In nature. “the elimination from this planet

In nature. “the elimination from this planet

In this essay all of the literature I have chosen will have to do withisolation. {1} When people have been isolated they don’t see other people fora long time and this can lead to make a person stronger or make them weaker.

Ina live and death situation in can give them the extra will to live that youdidn’t have before. It can make him stronger and become his ally or it can beathim. When you are alone it makes you think about things that you never thoughtabout before and make you work harder at the task at hand.”Never Cry Wolf” by Farley Mowat, is a plea for understanding andpreservation of the wolf that is being harried into extinction by humanity.Mowat’s philosophy is that it does not pose a threat to other wildlife and, infact, is not a danger or a competitor of any consequence to humans.In 1973, the Canadian government’s wildlife service assigned FarleyMowat to investigate the rumor that hoards of bloodthirsty wolves areslaughtering the arctic caribou.

Mowat is dropped alone on the frozen tundra,where he begins his mission to live among the howling wolf packs and study theirways of life. He learned something of their language and how they conveyed”news” over great distances. He found out the meaning behind the Eskimo saying,”the wolf keeps the caribou strong.

” Mowat observed strong family ties amongwolves and he finished his long assignment by having great compassion for them.And he concluded with the realization that the wolf in fact is very differentfrom the wolf of a legend.When the book was published there was no more than 1200 wolves existing.

Compare this to the 2000 the year before. I hope there is still time to preventanother human error against nature. “the elimination from this planet of afellow creature which has at least an equal right to life” {2} I think peopleneed to look at how we coincide with nature in the future. Only 1200 wolves inthe whole north, at this rate our destiny surely spells disaster. Are there anycircumstances under which people should be permitted to kill wolves? You couldcome up with a reason, just as there are circumstances when people should bepermitted to kill other people. The point is that not many reasons arelegitimate. If it is posing a threat to you alright, but don’t eradicate thewhole species because of one incidence.

According to a article in the JuneJuly 1987 issue of “Outdoor Canada”people in the N.W.T. are learning to adapt and work with the wildlife ratherthan against it. People are starting to take their environment less for granted.Isolation, in term of its influence in the novel, remains incrediblyprevalent. I think that if you, the reader, were to focus on how isolationinfluenced Mowat’s methodology of study, you would recognize how itinadvertently became his ally.

Upon receiving his assignment the “LupineProject” we learn about Mowat’s interest and love of the study of living animalsin their own habitat. Once assigned to this futile and desolate tundra his taskflourishes with great resolution and interest. Because of extreme isolation,with very little room for distraction, Mowat communicates new discoveries of theCanis lupus and through time he reveals that wolves are fellow creatures andhave a equal right to live.”The Mad Trapper” by Rudy Weibe is an insightful novel that provides thereader with a excellent three-dimensional picture of the adverse conditions thatare confronted in the northern setting. Many hours of research, writing, andspeculation has resulted from the famous arctic pursuit of the mad trapper bythe R.

C.M.P.

during the winter of 31 and 32. The attempts to reveal someunderstanding of the unorthodox manhunt which still even today remains futile,have lead Rudy Weibe to provide us with a fascinating perspective on the storyitself.Spike Millen is the leader of the manhunt who undergoes changes as thenovel progresses. He begins as a dedicated competent and helpful lawenforcement officer. There appears to be transition in his character. Ittranspires throughout the novel and Spike Millen becomes a man driven in acompulsive desperate hunt for the mad trapper.

Through time Spike dissects themad trappers obstinate yet unique character. Spike reveals reveals that the madtrapper does indeed have an unknown origin, a profound impact on hissurroundings, and an excellent ability to disappear. Upon this revelation heaccepts the ultimate challenge. His inciting force appears to be wrapped in theglory and stature of accomplishing the ultimate feat; apprehending the madtrapper. I find it hard to account for the dynamic change, however I do in factfeel that it ties Spike’s occupation and the manner of living that he at thetime engaged in. This was not some taboo to follow a through greuling blizzardsand -40 temperatures, it was his occupation, this was accepted as part of thejob. Through time Spike took his trade beyond the limit.

