How important is Aldo Leopold as a character and a "self" in A Sand County Almanac? How autobiographical or personal is this text? By extension, to what extend do you see SCA as anthropocentric (human-centered) vs. ecocentric (environment-centered)? Is Sand County a place, defined by Lawrence Buell as "space humanized," or a space, "the material world taken on its own terms"?
Point to specific examples or passages, interpret the question as you see fit, and try to respond to your fellow commenters in your response.
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10 comments:
Sweet, first one again!
Like Thoreau's writing, Leopold depicts the interaction of human's and the natural world. I think the terms ecocentric and anthropocentric can't really be applied to this text because the either or situation set up by the two is unfair. The term ecocentric excludes the idea of humans being part of the environment, something that Leopold wouldn't agree with. His recitation of the history of the Wisconsin forests (February) shows the negative effects humans have had on the environment and the resulting ecological changes due to our neglegance: Species have been wiped out and/or completely domesticated. However, when taken as whole, Leopold's own narrative and actions show that human's can commune and interact with nature in a responsible way. His character serves as a counterbalance to thr enumerated damages previously listed.
Anthony you need to stop being an overachiever. Haha! I'm just kidding w you!
But yet again I did my post and came to actually post it and here is Anthony's so I apologize for not connecting w his. . .here goes:
Aldo Leopold describes humans as holding God like abilities in that they are able to give life and also take it away. Leopold uses the example that humans can plant a tree, but they can also chop it down. Humans have the control over something just as God does. This suggests that Leopold’s narrative is connecting the identity between nature and humans. How and why humans and nature interact is addressed in Leopold’s writing. This connection between SCA as anthropocentric and ecocentric suggests that Leopold is addressing a space that “the material world has taken on its own terms.” Leopold states, “There are two kinds of places to hunt grouse: ordinary places, and Adams County.” (54) By specifying that Adams County is different from ordinary places, Leopold is specifying his personal place. This place is not defined as Thoreau would do so, but rather this is a specific place that is a natural. He is an observer to this particular place and his interactions are limited to those of minor or no impact. Leopold is able to view nature in its own habitat and reflects upon these observations in personal accounts of their connection to his life.
I agree with Anthony that Leopold focuses on interactions between humans and nature and that Leopold is able to interact with nature in a responsible and non-damaging way. However, I think that County Almanac is somewhat anthropocentric despite its continuous descriptions of the natural world because of the fact that Leopold often focuses on human interactions with nature. For example, when he describes sawing through the old oak and consequently sawing through the various decades of time he describes human-nature relations, mostly the negative impacts humans have had on nature: “Now the saw bites into 1910-1920, the decade of the drainage dream, when steam shovels sucked dry the marshes of central Wisconsin to make farms, and made ash-heaps instead” (pg. 10). He also tends to describe nature in human terms. When describing oak trees that had survived wild fires he refers to them as “veterans” and “old soldiers of the prairie war” (pg. 27). I agree that for the most part Sand County is “the material world taken on its own terms.” It is mostly nature undisturbed by the human world, although Leopold and others hunt, fish, and saw wood there, the land is still undeveloped and untamed.
I agree with Tara that, although Leopold focuses mainly on describing the natural world in his entries, the almanac is a bit anthropocentric. He is constantly referring to his own interactions with nature (hunting, fishing, et cetera), rather than simply commenting on what he observes. Leopold serves as the main character in his own book, thereby contributing to its anthropocentric quality. I think this also gives the almanac more personality, allowing the reader to connect more with the story (or stories, if you prefer to count each passage as a different storyline...). I disagree with some other blog entries in believing that Sand County can be considered a place. I think it becomes "space humanized" when Leopold makes reference to man’s interactions with the natural world. As Tara (Lonergan) wrote in her post, Leopold describes how humans can destroy or create life in nature, thereby allowing the space to become literally “humanized.” Two examples of this are when he writes about people planting/cutting down trees and hunting. Both are instances in which the environment is being changed by humans, thereby contributing to the definition of a “humanized space.”
