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Aot + aquifer

Terms in this set (18)

the inclusion of introspective musings of the nature of the world and humanity itself
De Botton discusses the intrinsically human link to natural landscapes through the manipulation of the nonfiction novel form, with
Gathering of quantitative statistics shows growth of rural- urban migration and the dismay of contemporary state of living and the desire to remove oneself from it
In ch 5 the destructive nature of modern urbanisation on the psyche is discussed : "In 1700 17 percent of the population of England and Wales lived in a town ; 1850 it was 50 percent; by 1900, 75"
The capitalisation of 'Nature' as a proper noun is used to distance itself from the twenty-first world and convey its powerful and healing nature. The cumulative listing of flora and fauna shows the untainted purity of nature.
De Botton continues this notion : "... Nature, which he took to comprise among other elements, birds ,streams, daffodils, and sheep was an indispensable corrective to psychological damage inflicted by life in the"
This theme is consistent throughout the text, with earlier chapters including philosophical musings and reflections emphasising the natural and powerful link to ones surroundings
In combination, De Botton explores the way in which the mind may be recovered and repaired through one's surroundings.
Aquifer is written from the first person perspective as the narrator discovers that his home town is on the news whilst they uncover the body of a boy whom had drowned in the swamp there, which the narrator privately witnessed. Though fictitious, like Art of Travel, the first person perspective allows for private, deep musings to be shared with the audience. Within these musings is a motif of life and death, which the narrator feels is deeply attached to environment
Para 2 : Tim Winton's short story "Aquifer" from the anthology The Turning (2004) explores this same intrinsic link between person and environment. However, Winton explores the way in which one has a connection with landscapes which were of importance in prior life events, where an environment serves to anchor a memory.
Asyndeton in the listing serves to demonstrate the extent of the personal connection to the land. This connection is furthered by use of human anatomy grouped with natural landscape, which is prevalent throughout more of the narrator's musing
He ponders this as he returns to the swamp: "The brown land, I figured, wasn't just wide but deep too. All that dust on the surface, the powder of ash and bones, bark and skin."
The motif of the connection between the land and the circle of life is exemplified by the repetition of "again" followed by a triatic sentence with plosive alliteration.
. Looking at the swamp, he muses, "All those creatures living and dying, born to be reclaimed, all sinking back into the earth to rise again and again: evaporated, precipitated, percolated."
"The personification within the simile portrays the narrator's oneness with the land, whereby his memory of the event serves to cement his perception of the connection between landscape and human life, so much so that his recollection of the event is firmly entrenched not only in the actual actions of the event but the landscape in which it happened
. Winton's character switches from his present musings to recall his childhood as he approached the lake, "I got off my bike and stepped down into the dried lupins like a man striding through a crowd.
that landscape is something from which humans simply cannot disentangle, and which acts as an anchor to events of personal significance
. Evidently, Winton uses first person narration and the motif of life and death to demonstrate
De Botton demonstrates the shift of emotions in bleak settings to show that a beneficial change can be elicited despite unsavoury surroundings.
Para 3 :'The Art of Travel" employs an anthological form to display a variety of scenery and its ensuing philosophical impacts.
Antithesis is used with isolation/community and dilute/distinct to exemplify the significant shift that may happen in a alienated surroundings.
This change is shown in chapter 2: "We may dilute a feeling of isolation in a lonely public place and hence rediscover a distinct sense of community."
The rhetorical question and first person perspective inspire deeper thoughts regarding the function of landscape as a catalyst for inspiration and broadening of thought
Building on this, Chapter 4 demands the reader, "What do barren overwhelming spaces bring us?"
The stacked adjectives of "great" and "unfathomable" combine with the intrusive connotations of "molest" to demonstrate the harsh realities of life from which people often run .However, one can come to terms with and accept such realities when consoled by the beauty of nature.
De Botton extends this same epiphany-eliciting property to environments of great beauty whereby "If we spend time in them, they may help us to accept more graciously the great unfathomable events that molest our lives and will inevitably return us to dust."
De Botton explores the evolving nature of emotions, proving this can occur no matter the landscape.
Through anthological and anecdotal recollection,
Upon revisiting the swamp, Winton's character in Aquifer (2004) retells his childhood experiences in his small suburban street.
Para 4 : Not only can a landscape serve to anchor a memory, but revisiting a landscape can lead to a reconsideration of significant events in one's life.
The sibilant alliteration personifies the landscape, as rather than being a place of mystery as the narrator considered it in his youth, it is now considered a consumer.
Though the swamp was met with anticipation as a boy, upon returning as an adult in the midst of finding the remains of his drowned neighbour, Alan Mannering, the narrator meets the swamp with a dread. He felt "Its rising gorge made me queasy. I thought of the things sucked in, of all that surging, sucking water beneath the crust of the wide brown land."
The anaphora of "I thought" is both a component of Winton's style of self-reflection, and exacerbates the way in which revisiting the environment has led to a reappraisal of the drowning and even the landscape itself.
Continuing the motif of life and death, the narrator states, "I thought of Alan Mannering raining silently down upon the lawns of our street. I thought of him in lettuce and tomatoes, on our roses. Like blood and bone. I considered him bearing mosquito larvae- even being in the mosquito larvae. I thought of him in frogs' blood, and of tadpoles toiling through the muddy depths of Alan Mannering."
Like De Botton, Winton capitalises on the first person perspective to offer insights into the complex thoughts that landscapes typically arise, and which can refashion the feelings and memories that one has around a previous life event.
The narrator attempts to make sense of his childhood, unsure of why it was exactly that there was friction between himself and Alan Mannering and the dynamics within the other neighbours.
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