Jack London

Week 61 Week 6 Joseph Robbins HUM 335 Christina Baker April 21, 2013 Week 62 1. From “The Slaughter of Pigeons” in Chapter 6, What is the author’s claim about the ethics of hunting? What specific words does the author use to “stack the evidence” for his claim? Knowledge of the characters and their histories is not necessary to appreciate “The Slaughter of the Pigeons” because we can interpret through each character’s actions Cooper’s underlying message. The villagers firing haphazardly into the flock is a universally ridiculous image.
Between the slaying of multiple birds with one blind shot to the unleashing of the overpowered swivel canon on the flock, it isn’t hard to notice Cooper’s criticism of the settler’s careless destruction of wildlife. The character of Leather-Stocking serves as an environmental exemplar. He skillfully demonstrates shooting down a single pigeon and uses the exploit to help imbue the villagers with a bit of conservationist wisdom, not to take from nature more than what they need. Having communicated the story’s moral, Cooper closes the scene with the image of the multitude of dead or dying birds strewn across the ground.
Also read The Story of an Eyewitness Essay Analysis

This image is a clear warning of the ugly pointlessness of the settler’s slaughter. 2. From “A Blizzard under Blue Sky” in Chapter 6, Write a “claim of policy” that this story suggests for an individual who is battling depression. Does the claim have merit? Explain. I thought “A Blizzard Under Blue Sky” was a wonderful story and achieved exactly what it intended to. It provoked happiness, maybe even amazement, based on the fact that upon setting out Houston was initially skeptical about the healing power of the natural world, and in turn found how revolutionary an extreme experience can be.
What is most interesting is that Houston Week 63 immediately turned down anti-depression medication. Most people would be thrilled at the prospect of a pill filling the void in their lives. Pam Houston had a contrary view: “one of the things I love the most about the natural world is the way it gives you what is good for you even if you don’t know it at the time. ” The important thing to note here is that she did not know how nature would heal her, but she had an unwavering faith that it would even in extremely harsh conditions.
If you believe that nature is your enemy, than it is, but that is true with all aspects of life. The claim above merits itself by accepting life as what it is and knowing that only you can make a change. 3. From the poem “Saint Francis and the Sow” in Chapter 6, What is Kinnell’s claim? On what rhetorical appeal does the poet rely? Point out and evaluate specific examples of this appeal. Galway Kinnell’s “Saint Francis and the Sow” concentrates on multiple themes that involve innocence, guilt, beauty, and loveliness.
At the beginning of the poem, Kinnell refers to “The bud” as “all things”. A bud is simply the first phase of a flowers life. However, buds can represent many different things, including the potential of beauty to come, pureness, and innocence. A bud is pure and I assume refers to infancy, which also implies that it’s primitive. The thoughtful claim in the first two lines of the poem suggest that the bud has ubiquitous characteristics. The type of characteristics that which influence some sort of substance on “all things”.
That being said, it’s quite ironic how something as powerful as “The bud” sits on a line by itself in the poem. It’s as if the bud is actually susceptible. Also, included throughout the poem are senses and descriptions of the pig. “From the earthen snout all the way through the Week 64 fodder and slops to the spiritual curl of the tail”. Kinnell uses the sow to differentiate its spirit and body. Certain lines from this poem regard quite a lot of people in this day in age of society. “Though sometimes it is necessary, to reteach a thing its loveliness”.
The line suggests that it’s often necessary to remind others that there isn’t one standard of physical loveliness. Everything is lovely in its own unique way. A large portion of our culture is fixated on an absolutely wrong perception of what beauty actually is. This poem influences individuals to try and love themselves for who they are, not what someone else thinks you should be. “To put a hand on its brow, of the flower, and retell it in words and in touch, it is lovely”. Kinnell could not have done a better job reaffirming this to the reader with “Saint Francis and the Sow”. . From “Solitude (from Walden, or Life in the Woods) in Chapter 6, Thoreau states “I find it wholesome to be along the greater part of the time. ” Discuss some reasons the author provides in arguing for the virtue of solitude. How does Nature contribute to his argument? He separates himself from his thinking mind, saying that the part of the self that reflects inward can be made external to the self. The tasks and events of life are external to us. Most importantly, this external part of the self belongs to no one – it is entirely independent.
In this environment, solitude is relative and not lonely. Society, on the other hand, is cheap and interferes with our sense of ourselves, because we do not have the space to think. We get in each other’s way. We do Week 65 not need to touch people to understand their value/importance to us. In the woods, God and Mother Earth are his company, which is plenty for him. In this environment, there are certain things more precious than anything else. One is the morning air, which won’t keep even until noon. Keep it if you can, he says, but it will get stale pretty fast. Essay:
Human history is littered with example where a few individual risked life and limbs to venture into the unknown, which then came to be discovered, thanks to their spirit of adventurism or as some would say, fool hardy bravado. Of course, certain names come to mind, Christopher Columbus, Captain James Cook, Lois and Clark etc. There is another side to this tale of fame as well. Even the success stories sometimes had a ring of failure about itself. A person might be a pioneer in the field of discovery but the fruits of his labor are enjoyed by those who follow him. He might in fact have served as n expendable instrument in the road to discovery, in the big schemes of things. Little do we know about the glaring failures of those who dared to and never lived to tell the tale of their supposed glory? The element of nature, the unfamiliar terrain, the extreme weather and unforeseeable circumstances all stacked up as worthy obstacles in the way of anyone who dared to explore its secrets and expansiveness, and fostered and thought of overcoming these. Even though the main character foresees the big challenges lying ahead of him, he sets off to pursue it, through a Week 66 ixture of ignorance, indifference and resolve. Sometimes everyone feels like giving up, and the only thing a person can rely on is his will to survive. Giving up is admitting defeat, in every circumstance. Considering the journey itself, which is presented as a significant obstacle, it does present a contrast. The contrast is between the degree of difficulty and the lack of grasp for the gravity of the situation which presents itself. Perhaps, nowhere is this lack of preparedness for the journey more exhibited than where he does find himself in a hole (moment of danger) e. g. where he acknowledges this.
Perhaps the most compelling evidence of this fool hard cockiness that is bordering on madness is evident through the following. I spent 15 months in a combat zone with the US Army and if it wasn’t for the people I was with, I would have given up long ago. I was hurt, mentally and physically but I knew that there was something so much better to live for when this was over. We all struggle with giving up, but we gain so much by not giving up and I would rather be over confident than ever give up. Week 67 References James, M. and Merickel, Alan P. (2011). Reading literature and writing argument,4th ed. Longman: Boston, MA.