Forests: The Shadow of Civilisation

[1] First the Forests

In this chapter, Harrison discusses how humanity has been affected by “forests” from the beginning to the modern civilisation. He uses Rome as a prime example of a society that emerged from forests. More specifically, “when Aeneas travels up the Tiber and comes to the site of the future imperial city,” he ends up in an amazing forest; contemporary Rome is a city that was not so long covered with forests. Rome became Rome because they overcame forests.

The composer then moves on to talk about the story of Vico. Vico describes that the spread of forests across the entire world was caused by the flood- the flood which caused Noah to build an ark. Descendants of Noah imperceptibly lost their humanity and became lonely because they lived under the cover of branches and leaves (forests). Consequently, they became “bestial giants”. Their personalities were introvert, vicious, restive, animalistic, and greedy. Vico calls this “giant’s ‘bestial freedom’”- freedom that originated from forests.

One day, there was this act of thinking something outside the square (of course, it was done by the bestial giants). After thunder rolled, lightning flashed, giants were terrified and raised their eyes above. They became aware of the sky. Though the dense forest limited the beasts from visioning sky both laterally and vertically, they had some sort of illumination. They began to question things- and came up with things like deities, science and law.

(This is a text that makes me think…)

"Questions of Conquest" vs "Freedom and Democracy"

Both "Questions of Conquest" and "Freedom and Democracy" have a common theme of dystopia. While QOC explores dystopia in terms of the conquest of the Tawantinsuyu by Spaniards, FOD encapsulates the theme by incorporating that education restricts one's individuality.

QOC:
Though the Inca Empire was a civilised society that had reached a high level of military, agricultural, and handicraft development that in many ways Spain had not reached, the individuals had no value (even no existence) in the hierarchical society, and thus the society was very fragile. As a result, when the Empire was demolished by the Spaniards, it was unable to function properly.

FOD:
Education, often, results in the loss of individuality. Education eliminates antagonistic reaction to a stimulus, and one is taught to restrain the awareness of hostility and insincerity in others. Original thinking is further discouraged because one is forced to learn knowledge of facts. The knowledge of facts are something that takes up the space for originality.

Response on the Correlation between “On Language” and WE

Zamyatin is the epic writer of WE. He creates the setting in the text, which seems like an illusion of actual life from the responder’s point of view. Initially, he entices his readers into the world of the “One State”. The One State consists of people who are given numbers for their identification and they are forced to be happy. The language he uses throughout matches with the milieu and period portrayed. A good example is the language which describes the absurdity of killing, “To kill one individual… to diminish the total sum of human lives by fifty years, was criminal.” The average life expectancy at the time Zamyatin wrote the text was fifty and this milieu matches his language. Not only does the writer use language but also creates it. He has created his rules and forms by using authoritative first-person narration, “I shall simply copy, word for word…” By talking directly to the audience, there is intimate relationship between him and the responder. The story is more lively and exciting, “I love- I am certain I can safely say, we love- only such a sterile, immaculate sky.” Furthermore, the use of neologisms adds to the development and enrichment of Zamyatin’s language. One of his created word is “sic”, which adds to his emotion and feelings towards spring.