Blog Entry 5: Alaskan Wilderness

The Alaskan wilderness is a very unique place. Wilderness in genereal will bring to mind different images for different individuals. Although wilderness can be a beautiful and solidary place in which people venture to in an attempt to escape city life, it can also be dangerous. In William Cronon's essay "The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting back to the Wrong Nature" he describes how many people now-a-days see the wilderness as a place to escape to when city life isn't going well, and also as a place that needs to be protected.

This contemporary view of wilderness is very similar to the sentiment of the Romantic writers. I learned in my Eng 309 class that writers like, Wordsworth and Coleridge believed that everyone should return to nature to find their peice of mind. Although Coleridge and Wordsworth are two very successful writer, who produced great works, their opinions for the most part were not shared by  their peers. The truth is, wilderness can be a very scary place that people enter into without the slightest idea of what is means to survive on nothing but what you can produce. Alaskan wilderness in particular is dangerous, not just for people visiting but for residents as well.

The Alaskan wild is an unpredictable and sometimes scary place to be in, especially if you don't prepare for the unexpected. In Nick Jans "Beautiful Meat", he describes the death of a "sow" all because of his folly in chasing down a family of bears in order to take pictures. Once he attracts the unwanted attention of the bears and has to run for his life back to his boat, he becomes aware that one of the bears will be killed by his friend clarence "an Inupiat hunter, part of a centuries-old tradition" (463) and feels responsible for the loss of life. The contrast between Clerance and the narrator in the story is very important to understanding the Alaskan wilderness. While the narrator has this ideal view of nature, Clerance the "Inupiat hubter" is much more skeptical and warry of what lurks in the wild.

Personally, I have a respectful but very skeptical view of the Alaskan wilderness. As an Alaskan resident I feel that I have a little more insight into the dangers (I.e. frostbite, animal attacks, harsh weather) than most Americans. In recent years Alaska has been in the spotlight, and people watching the various "reality" tv shows may see some of the dangerous situations people find themselves in, but it is presented in a very romantisized way. To see a man or woman conquering the wild, will give others the idea that they can do it, which is often not the case. Although I believe nature and the wilderness should be preserved as much as possible to pretect the species that inhabit it, I have no direct involvement with the wilderness around me.


(A collection of poems and lyrical ballads written by Willam Wordsworth and Samuel T. Coleridge-1800).

http://www.wordsworthclassics.com/det/poet/1840225351.htm


(Logging and Deforestation of Tongass National Forest (AK/Canada))

http://www.skolaiimages.com/stock/displayimage-5666-Logging-and-deforestation-Tongass-National.html

Blog Post 4: The Theme of Resources in Alaskan Writings

The use of resources is a reoccurring theme the Alaskan Literature. Being that Alaska is a plentiful land, with an unforgiving climate means that providing for oneself can be an often daunting but fulfilling task. Many of the authors we've read about recently describe the process of procuring food in the wilderness as opposed to the gathering of the "natural resources" we tend to think about today (i.e. oil, gold, fur).

In Richard K. Nelson's "Moon of the Returning Sun", Nelson describes the Eskimo hunting method to that of the polar bear when he writes,"So it was that Eskimo and polar bear hunted the same animal in almost the same way" (409). This quote is significant to the piece as a whole, because the description shows that both man and beast are on an equal plane when it comes to hunting in the Alaskan wild. Neither man nor beast has the upper hand, and both may need to adopt each other's methods in order to gain resources necessary for life.

In Pamela Houston's story "Dall", she describes the travels of sheep hunters in Alaska. When comparing Houston's story to Nelson's, it is evident that the hunters of each story had different motives and methods of obtaining their needed resources. When Houstin writes,"Apparently they all split up and James came upon the herd and shot six animals in a matter of seconds." (439), it seems to me that the purpose of hunting the sheep was for bragging rights, rather than actual need. When put into that context, the hunting of the sheep seemed like a disrespectful use of the Alaskan resources.

In Barry Lopez's "Tornarssuk (Ursus Maritimus)", Lopez describes the hunt of ringed seals. The purpose for hunting seals was tied to the study of marine food chains in the arctic (431). Lopez's use of Alaskan resources differed from both Nelson's and Houston's depiction of hunting in Alaska, because the resources were used in the pursuit of education. Whether the purpose is food, entertainment, or education, Alaskan resources seem to appease a multitude of people.