Aldo Leopold is in the unique position of being a man with both a strong sense of self and a respectful view of nature. He manages to, as Tara L. suggests, describe nature as an observer as well as (as Tara P. remarks) humanize nature in terms of his own life. His position is unique because of his occupation as a farmer, even if his role there is peripheral. On the one hand, his is in the habit of referring to his ownership of the land, an indeed assumes it simply by his presence on a piece of land, stating on visiting land at daybreak “I am the sole owner of all the acres I can walk over,” and while he recognizes the other inhabitants he thinks of them as his “solemn list of performers,”, whom he holds himself above. Due to his proximity and affection for the environment around him, he often takes human ideas and feelings and applies them to passing animals. Leopold says of the skunk “Can one impute romantic motives to this corpulent fellow,” and he often does, likening the survival of bur oaks to that of a full out guerrilla movement, though trees care little for delineations like that of ‘veteran’.
This same position, however affords him great respect and familiarity with the wild life he co-exists with. Leopold is able to report on the mating ritual of many species, expertly track their where-abouts and habits unobtrusively. He conducts experiments to determine the lifespan of chickadees in his particular area. While, as a farmer and planter of trees, wielder of an axe, It is unfair to say he has no impact on his environment, but his respect and knowledge for the area under his care allows him to co-exist without harm, seeing both the world through the eyes of a man, and as an observer who understands the laws and interactions nature holds unto herself.
I agree with Tara that for the most part Sand County is the “material world taken on its own terms”. Leopold’s use of phrases such as “the geese proclaim the seasons to our farm”(18), show that he doesn’t think of the land as solely his. In fact, he often places himself on the same level as the animals around him. For instance, when he says “how I am free to grieve with and for the lone honkers”(19). Similar to Thoreau’s style, Leopold makes no real distinction between himself and the nature around him. He even goes as far as to say that he rejoices “with the cone-flowers”(22) and that “pines” are “like people”(86). In the preface, Leopold describes the farm as “a refuge from much modernity”. In this sense Sand County is very much ecocentric. Although I do see Tara’s point about the sawing, I don’t think that Leopold is stressing this as much as he is trying to convey the wonders of nature. He rejoices in the natural phenomenon’s that take place daily such as the “sky dance”. It is hard to categorize Sand County as either a space or a place because of the varying definitions of the two. The area seems to have qualities of both. For example, it is a place in terms of its importance to Leopold and his comfort there, however he has done nothing to physically alter or “humanize” it. Leopold points out how little attention we pay to nature, by comparing the birthday of a human to that of a plant. It is clear here that the text is far too focused on the natural world around Leopold, for it to even be considered autobiographical. There is no denying that Leopold is a large part of the almanac, however he is not the focus of attention by any means. Leopold doesn’t feel the need to adjust the environment to make it his own place, because it is the natural simplicity of it that does just that.
Aldo Leopold’s importance as a character is an important factor for the text. Unlike Thoreau he seems to have a more personal connection with to his surroundings. Thoreau was more like a commentator thought his work for the reader. Leopold, however, acts as a type of narrator and treats the reader as a guest. As if he was giving them a tour of his private little space. Proudly proclaiming all the tidbits of information and fun facts he had acquired from his observances. “Since we discovered it, my family and I have been reluctant to miss even a single performance. The show actually begins on the first warm evening in April at exactly 6:50 pm …Do not de late, and sit quietly, lest he fly away in a huff.” (pg 30)
I agree with Tara on the fact that Leopold in a way personifies his surroundings by infusing them with human elements. “This cork is armor. Bur oaks were the shock troops sent by the invading forest to storm the prairie.”(pg.27) it’s as if this is Leopold’s way to demonstrate the anthropocentric vs. eccentric controversy. Trying to explain that this has become such an issue that you can no longer distinguish places by being natural or human spaces. Leopold states in his foreword “When we see the land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”(pg viii) I believe that he presented this in the beginning to represent how important it is for the natural and human inhabitants (two spaces) to realize that they both rely on the earth (one place) in order to form that communal bond.
