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(2017
midterm assignment) Sample Student Midterm Answers 2017 (index to #2 samples) #2b: Short Essay (Favorite Theme) |
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Mason
Cabirac
Origins: Cultural Perspectives on Nature vs. Human Nature
It is
my opinion that origin stories reveal differing attitudes about the
relationships between nature and mankind. I had been taught that the
justification the Puritans gave in thinking of the American Indians as savages
involved a difference in these relationships. Whether that is the case or not,
the stories can only suggest. I imagine that there were many differences between
their ways of life, but that what I had been taught is part of the answer.
Genesis presents a view in which a divine ruler delegates to people power over
"every living thing that moveth upon the earth," with the intention that they
should "replenish the earth, and subdue it." Genesis presents a view that nature
is beneath mankind in status. One of God's punishments, "Cursed is the ground
for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life" suggests
that while people have dominion over nature, they will toil over it to survive.
In
contrast to Genesis, the "Iroquois Creation Stories," establishes an emphasis on
interconnectivity between mankind and nature. The line between them are blurred,
because it is stated that a woman, or Skywoman specifically, could have children
of the West Wind. Nature is referred to throughout the stories in the form of
good or evil plants, animals and inorganic features such as rainbows and
hurricanes. Animals were said to have existed before the arrival of Skywoman in
a "dark watery world" and even saved her life, but most of the other aspects of
nature were created in some part due to people.
Traditionally nomads, the Native Americans wander in search of resources. The
Puritans were settlers, growing and cultivating their food. This difference
suggests the ways that their distinct origin stories have affected their
cultures. Especially considering that the latter culture has come to dominate,
even having evolved to industry instead of agrarianism, it is important to
reevaluate and perhaps, come to better appreciate either story. Genesis
reinforces the dominant view, in which nature and people tolerate each other,
and the Iroquois stories suggest a world in which nature can be either good or
bad, but overall, with an equal dominion over one another.
