Patrick K.

Yeboah
TSOA Writing the Essay, 8 AM
Blagovesta Momchedjikova
Progression 2, Final
November 9, 2015
Man Vs Nature
In the master bathroom of my beach house in Narragansett, Rhode Island is a claw-footed
bathtub that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean through four beautiful and grand bay-windows. It isnt
until recently that Ive begun to think about the way that makes me feelto see the grandeur of
one of earths oceans, teeming with life, from the comfort and security of my own warm and
private little ocean. To say that I feel somewhat sheltered is almost an understatement. Compared
to the world we live in, in all its glory, the spaces weve created for ourselves seem to mean
nothing. These replicas and representations we create to emulate nature in her might are absolute
minute and minuscule when looked at in the grand scheme of things.
There is an innate relationship between nature, art, and mankind. This relationship
betwixt man, art, and nature is complex and worthy of devoted study. The idea that nature and
man cannot exist without one another is a theory that has withstood the various tests of time. The
two entities cannot stand without each other, they cannot thrive. I am pondering about the
relationship between art and nature and the right that artists have to represent natures grandeur.
In regard to nature and mankind, I am wondering how two seemingly opposing forces may be

able to coexist and find harmony as the battle between them continues to wage on and stand the
test of time.
So far in in my short time in New York City, I havent been able to find that relationship
between real and false. All I see around me is false. Im so used to being able to look outside of
my bedroom window or the window in the bathroom of my beach house and see the wonder and
majesty of nature. Its almost as if her existence is the thing that most gives me confidence. That
connection to nature is what Im lacking most. Ive noticed that people in this city are constantly
rushing and Ive even began to notice that in myself. Im not taking the time to stop and smell
the fall leaves in the park or just sit and look out at the East River or the Hudson. Theres no
beach here, so I have nothing to feed me energy. Im still trying to find the waves crashing onto
the shoreline.
In one sense, it can be argued that humanity and nature exist only to oppose each other
and those two forces constantly struggle against one another to maintain a balance between the
two worlds. We see things like natural disasters wiping out huge portions of the population and
we also see humans being so careless and merciless towards the environment by destroying
nature with pollution and other waste.
In another sense, nature and humanity are one and the same, as they were created in and
of each other. The relationship is summed up as so in an essay by John Berger, titled The White
Bird, for a brief moment one finds oneself in the position of God in the first chapter of
Genesisthe aesthetic emotion before nature derives from the double affirmation (Berger 83).
If there is no acknowledgement of nature as being good, then there is no legitimacy to either of
the two very powerful forces. Although this seems like a perfectly reasonable explanation for the
idea, there are several other aspects of it to keep in mind. Suppose there is no connection to

religion in a persons life, how, then, can they make any kind of affirmative action in regard to
the positivity or negativity of creation?
In Bergers essay, he sets the table for a very unique and thought provoking conversation.
He begins by juxtaposing the two different white birdsthat which is made from life and has
divine breath in it and that which is made from the hands of mankind. He then goes on to
describe, in length, the creation of the man-made bird. Berger goes on to speak more on the
relationship saying that the wooden bird forces people to ask the question how on earth was it
made (Berger 82) in regards to the living bird. This question and the various ways that Berger
juxtaposes the birds is proof that the aesthetic emotion we feel before a man-made objectsuch
as the white birdis a derivative of the emotion we feel before nature (Berger 83). The emotion
is true regardless of what textbooks and facts tell. Emotions do not lie and are not meant to
trick the body in any way, shape, or form no matter how complex and delicate our inner
workings are.
This idea that Berger presents to his audience transcends so much more than the two
types of white birds as mentioned in his essay. This idea of the relationship between giant and
small and two separate but equal powers and how one may represent the other, but never really
wholly and truly is universal and can relate to so much more than just nature and humanity or art
and reality. For example, the same argument can be made with the relationship between a mother
and child. The relationship and love a mother has for her child and vice versa are not fabricated,
they merely exist in nature. One may create artwork or try to represent the feeling in some way,
but these creations never truly encapsulate the feelings involved. But, what is it about the
mother-child relationship that brings forth this type of intense love? You see, a child is a work of
art in and of itself, created by the mother. A child is shaped by emotion, pain, and love; however,

