/courses/engl-2635e-literature-and-the-environment-sec001-1253/kimmerer_skywoman-falling-934221285.

Muir, John. The Yosemite. 2003. Perusall, https://app.perusall.com/courses/engl-2635e-literature-and-the-environment-sec001-1253/muir_the-yosemite-620712493?assignmentId=utAizYLusYkfXc9Zb&part=1.

Roth, Matt. Robin Wall Kimmerer. Robin Wall Kimmerer, https://www.robinwallkimmerer.com/about. Photograph.

The Yosemite. 2003. Penguin books, https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn2.penguin.com.au%2Fcovers%2Foriginal%2F9780812967012.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=d3a0917e75e40d22d17ec89af88372319264b2dd1c83e65a48d187c0cacbd79b&ipo=images. Photograph.

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Two of the styles of literary environmentalism which we discussed in lecture include transcendalism and pastoral, which Kimmerer's writing is a combination of. Transcendentalism is a philosophical/literary movement that came about during the 19th century and was based in New England. It sought intuitive cognizance of moral and other truths that transcend limits of sense and experience, discovered from the natural world. Meanwhile, pastoral writing is a nostalgic reference to or image of peace and simplicity of rural life in an idealized natural setting. Kimmerer's writing both tries to transcend experience by finding ideologies from nature, while also referencing moments of peace both throughout her life and her culture in which nature was peaceful and almost primitive.

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Kinship and Background as an Indigenous Person

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Kinship and Background as an Indigenous Person

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Kinship, one of the things we discussed in lecture, is defined as a system of shared characteristics or origins whose articulation establishes reciprocal relationships, which is one major characteristic of Robin Wall Kimmerer's writing. She references both the Indian Termination Policy (1940-1960) and the Indian Relocation Act of 1956 in her writings in Braiding Sweetgrass, describing how both many generations before her and herself were affected by these nationwide decisions. Despite these generational traumas, however, she and her ancestors held onto their beliefs related to nature, especially related to the importance of land, as explained in Example 2. She determines that her identity is reliant on her beliefs about nature, and that nature significantly influences her culture as an indigenous person.

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Personification, Elegy, Sublime, and Imagery

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Personification, Elegy, Sublime, and Imagery

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Many of the characteristics we discussed in lecture are used by Muir, including personification, elegy, sublime, and imagery. Elegy is a form in which the past, current, or future passing of something is lamented/gone, while the sublime is a temporary aesthetic experience of diminishment in the face of God/nature, which hints at a universal (mortal/material) connection to the more-than-humans world, intended to create a sense of wonder for those who don’t see it in person. All of these tactics are used to create within the reader a sense of enthusiasm and responsibility for not only experiencing the national parks Muir describes, but also protecting them and keeping them safe.

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Muir frequently refers to using "unmediated" observations, as we discussed in lecture, and detailed describes to give the impression that what is being described is real, not theoretical. He also does not want outside forces to intervene, describing nature just as it is rather than comparing it to society or humans, which furthers the idea that he views nature as a separate sphere. Both Muir and another important nature writer, Henry David Thoreau, believe that walking through nature is massively important for both the individual and the nation's identity as a whole, because it shows how necessary nature is, gives them the opportunity to truly appreciate it, and allows a person to envision the broader effort toward nation building and the effect of that on the natural world.

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In a final analysis, Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Muir view nature in completely different ways, as shown through their writing. While Kimmerer describes nature as intertwined with humans and a necessary aspect of our culture, especially hers as an indigenous person, Muir describes nature as completely free of people, a separate sphere from human society. In her book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, Kimmerer explains how the idea of nature and land have a mutualistic relationship with people, benefiting each other and need each other. Muir, however, writes about nature as completely separate and different from humans, though it is still something important to learn from.