quote:I often see young writers whose work suffers because they have no metaphors with which to think.
Many haven’t had much direct contact with the natural world. They’ve never seen a snake eat another snake, or a grackle pull strips of red muscle from the wren under its foot. They’ve never raised a crop through a tedious season, or been forced to keep swimming because to stop would mean death.
Protected by technologies, they’ve never known inescapable cold or heat; supported by affluence, they’ve never known real hunger or thirst. Many have only worked fast food or retail, occupations short on specialized processes and tools. They ride in cars sealed against breeze (who can take a 75 mile-per-hour breeze?) and road noise; they run on treadmills in the corner of a gym, iPods turned up loud so they can’t hear their own panting, or the thump of blood.
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As much as I agree with the general content of this article. I do not think modern technology, or indeed- a lack of contact with that snake or that grackle- deprives someone of metaphors. I think it changes the metaphors available.
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But Richard Louv says a lot of kids today are suffering from nature deficit disorder. I think it's plausible, given our primate ancestry, that the human brain may need to be out observing plants and animals to train its perceptive faculties well.
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quote:Originally posted by Teshi: As much as I agree with the general content of this article. I do not think modern technology, or indeed- a lack of contact with that snake or that grackle- deprives someone of metaphors. I think it changes the metaphors available.
I entirely agree about modern technology. (Hence my thread title.) However, I think a lack of contact with the natural world does deprive us of metaphors. Artificial things tend to be less complex than the natural. (Just like his two carrots.)
Doesn't mean I'll be moving to the country anytime soon. But it does mean that I ensure that both I and my children get a good dose of exposure to the natural world (within reason) on a regular basis.
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I was struck by the examples she gave from her writing classes.
quote:The second student desperately needed the details for two characters cooking a meal together. “I don’t how people make food,” he said, looking surprised and rueful at his own admission. “ . . .
The third student had (what I consider) a problem in his writing common to many young men in my classes—a fetish for cartoonish, melodramatic violence. It boasted a pornography of rich details about shattering the kneecaps of a guy stretched across a table, yet didn’t consider human pain as a topic, let alone take up the emotions involved in revenge.
And I guess what struck me is that if these students have so little "real" experience, how can they empathize with the stories other people tell let alone tell their own stories. It made me wonder why these students are trying to write stories about subjects they understand so little of. What draws them to these stories? It also makes me wonder what kind of stories would be most relevant to such and audience. It isn't just metaphors they lack because of their lack of experience. They lack the ability to say anything meaningful about the human condition because their own experiences as humans are so limited.
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I have been surprised at how many metaphors and colloquial phrases have come to mean much more to me since I moved out to the country a year ago.
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But it does mean that I ensure that both I and my children get a good dose of exposure to the natural world (within reason) on a regular basis.