these emotions are unique to the child and individually interpreted by their superiors or older
counterparts. Again, the notion that art is the mirror of nature is one that only appeals in periods
of skepticism (Berger 83). There is something much too complex about the way the world was
crafted for it to be so simply represented in manners formulated by human hands. Its almost
insulting to the Creator of this world, whomever one may choose to believe in, to say otherwise.
In other words, Bergers main idea is that art and nature are two coexisting ideas that are
responsible for the way that we understand the world around us. We, as human beings, are
intelligent enough to use our prior and instinctive knowledge and judgement to have some sort of
reaction to artificial representations or replicas of the world that we experience on a day-to-day
basis.
In another essay, The Documentary Debate: Aesthetic or Anaesthetic? by David Levi
Strauss, the relationship between representatives and what is being represented is discussed
heavily. The essay says, It is unseemly to look right into the face of hunger, and then to
represent it in a way that compels others to look right into it as well. It is an abomination, and
obscenity, an ideological crime (Strauss 131). This is almost exactly what Berger is trying to say
in his essay. I understand this notion completely. What individual has any right to display
anything to anyone else, especially to garner a specific emotion from their audience? No one.
Human beings have the natural urge to try and find meaning for aspects of life and when we
cant we succumb to representing things that dont necessarily belong to us through art and arts
other, transcendental face raises the question of mans ontological right (Berger 83). Because
we want so very badly to find a reason for being, for existing, we choose to create things that
will serve as some sort of mechanism for coping with the things we simply cannot comprehend.

Berger mentions Van Gogh in his third paragraph. I was doing some research and came
across Vincent van Goghs A Wheatfield with Cypresses. Its located at the Met in New York and
is an oil on canvas piece, painted in July of 1889. The painting depicts rows of wheat standing in
the shadow of a large dark green tree that is surrounded by smaller lighter green trees. The scene
is framed by a mountain range and an incredibly picturesque sky. I was very interested in this
painting because of its depiction of something so ordinary and natural in a way that isnt trying
so hard to seem real. This picture is so obviously not meant to be realistic. Everything has a very
distinct curl or curve o it. The skys clouds seem like they were recently formed in a cotton candy
machine, the trees are unnaturally tall, and the mountain range is so rounded and less jagged and
dangerous than regular mountains. The artist isnt trying to convince his audience to see
something as he saw it, but he allows them to infer by using their knowledge of the natural world
to create their own scene while looking at his. This is the issue with representing nature.
Berger says that when artists do so they are merely finding a congruence (Berger 83), not so
much any type of equality.
The idea of relationships on such a grand scale is present in both mine and Bergers
concepts and ideas. The three entitiesnature, art, and mankindall work as separate yet
coexisting forces. Berger says, in closing his essay, Art is an organized response to what nature
allows us to glimpse occasionally. Art sets out to transform the potential recognition into an
unceasing one. It proclaims man in the hope of receiving a surer reply (Berger 84). Art is
meant to give closure when we cannot understand the things that the world sometime throws at
us, whether these things be negative or positive.

Works Cited
Berger, John. "The White Bird." Writing the Essay Art in the World The World Through Art. N.p.:
McGraw-Hill Education, 2013. 81-84. Print.
Strauss, David Levi. "The Documentary Debate: Aesthetic or Anaesthetic?" Writing the Essay
Art in the World The World Through Art. N.p.: McGraw-Hill Education, 2013.
129-33. Print.
Van Gogh, Vincent. A Wheatfield with Cypresses. 1889. Oil on Canvas. Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York, New York.