8/3/2019 Exercise 1 Reckoning

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Charles Wang WTE

Prof. Mischkot 10.15.11

Exercise 1 Reckoning

William J. Cronons,The Trouble with Wilderness, is an essay that tells readers to re-evaluate

our view of the wilderness. He describes how the word wilderness itself has changed from one of

waste and barbarianism to something sublime. Natural landscapes became sacred because of the

emotion of awe it evoked and how it made travelers feel closer to God. Wilderness is also described as the

frontier, which created the sense of individualism because it gave the travelers in the American West

the ability to re-create the cultural and individual way of life. Following the end of the frontier, people

became concerned with the loss of something so American, that wilderness parks were made. Cronons

description of the sublime and the frontier opens the eyes to the reader of the history of why we

romanticize the wilderness, telling us that our wonderment comes from cultural fabrications and not our

natural instincts. Because of the cultural manipulation to societys description of wilderness, we tend to

value some places of wilderness over others, allowing us to believe that some places are genuinely wild

while some places are not at all. Cronon wants us, the readers, to realize that nature is everywhere, and

human beings are part of it despite the cities they build and live in. It is only through our recognition that

nature is connected with humanity that ecological problems may not occur, and that the two can co-exist

without conflicts.

Henry David Thoreau seems to be the type of person that Cronon would described as falling intosocieties description of the wilderness during the nineteenth century. In his essay Why I went to the

Woods, Thoreau describes how people should start to live life more simply, to care for what is crucial,

and to forget anything trivial. Although his main point is different from Cronon, there is some conflict

because of his belief that going into the wild will clarify his points. Cronon would criticize Thoreau for

even making a distinction between civilization and nature. Thoreaus need to move away from society

and live with nature to discover a simpler way to live life is his way of romanticizing the wilderness.

Cronon would argue that it is Thoreau conception of wilderness, not the wilderness itself that allows

Thoreau to write what he wants.

Both author however seems to have a preference of conservation. Cronon wants humans to

realize that they are a part of nature in order to allow us to remedy ecological problems easily. Thoreau

indirectly supports nature, by describing the benefits of living simply, which only comes from being away

from civilization.