Kaya 1 X Name X Prof X Class Date The Lives on Zillion Gold Granules “A Desert World” is a writing about the Great Basin Desert in Ann Zwinger perspective, who is an artist and historian. In her writing, she outlines her experiences and implications of the desert while she is sitting cross-legged above the desert. Though she does not explicitly explain femininity, she labels herself as a twentieth century woman. She depicts about life after sunset, the adaptability of some species, and the beauty of the desert in her own interpretation. Furthermore, she is imagining how ancient people lived in the Great Basin Desert, which was a good place for harvest due to its rich and special environments. She also mentions the adaptability of both animal and plant species to desert life such as a kangaroo rat, black-throated sparrow, and cactus wrens. Zwinger gives details about their survival skills from a different perspective. In addition to that, she shares what memories that desert reminds her of. Additionally, she gives a chance to observe different understandings from the desert. She describes the desert as a stupendous place. Zwinger also explains and points out the difference between night and day life of desert by animating a scene from the desert. She draws a different analogy between abstract terms and verbs such as silence is streaming. Zwinger ponders about the history behind the beautiful scenery of the Great Basin Desert. She notes, “The clamshell opening of the cave sits a couple of hundred feet above the floor of the Great Basin Desert, where once the waters of the Great Salt Lake sparkled and flickered, where once a prehistoric people made a living and shared in the bounty of a wetter Kaya 2 climate. This cave was not a permanent residence but a temporary one, utilized by archaic peoples on their never-ending rounds of hunting and gathering and fishing.” (415) Here, Zwinger brings past to the present by being in present but talking about prehistoric people’s life in the Great Basin Desert. In addition to that, the Great Basin Desert is like a bridge between Zwinger’s mind and the past. She seems like she can see the prehistoric people beyond the real world while she is looking down towards the Great Basin Desert. In other words, Zwinger uses the desert as a portal from real world to Zwinger’s realm of the imaginary. Additionally, she ponders how prehistoric people use the cave, a temporary place. The cave has a same functionality for Zwinger since it is not a permanent space for her. Zwinger sees things through nature and their movements while being in the desert, which she does not belong. In her piece, she writes, “Insight into this beautifully attuned world to which I am not adapted make fine-tuning of those small creatures that hop and stalk, scurry and slither in the desert objects of respect from which humans can extract survival skills and medical miracles: a kangaroo rat and black-throated sparrow that survive well without free water” (Zwinger 415). Here, Zwinger talks about the movements that she can see in front of her. She uses small creatures and their movements as a driving force behind her perception. Additionally, Zwinger not only sees the animals, but she also delves into them. In this case, she talks about their adaptation and survival skill that they have. I am sitting on the High Line, New York, while people are oozing joy, and the sporadic noise from a distance does not dampen the tranquility of the place. A happy young couple, holding hands, is walking while dreaming about their future. On the other side, a group of high school students are walking while having a deep conversation about colleges. In addition to that, in my home country Turkey, many of my friends and I discussed the prevailing notion of America being an individualistic society. When I look at the High Line, all the people in High Kaya 3 Line seem like a contrast, a big contrast for that matter to this notion. Furthermore, I imagined that this place was a railroad before it became a linear park and one shudders to think on what such a place would be if these adjustments had not been made. Would people still find order in this place? I look at all the smiling faces and decide to dwell on one lady who seems lost in her world. She does not look as if she is enjoying being at this place at all. Why would she force herself then? Problems? Is she battling a terminal illness? Of course not. Her face is beaming, which does not look sickly, but appearances can be deceiving. I look around and come to a disturbing conclusion; all these people in the park including myself have a story, and in High Line, we find solace. Zwinger points out her reminiscences comes from the desert while she is feeling the desert ambiance. In “A Desert World,” Zwinger narrates, “Scanning this irreplaceable desert below me, which has exacted its own tributes of this slow-boned human, memories come crowding to my mind of the gifts these desert years have laid on my doorstep, a mosaic of experiences made up sprigs of creosote bush and sagebrush, and owl feather and a grasshopper wing […]” (416) Here, Zwinger likens the desert with a past human life. Looking down towards the desert gives a chance to Zwinger to see her past desert life. In other words, she uses the vast horizon of the desert to connect with her past. Similarly, when I was on the High Line, I was using the aura of space to evoke and remember my memories. It helps me to understand how Zwinger uses the desert to evoke her past. Both Zwinger and I had used different nuances, which comes from whereabouts, to revive our memories. Charles Darwin points out that there is an order in nature, which has connected among different species. He states, “In Staffordshire, […] there was a large and extremely barren heath, which had never been touched by the hand of man […] The change in the native vegetation of the planted Kaya 4 part of the heath was most remarkable, more than is generally seen in passing from one quite different soil to another: not only the proportional numbers of the heath-plants were wholly changed, but twelve species of plants flourished in the plantations, which could not be found on the heath. The effect on the insect must have been still greater, for six insectivorous birds were very common in the plantations, which were not to be seen on the heath.” (71) Here, Darwin shows the impact of a change in a single plant and the deterioration in its habitat. In other words, passing from one kind of soil to another is like changing the DNA of a species and get something very different from its original form. Furthermore, Darwin shows how a small change has a potential of changing its habitat while giving new opportunities to some species to benefit from the change. Zwinger depicts the growing darkness in the context of giving life to the desert. She says, “The sky behind the mountains segues to a pale steely blue, without warmth, bending upward to dusk. Where the sun has departed, the sky bleaches. Dust spirits sleep. A cyclops moon rises to the east. The wind abides. Silence streams from the mountains. Black feathers of darkness drift downward, and the desert comes alive” (Zwinger 416). Zwinger brings new feature to Dust, spiriting sleep. In other words, dust is like a mother that sings a lullaby to her children and puts them to sleep. On the other hand, she brought a new feature to darkness like dust. Darkness invigorates the desert, like giving a soul, and the desert comes alive while darkness was ruling the desert. In other words, Zwinger explains the change of time and how it leads the desert to become alive, which is similar to Darwin’s experience; change in one plant species caused seeing new six bird species like change in time leads the animal to rise to the surface. Conclusion In “A Desert World”, Kaya 5 Sample Conclusion – Our conclusion should be little longer than that. In X, memory takes shape in terms of space. This mapping of time occurs since memory is portrayed as breaking experience into fragments that get recomposed by Y to form a geography or landscape of the mind. Finally, this landscapes a layering of time and space where those categories get mixed together, and traveling into one for Y, becomes traveling into both. Kaya 6 Works Cited Darwin, Charles. “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.” The Broadview Anthology of Expository Prose, 3rd ed., Broadview Press, 2016, pp. 71–72. Zwinger, Ann. “A Desert World.” Occasions for Writing. Wadsworth, Cengage Learning (2008): 415-416. Print.
Purchase answer to see full attachment