The mad trapper actedas his nemesis, and the life of a pair of fools ended.When the mad trapper was isolated it made him stronger and be able to dofeats that no other human had done. He was able to climb over mountains inblizzards and sleep without shelter in -40. He had found a way to live byhimself and he didn’t want to break that pattern.

“Death on the Ice” by Cassie Brown is a compelling reconstruction of the”Newfoundland” disaster in which 78 sealers died. It tells how the captains ofthe sealing ships did not consider the men in their decisions, they were basedon wether they could get seals or not. The men from the newfoundland were sentacross the ice to get to the seals and find their own way to stay outsidewithout perishing.

What they didn’t know was that a horrible storm was blowingthere way. As it turned out their ship was not able to catch up with them toget on board so they had to stay out all night in the blizzard. There was otherships nearby but they weren’t their responsibility, the newfoundlands captainnew what he was doing. There was many decisions that lead to them not beingrescued such as not touting your horn because it wasn’t worth the time becausethey were probably on another ship anyway.

Most of these men perished when they made a mental decision that theyweren’t going to survive. As soon as this decision was made they gave up andfell to the ice and died. But the survivors they made a decision that theyweren’t going to die and they managed to survive till they got help.

Some oftheir group leaders when faced with the danger didn’t know what to do, so theirmembers had to fend for themselves. When this happened the true leaders cameforward and convinced some people to live. When one of these leaders gave upthe whole group got dejected and lost there sense of hope and died.

“Walk Well, My Brother” by Farley Mowat is set in the year 1951.Mowat’s writing generally carried a romantic attitude toward the native peoples.This attitude is brought forth, and used extensively throughout this S.S.

.Mowat believes that the eskimo can teach the white man not only techniques ofsurvival but also such moral values as patience, kindliness, and self-sacrifice.Charles Lavery, the disillusioned protagonist, believed that anychallenge, whether by humans or nature, could be dealt with by good machines inthe hands of skilled men. Charles was an expert pilot, and carried many yearsof flying charter jobs in almost every part of the arctic. The monochromaticwilderness of rock and tundra, snow and ice, existed outside his experience andcomprehension, as did the native people whose world it was.

Lavery, on one of his expeditions, managed to latch onto a deathly illwoman named Konala. This of course was not out of kindness, instead the walrustusks that he was given for the exchange of bringing Konala to the hospital inYellowknife. There was a flaw in the plan of action.

On the way to thehospital he lost his twin engines to altitude and crashed. From here on in, thestory becomes a battlefield in which these to individuals encounter a wide arrayof obstructions that they are forced to deal with and conquer. Initially Laveryis extremely pessimistic and indignant towards Konala. He treats her as anlesser being that is no better than the dirt he walks over. Lavery abandonsKonala in a burning rage, in all likelihood, with very little understanding ofone another does she guess his sole intention. The fact that ten days latterand nearly 60 miles later to the south of the downed plane, the sick women haltsbeside the unconscious body of Charles. Konala nurtures him and through timebrings him back to considerable health.

Lavery awakens and instantly atransition occurs within his character. Lavery views this woman as an equal.He is very grateful for her perseverance and forgiving personality. Laveryjoins forces with Konala and they continue on there journey for civilization.

As Lavery begins to show sufficient evidence of recovery, Konala begins herjourney into dire straits.On the eve of her death, Lavery began to nurture her, as she once did.Finally she handed him a pair of skin boots and spoke, slowly and carefully sohe would be sure to understand. “They are not good boots but they might carryyou to the camps of my people.

They might help return to your land…

walk wellin them my brother.”Konala from the very beginning was very infirm of purpose, carried iron-will, and displayed incredible patience. Even when encountering the mostincredibly adverse conditions, she persevered. The conditions that they facedallowed and brought them to a new level of understanding. Not only did shediscover a new realm of survival, but they also brought two distinct culturestogether.When Charles was faced with isolation he panicked and did not thinkthings through and went of on his own without the experienced native. When shefound him her goal was to save him and let him understand.

