Essay Example on A Shark in the Mind: Examining Terry Tempest William's Essay

Introduction

Terry Tempest William's written essay, "A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating Wilderness,' typically delivers the reader through a combination of shocking truths of destruction and greed (Williams, 1999). This paper is intended to identify the central argument that Terry Tempest Williams advances in her essay "A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating Wilderness," as well as appreciate William's use of language to promote her ideas.

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Central Arguments

To begin with, William makes emotional appeals to the readers through urging for preservation and protection of nature before it is destroyed. She implores the reader to consider the wilderness as art and aesthetics. Despite the divergent perspectives of individuals with regards to the natural world, William urges the reader to view the aesthetic value of nature as well because we may one day recognize it as much (Williams, 1999).

It is more evident that William is an environmental enthusiast, for she spends the majority of her adult life with her pen as the sword of ecological enlightenment. She continues to educate and inspire the responsibility in humankind as well as the social responsibility of environmental conservation. Most interestingly, the author opens the eyes of the readers not only to make them entertained but to waken and enlighten them on the beauty of nature's wilderness as well as the imminent threat that the wilderness faces.

As such, William is a legendary writer, strong environmental activist, and a visionary realist driven by an absolute sense of purpose. She is the voice of the earth and the people therein as well as the wilderness areas. She cautions the audience to listen to the earth and to seek the quietness in the wilderness and that the irreplaceable value of the wilderness should be seen before it becomes too late.

William paints the aesthetic value of the wilderness when she notes that in the wilderness, there is no need to search for beauty in the wilderness for it to be timeless. She also says that there is nothing nostalgic about the wilderness and implores the readers to imagine a world full of spots (Williams, 1999). Her love for nature is also portrayed when she notes that all the creatures within the universes are purposefully and inevitably connected by the creation of the world. She also underscores the fact that humans and animals of the universe all exist in the timelessness of the universe and that man and nature are intrinsically interconnected. William even dares the audience to disconnect from nature to have a discovery of the aesthetic endowment of the wilderness.

Use of Language

Throughout her writing of "A Shark in the Mind of One Contemplating Wilderness," William uses Damien Hirst's example of art to express some of the feelings of disgust she experiences (Williams, 1999). For instance, she disregards the 'art' of displaying of the mutilated carcass of a slaughtered animal by referring to it as nurtured cruelty to nature.

As such, William opens the eyes of her readers not to entertain them but to make them aware of the threats that the wilderness and nature at vast experiences (Williams, 1999). As a naturalist and a writer, William unpackaged her main ideas in a well-thought-out manner and perhaps in a diligent way capable of spreading awareness to the hostile and violent attitudes of various people towards nature.

Through reading and rereading her writing, one can learn that William uses vivid words and language to show her connections to the natural wilderness. For instance, she is very scornful of the idea of mounting the Tigers on the walls of American walls as well as the keeping of whales in tanks for the amusement of humans.

As such, this demonstrates her thoughts that civilization has severed the connection between the land, natural world, wilderness, and humankind (Williams, 1999). William implores the fact that both humans and other life forms require a habitat in which they can establish their community. She demonstrates that nature a work of art itself well designed and created by its artist and that there is no need to exploit nature in the name of 'arts.'

As such, William describes authentic arts as that which explores yet preserves the natural creations such as the wilderness and all that which is contained therein. According to William's description, a wilderness relates to a magnificent piece of performance art that can embody and inspire. Thus, preserving them is tantamount to letting the future generations to witness nature's superb performance. Inherent nature of arts, as described by Williams, must involve exploration and simultaneous preservation of nature and natural resources endowments.

William spoke of an act of bringing Hirst to the wilderness when she says, 'let him bring along his chain saw, Cutting Ahead....only to find out somebody has beaten him to it, creating clear-cut sculptures out of negative space, eroding space, topsoil running like blood down the mountainsides as mud. Mud as material. He would have plenty of material.' (Williams, 1999).The choice of language here denotes that human actions are capable of fighting back and having ripple effects on human beings.

References

Williams, T. T. (1999). A shark in the mind of one contemplating wilderness. Nation, 269(18), 42-44.