1,003 Words

On The Natural World: SMALL PEOPLE IN A BIG UNIVERSE

To live and thrive in our universe one must develop a deep connection with nature and understand what is in charge.

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Old Man and The Sea - Hemingway

“The old man had seen many great fish. He had seen many that weighed more than a thousand pounds and he had caught two of that size in his life” (pg. 63)

“‘Remember we are in September.’ ‘The month when the big fish come,’ … ‘Anyone can be a fisherman in May.’” (Pg. 18)

Seascape - Bishop

“where occasionally a fish jumps, like a wildflower in an ornamental spray of spray”

“the whole region, from the highest heron down to the weightless mangrove island”

The Fish - Bishop

“Like meads with their ribbons frayed and wavering, a five-haired beard of wisdom trailing from his aching jaw”

“And I let the fish go”

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Everyone is a part of nature, whether we realize it or not. To live and thrive in our universe, one must develop a deep connection with nature and understand their role in its grandeur. In all three of these texts we get to view life from people who understand this delicate relationship between man and the natural world. From Bishop’s descriptive lines about fauna in The Fish, to Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea, each tells of a deep respect for nature. It is often a misconception that those who hunt or fish are trying to conquer nature, when in reality they are trying to be with nature. It is the fisherman whose livelihood depends on bountiful migrations, and the hunter’s family who depends on public lands, why wouldn’t they be some of our biggest advocators? Through these texts we connect with nature through the lens of an old man, a luminary, and a fisherman. Old Man and The Sea teaches us that we are a part of nature, Seascape teaches us to appreciate nature and inspire us to protect it, and The Fish shows us how many lessons we can learn from nature.

Old Man and The Sea is a classic tale of perseverance and dedication that resonates with readers so well due to its notions of competition within nature. Just like the great old man finds a great old fish, us too can find a worthy reflection of ourselves in the natural world. For the old man to live in his universe, he must kill the fish, but it is so much more than that. The fish is the old man in another life, and through the power and dark beauty of nature, only one may survive. The old man knows the tides, seasons, eddies, shoals, and nuances of the sea just as the great fish has come to know them. That deep connection goes far beyond simply feeding one another. To think that the relationship between a fish and the great old man ends when the fish is in the boat would be a complete misunderstanding of the cycle of life and nature as a whole. The man is at the whim of nature just as the fish is, and Hemingway emphasizes the importance of this in a variety of ways. Primarily, he describes the newer fisherman using motors while fishing, and doing away with the old ways of the wind. This departure from nature is a slow but confident step in the wrong direction for these fisherman. We have learned that once the scale is tipped towards man and away for nature, it is rather difficult to put that genie back in the bottle. The Old Man and The Sea is a story of ecological lessons under a veil of a man versus fish arc.

Seascape is a beautiful ode to nature and its bounty. In Bishop’s description of nature she describes the duality of good and bad within a mangrove. The “celestial seascape” is both a provider and a killer. We are alive in a constant duality of birth and death, finding happiness in this realm is done through nature. Bishop eloquently nods towards humanities greatest achievements and their connection to nature. The gothic arches of a mangrove, the ornamental spray of a fish, a wildflower like a tapestry made for the pope, all of our beauty comes from nature. Seascape also touches on the important note of man’s misunderstanding of nature. Similarly to a pig not understanding physics despite these rules acting upon the pig, we cannot understand the how and why of nature despite being nature.

In the final selected text, The Fish, we again see ourselves in the natural world. The dichotomy of beauty and violence that both fish and humans are capable of is front and center in this poem. Lines connect us with nature through common themes such as youthfulness, the home, emotion, death, and much, much more. The pivotal line in the poem is at the end when our character lets the fish go. It speaks volumes that the point of fishing is not necessarily killing and eating the fish. Simply, by existing out in nature and keeping an ear to the ground we can connect on a deeper level with the natural world and learn its ways to improve our own lives. Similarly to the other selected works of Seascape and The Old Man and The Sea, we learn in The Fish about the deeper meanings of ocean voyages, fishing, and existing in any capacity in nature, as well all do. There is wisdom in fish worth knowing.

Each of these texts resonate deeply with our inert connection to the natural world. Both Bishop and Hemingway understand that the well-being of man depends on the well being of nature. Without a great and beautiful sea the great man will go away, without beauty in preserved mangroves the celestial art and creativity will disappear, and without a fish to eat and appreciate, we will all be gone. If nature falls apart, we will fall apart too.