When he awoke he hada new understanding of her. This gave him the energy to live and persevere overnature and the obstacles. When she realized this was done she lost her mentalambition to live so she perished.

In the S.S. “The Furs” Yves Theriault depicts the white mansexploitation of the native.

The trader McTavish has developed a barter systemwhich favors the trader and not the trapper. The fur company has created amonopoly because the opposition never lasted long.On a previous occasion when Agaguk, the native trapper, had been cheatedhe took revenge and burned the trader alive in his tent. However on thisoccasion he finds solace in alcohol. As a trapper with a oncoming family,Agaguk must act as support. In order to fulfill this position he must go outand lay a trapline, gather the furs, and take them to trade or barter.Consequently Agaguk felt cheated and the credit he was given did not supporttheir needs.

As it was a three week journey to another post it did not seemfeasible so he left home to become a alcoholic. Before Agaguk left he made adecision that he could not take this isolation and the stress from the growingneeds of his family. So he left them to fend for themselves and he was going tobe a drunk. Quite a concept.In the “Law of the Yukon” by Robert Service it is set in the gold rushof the Yukon. It tells about the hard ships that were faced by the men whotoiled for gold under the midnight sun.

In the first portion of the poem heillustrates the type of mentality that was in high demand during the gold rush.He tells of the people who succeed and how he succeeded in in deducing them bothphysically and spiritually. Service elaborates on the people that they havefailed to make the cut and are rejected by the Yukon territory. He illustratesthe frustration involved, those who fatten on the work of others, and thewriters that exploited the rush. He discusses the adverse physical conditionsand isolation that commonly occurred. When these gold miners faced theseadverse conditions they had to be tough mentally so they could stand up to theisolation they faced while trying to find there fortune.

If they weren’t tough,they couldn’t take the Yukon and didn’t make the cut and died.In the “The poem of Albert Johnson” by Robert Kroetsch, there is afeeling of remorse. It is a poem that illustrates the characteristics of thesilent man, dedicated to the mad trapper.

Who begins his journey, as a strangerwithout a name, and when it ended, he was the most notorious criminal in NorthAmerica, the object of the largest manhunt in RCMP history. It is a poem abouta quiet individual who is out of adversary’s reach. However he does come backand bait their self worth and pride. The returning has cost this individual anoverwhelming price, physically.

He releases a scream that the energy is after.But the silent man remains and manages to keep his inner silence. This ties itback to the mad trapper. When he did not scream in pain he was giving them whatthey wanted.

His mind was at peace so he was able to control his body and kepthis silence. The isolation had made him stronger and he was able to face itwithout wimpering.In conclusion in all of the above literature selections the protagonistis in a state of isolation. He can choose to overcome the isolation and becomestronger like the survivors in the newfoundland disaster and Farley Mowat inNever Cry Wolf, or like Spike or the mad trapper in The Mad Trapper. The peoplethat made the cut in Law of the Yukon were strong mentally so they were strongphysically. Or you can make the choice too not survive like the 78 dead inDeath on the Ice who lost there moral and died.

Agaguk just couldn’t take it sohe became a alcoholic. People like Charles in Walk Well my Brother who gotanother chance when Konala nursed him back to health were lucky to get anotherchance. After she had done this she didn’t have something to strive formentally so she died.Endnotes{1} Webster Universal Dictionary, 1970, p761{2} Brown Dick “Cry Wolf? Never” Outdoor Canada JuneJuly 1987, p20-24BibliographyWeibe Rudy, The Mad Trapper, Canadian Publishers, Toronto 1987Mowat Farley, Never Cry Wolf, Canadian Publishers, Toronto 1971Brown Cassie, Death on the Ice, Doubleday Canada, 1974Service Robert, Songs of a Sourdough, Ernest Bean, 1972 Category: English