Nicholas WongMr. KaczorowskiMs. JeongRST 2423/24/22Week 2 Packback DiscussionI’m afraid I’ll have to disagree with the statement that America could’ve developed itsnational identity without its natural landscapes. People were shifting away from the conceptregarding how the wilderness should be avoided and was “repulsive” because of Romanticismduring the 18th and early 19th centuries. Americans did greatly appreciate the wilderness by themid 19th century (Nash, 2014). A lot of European settlers were fascinated with the New Worldand the enthusiasm of the wilderness became very attractive as many of the European settlersbegan to write regarding their journey to the New World. An example of one of those Europeansettlers who began to write regarding their journey to the New World was William Byrd II. Hedescribed the Appalachian Mountains as “Ranges of Blue Clouds rising one above another”(Nash, 2014) after initially seeing them. Americans’ perspectives regarding nature started tochange due to many influences. One of these influences was Romanticism. These days, there aremore tolerant views regarding nature. However, a lot of people originally planned to conquer thewilderness. What made the wilderness more fascinating was how pioneers began to see thewilderness like a chance for adventure and freedom. The reason many people initially traveled tothe New World was due to the concept of independence that caused a lot of anticipation. Peoplebegan to call the Mississippi River a “prince of rivers” (Which the Nile wasn’t even close tobeing compared) (Nash, 2014) as they became excited of what nature America had. Americansthought “America’s nature, if not her culture, would command the world’s admiration” (Nash,2014) as they began developing a large sense of pride in the United States. America used thesense of “wildness” and nature to create a sense of nationalism because of nature and thewilderness.Reply Post To Junyao Hu:Hi Junyao,People think about the individuality of American culture along with the available largemasses of land and landscape when they think about American culture. Part of that individualityis established on the fact many people don’t live that close to one another, which your postdoesn’t discuss. You do discuss how what provides temporary relief from organized civilizationis nature as a perfect environment, which is a strong argument in your post. The claim that what’sconsidered separate from modern society is nature is true. I’d have to say the argument regardingthe quote you used ("The New World, with its abundance of pathless forests and savages,intrigued the Romantic imagination. "(Nash, 2014)) was a little weak due to not fully backing uphow landscapes and nature don’t affect culture and identity, which I believe was your mainargument. Overall, your post does a pretty good job of addressing the question you came upwith.Nicholas
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