Leopolds writing does in many ways relate to Thoreau. For starters they are both very tedious and some might say boring (despite brilliant imagery) to read because neither create so much as a hint of plot. Besides the soporific effect they have on me and my eyelids, the are alike in the fact that they are very nature oriented. While neither of them directly attack humans and they're materialistic nature, they both hint at the negative effects we have on nature. I disagree with Anthony's opinion that humans are communing with nature and both giving and receiving, for to me it looks like Leopold is portraying humans as over-zealous and a bit ignorant of their actions. Leopold's depiction of the tree stump and all the years it endured educates readers of the many crimes humans have committed against nature. As he goes back through the years of the trees life Leopold tells of myriad animal killings and even a few extinction because of market demands. Although laws were established to prohibit animal over kill, it still seemed as if the new economy was trying to suck nature dry with little care for the consequences. In one of the more recent dates Leopold talks about the "drainage dream", "when steam shovels sucked dry the marshes of central Wisconsin to make farms, and made ash-heaps instead" (10). A mistake made by humans turns once undeveloped and untamed land radically into something completely sucked dry. While there are a few counterexamples to this, Leopold mostly conveys the destruction of nature during the fragile learning process for man
I found Leopolds writing to be much easier to read because it was more informative rather than perhapos the randomness of Thoreau's. Both are similar in their portrayal of nature and Man's role in nature. I disagree that the writing is completely anthropocentric. I think that Leopold describes the relationship between man and nature. If anything he is displaying Man's dependance on nature for survival, entertainment, and even education. Hunting provides a way for Man to test himself and depending on the hunter it is both a form of food, and also entertainment. Leopold opens the Almanac by stating that "there are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot. These essays are the delights and dilemmas of one who cannot" He also proposes the idea that a man should live without furnace, live by the warmth of nature. The months in which Leopold tags chicadees and other birds helps to teach him the patterns of birds and other habits. For manny this would be useless information but for Leopold he is intrigued by it. For these reasons I think that this almanac is not focused on man as the center of the universe or even the center of nature. It is displaying nature as the center and man as just an aspect of nature that depends on it.
First and foremost, I agree with Tara. Yes, Anthony is an overachiever. Just kidding.
Also, I have to agree with Claire that Leopold has both a strong sense of self and a strong sense of nature. He has that same closeness to nature as Thoreau, as he will break things down meticulously in his writing as with the chopping down of the old 85 year old tree. He talks about cutting through the individual years of the tree and the events that happened to occur during each of those years. He would go back in time until the core and then finally, “Timber!” (16) We see his true sense of self in this writing as well because most of what he describes through Part 1 is his own experiences and what peaks his interest, whether it be studying the peculiarities of the ‘sky dance’ or how the warm summer wind goes with the geese when they leave the North for the winter. (67)
Again, as I was reading through this first part of SCA, I got a real sense of an autobiographical tone. I felt like he was speaking from his own experiences and his own observations. He did go abstract at times and pulls things apart piece by piece as Thoreau would do, but do it in a manner which was much easier to understand and follow. I agree with many of the others who have commented that Sand County is more anthropocentric in that to Leopold it is a ‘place.’ It has been touched by humans and manicured as in the example of chopping down one tree for the benefit of another as he describes in the text. (69) Also, as mentioned before, this is a place to fish, hunt, plant and chop down trees.
As a final comment, I just wanted to add that Leopold’s writing, in my amateur opinion, was much clearer and to the point with less of the abstract and de-familiarization as what we saw with Thoreau, which I appreciated. I enjoyed reading Leopold much more than Thoreau.
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