As an English literature major, I have struggled to decide upon on a blog theme or topic related to science. The last science class I took was my senior year in high school, and I have successfully managed to avoid any science or math since graduation. However, the environment is not just addressed through scientific approaches or mathematical studies. From the religious based writings of the Puritans in the early colonial period to the Romanticism movement in the beginning of the nineteenth century or even to the disillusionment of the Modernist writers in the twentieth century, literature has focused on nature and the impacts of nature on human life. Through literature, human attitudes and actions towards the environment can be traced throughout history. Often, human thought on ideas of the God and the universe stem from the environment as well. Through literature, historical trends and outlooks can be seen.
For example, the creation story and the fall of man in the Bible centers on the environment and natural forces. Humans were given the ability by God to rule the natural world and to hold dominion over all other creatures. In a Christian context, what does this mean for the environment? If the Bible claims that humans hold authority over creatures and the land, do humans owe anything to the natural world? Adam and Eve existed in a paradise, but this paradise cannot be found without following God’s word. The natural world supposedly caused the fall of man, as it was the snake that tempted Eve. Does this mean that nature is evil? Or because God supposedly created it, is nature still a good entity?
During the American colonization period, Puritans believed that nature existed in a fallen state from God, but was used by God to reveal signs, both positive and negative, to humanity and to serve as warnings through natural forces. William Bradford, a prolific and significant figure during that time period, discusses the connection between God and the environment in A History of Plymouth Plantation. Bradford believes that natural forces are literal signs from Providence. While nature exists in a fallen state from God because of the Christian idea of Original Sin, Puritans believed that nature was still innocent. This innocence allows God to directly act through the natural world in the forms of occurrences like storms, disease or good harvests, which helps humans to interpret, understand and submit to the will of God.
Knowledge of science or even ‘basic’ environmental phenomena were limited and reduced to religious explanations. So seeing environmental disasters as signs from God allowed the colonists to understand a complex, difficult and often cruel world. However, as science began to progress, this idea that the world and natural functions could be explained through simple religious explications soon became outdated and foolish. As the attitudes and beliefs of a time period changed so did the literature of the period.
Just under a century later, as the Calvinist ideology began to dissipate and disappear from the American value system, those rigid Christian-based beliefs were replaced with the ideas from the Deism and the Age of Reason. Colonial life grew harder, despite good faith on the Puritans part, which was thought to prevent environmental problems and natural disasters, a new school of thought moved through America called the Age of Reason. Thomas Paine was a prominent author and philosopher during the Age of Reason. He believed that nature only proves the existence of a God-like figure, not the will of God. For Paine and other Deists, God is found in the study and abstraction of nature and natural law. With the concept that nothing in the natural world made itself, the existence of God is proven through the rational study of the Earth, but the will of God cannot be interpreted from those studies. The only way to truly prove the existence of a God is through the rational study and examination of nature, which points to the existence of such a figure.
These are just a few examples of nature appears in literature and how nature and the natural world impact literature. Throughout this semester, I want to focus on the correlation between environmental concerns and attitudes and literature. Focusing on historical trends and thoughts, I would like to attempt to predict how the environment will be portrayed in current and future literature. Also, throughout the semester, I would like to see if past environmental concerns expressed in literature are still applicable and problematic in the current time. Literature poses questions and creates new ideas on to treat and think about the environment. Not only using American literature, I would like to bring in British, Irish and French literature in order to fully study the relationship between the environment and literature.
During the summer, I split my time between Austin and my hometown in North Texas. In Texas, the idea is always ‘bigger is better’ and that is evident in the real estate market in both areas. While Austin is not as bad as Dallas, there is always constant new development and expansion. I live in Carrollton, which is a northern suburb of Dallas. Anytime I would visit home, there would a new neighborhood or a new shopping center. There is very little green space left in Dallas and the surrounding areas. There are now problems with native wildlife coming into neighborhoods and eating trash or small pets. On my daily walks/runs with my dogs, I would always see numerous rabbits, birds and squirrels. Occasionally, I would see armadillos or a bobcat and raccoons. Every time a new neighborhood or shopping center is built, those animals are forced to come into ‘human’ territory. The idea of constant expansion is a holdover from the manifest destiny ideals from the nineteenth century. This concept of constantly moving and expanding because humans are destined to own and eventually destroy the natural world is causing more and more problems in today’s society. As more people move into an area, there will be a loss of biodiversity, more air and water pollution and more environmental problems in general. Through literature, we can see how we treated the environment historically and if those problems still exist today. Literature can give a new lens to environmental science; it allows us to see our attitudes surrounding events that created problems that we have in the environment today.