Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.
Probably the most provoking idea expressed in Terry Tempest Williams’s article “A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating Wilderness” is that people have ceased to treat nature as it is in their attempt to preserve it for the future generations. The problem is that such preservation is artificial, and it does not, in fact, involve any real actions aimed at saving rare species or lands.
Williams notes that her mind “becomes wild in the presence of creation, the artist’s creation” when she sees sharks or whales being put in large aquariums from which they can never escape (4). When discussing her encounters of sharks in different environments – first in the Monterey Sea Aquarium, then in the American Museum of Natural History, and later in the Brooklyn Museum of Art – Williams regretfully concludes that people have forgotten about the true essence and significance of preserving nature.
Instead, humans choose to conserve the dead bodies of animals in formaldehyde so that the future generations might see what some species used to look like (Williams 3). Another issue is keeping those types of rare species that are endangered in special close places, like zoos or aquariums. None of these approaches, according to Williams, is a bona fide way of preserving (3). Instead, according to the author, people should think about the ways of not letting the wilderness become endangered. Williams mentions that it is difficult for her to switch her mind from thinking about the shark she is watching “in the context of art, not science” (3). It seems impossible for the scholar since she has spent many years working as a naturalist.
However, the opinion expressed by Williams is difficult to agree with since modern nature and its “children” – animals and plants – have indeed become something of an art. Some species, just as valuable pieces of art, can be seen only in particular “collections” and in particular locations. Thus, one needs to pay much money to be able to observe these rare kinds in their natural habitat, just as one would need to pay for a rare painting. In the mind of the person contemplating wilderness, where is the division of this “horizon,” where is the point where one starts differentiating between nature as science and nature as art?
It is relevant to consider the opinion expressed by Thomas McEvilley who said that “The fact that we designate something as art means that it is art for us, but says nothing about what it is in itself for other people” (qtd. in Williams 5). This argument seems highly logical, particularly in the context of the present conversation. Whether one sees something as art or not, there is no confidence that another person will share this view. In fact, it is highly possible that many people might disagree with Williams’s definition of an accurate treatment of wilderness.
What seems true about her judgment, though, is that humanity has been neglecting nature for too long. For many decades, people have been polluting the land and deliberately or unintentionally destroying habitats of animals, birds, and fish. Now the time has come to stop and think about the consequences. Do we really want our children to see nature in museums only, in herbariums and special liquid which allows assuming what some species used to look like when it was alive? Or do we want the next generations to find out about the world as it is and view it as art, but not as the artificial type?
Work Cited
Williams, Terry Tempest. “A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating Wilderness.” The Nation. 1999. Web.
Do you need this or any other assignment done for you from scratch?
We have qualified writers to help you.
We assure you a quality paper that is 100% free from plagiarism and AI.
You can choose either format of your choice ( Apa, Mla, Havard, Chicago, or any other)
NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.
NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.