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The Forest Unseen Sparknotes

Good Essays

The Forest Unseen shows how nature has a beauty on a much smaller scale than what is seen on the larger spectrum of life. Haskell studied a square meter in the forest for an entire year to examine the smallest of details to show how when the large scale is studied there are many things happening in the small scale. The Forest Unseen allows readers to see how much beauty there is beyond what meets the eye. He consistently supports his main themes throughout the book by citing specific examples. Haskell’s endeavor to discover the beauty of the environment is successful in that he uses scientific and poetic language to draw the reader into his study as he explains his day to day experiences in the forest. Haskell is able to elaborate on his theme by examining beauty in the connection that is seen on a smaller spectrum. He explains how lichens are created by the connection or “marriage” of two creatures. “Lichens are amalgams of two creatures: a fungus and either an alga or a bacterium.” (Haskell, pg2) Without one of the creatures found in the lichen, it would be unable to survive on its own. Haskell describes through a metaphor that just like lichen, humans are connected and depend on one another. “We are Russian dolls, our lives made possible by other lives within us…We are lichen on a grand scale.”(Haskell, pg7) As winter continues, Haskell examines the newly fallen snow during the early moments of sunrise. While most people find beauty in the large blanket of snow that

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