Gary Paulsen's Plane Crash In The Canadian Wilderness

In this passage from Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv puts a strong emphasis on the increasingly distant relationship between people and nature. Louv uses specific examples to support his argument, as well as imagery, sarcasm and an appeal to ethos and pathos. By using these rhetorical strategies, Louv appeals to his readers and convinces them of his argument.

Jimmy Carter, Former US President, uses descriptive imagery to capture the audience and draw their attention to the bigger picture of how The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge should be saved. Carter's tone reflects the excitement that can be expreienced within the Arctic Refuge, while creating a saddened tone when mentioning what could happen if the Arctic Refuge was overthrown by an industrial economy. The Former US President conveys personification by creating life-like portrayals of his encounters with the wildlife in the Arctic Refuge.

In his short story “Greasy Lake,” the lake with the community teenagers create a stereotypical scene of current youth pop culture. Many youth who read this story can find the ironic references and similarities with their lifestyle in today’s world. T. Coraghessan Boyle uses the setting of the story to expose a world lacking self-discipline and showing immorality amongst a community youth, which can sometimes be rather common today. This also aids in creating an atmosphere that surrounds suspense and impaired judgement to better develop the characters of the story. Boyle is able to achieve this by creating a setting with the story of the Greasy Lake and describing the Lake as both a setting and main character.

Paragraph II: In the first section (paragraph one) Paul Bogard talks about the darkness he once knew on a Minnesota lake as a child. The dominant rhetorical device used by Bogard in this section is an appeal to the reader’s emotions. The language that Bogard uses such as “smoky trails”, “sugary

He is forced to conceal himself in the dark waters next to a dead body while witnessing others vandalize and destroy his car from a distance. “There was a smell in the air, raw and sweet at the same time, the smell of the sun firing buds and opening blossoms. I contemplated the car. It lay there like a wreck along the highway, like a steel sculpture left over from a vanished civilization. Everything was still. This was nature.” These words are how he observes the nature surrounding him after the events take place. Where only a short time ago everything about Greasy Lake was full of life and promise it is now dead and still. He no longer sees nature the same way, or looks at the world as he once did. He beholds the world in a different manner, he will never view life in the way he used to. Everything has changed for him.

To begin explaining his viewpoint, Carter relates to his audience an account of when he and his wife traveled to the Arctic. What they saw was nothing short of breathtaking. The indigenous flora and fauna inspired awe with their brilliancy. The Carters witnessed the spectacle of a myriad of caribou migrating along with their newborns. He described this experience as "unforgettable and humbling" (Carter 3). This rendition invokes a majestic view of the wildlife in the Arctic Refuge. Carter makes use of this to move his audience to adopt the perspective that the unaffected region is precious.

Bogard starts his article off by narrating a personal anecdote. He tells the audience about an experience spent on Minnesota Lake, where [his] hands disappeared before [his] eyes". By expressing this brief anecdote, the writer invites the audience to emphathize with him and to remember a time when they could fully amass the beauty of natural darkness. He continues describing what he saw and felt there, using vivid language related to visual

Proulx uses perhaps her most intense imagery when describing the Newfoundland coast as the main character, Quoyle, and his family arrive. The environment, similarly to the citizens of Newfoundland, is riddled with many challenging aspects. Proulx highlights this in her writing, describing the province as “Tundra and barrens, a land of stunted spruce men cut and drew away” (Proulx, 32). In this quote, Proulx uses the harsh description of the landscape to mirror the nature of life there. By using the term “stunted spruce men,” Proulx is drawing attention to the roughness of the citizens of Newfoundland, and their ability to survive despite the challenging environment they live in.

The natural world is unparalleled in its power to make one deeply contemplative, introspective, and observant of the surrounding universe. Norman Maclean testifies to this power in his novella, A River Runs Through It. Through his eulogy to the Blackfoot river, Norman Maclean captures his journey from boy to man through his personal and visceral connection to the Blackfoot. Norman’s writing encapsulates his own coming of age through the symbolism and parallels he draws between himself and the river. In contrast, Robert Redford’s movie adaptation focuses directly on the interpersonal relationships Norman develops throughout his life and how those relationships shape his character and choices. Although Redford

The novel “The River” is the second book to a magnificent five part series by Gary Paulsen, throughout reading this book I was on the edge of my seat, wondering what to think. This novel is about a young boy who named Brian who is recovering from a traumatic experience in the woods, and decides he would like to use his experience to teach other people in his positon. In his past experience, he crashed a plane and spent 54 days in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but a hatchet and the clothes on his back. He agrees to go back into the woods to teach a survival instructor named Derek exactly how he survived. After much planning and paperwork he sets out to a precise location in the forest. Soon after arriving he realizes that what they had packed would not make this trip a struggle, like his

The text explains to the reader about the importance of wolves in the Yellowstone National Park and how they affect the environment around them. The book is written in a way so it does not seem like and it is informational but is giving the reader a great deal of facts. Information such as how the wolves were forced to leave the park, and the cause and effect relationships of their absence and reintroduction. George illustrates how the food chain works in the text, and how a domino effect can happen by human interference in the ecosystem.

Boyle, Tom Coraghessan. "Greasy Lake." Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. 7th ed. New York: Longman, 1999.

“I understand now, in a way I never did before, the colossal scale of the world,” claims Bill Bryson in his 1997 autobiographical novel A Walk in the Woods, where he recounts his journey through the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. In every way, A Walk in the Woods is just as adventurous and comical as any other self-discovery novel. However, the purpose behind it extends far beyond entertaining readers with stories of the impulsive, Little Debbies loving Stephen Katz. Eloquently woven in are shocking exposés about wildlife extinction, the National Park Service funding, human-environment interaction, and the speed at which the United States changes. Nevertheless, the constant in the plot is Bryson and Katz’s trip up the AT. As a result of them finishing “just 39.5 percent of the trail” (Bryson 273), using cars, and staying at hotels, some readers question his credibility as an author regarding information about the trail. However, despite critics’ claims that he used modern transportation and lodging and did not complete the trail, Bryson’s previous nonfiction writing experience, intact recollection of events due to the time he wrote the book, and his knowledge, research, and main purpose prove he is a credible author.

Nature has a powerful way of portraying good vs. bad, which parallels to the same concept intertwined with human nature. In the story “Greasy Lake” by T. Coraghessan Boyle, the author portrays this through the use of a lake by demonstrating its significance and relationship to the characters. At one time, the Greasy Lake was something of beauty and cleanliness, but then came to be the exact opposite. Through his writing, Boyle demonstrates how the setting can be a direct reflection of the characters and the experiences they encounter.

The path of natural evolution is not easy for the land or for Alexandra Bergson. The land must accept the changes created by mankind in order to become prominent. Nature endures the “sharp crack from the gun” (96) as man becomes the predator of all animals. The key to evolution is held by Alexandra, and the key is to preserve the beautiful nature rather than defiling it. Alexandra preserves the life of her hogs by building “a shed to give them shade, get them off the old stinking ground, and give them only grain and clean feed” (34). This attracts criticism from the society as many homesteaders are close-minded and don’t believe in Alexandra. It is tough for Alexandra because she lacks the necessary support of her older brother, Lou and Oscar