Visiting the art museum, having class discussions and reading Willa Cather’s novel has led me to wonder about how life was like back in the time of the pioneers. What keeps coming up in my thought is wondering about civilization. It is so hard to truly capture what domesticating a foreign land took and how this affected its owners. It seems that these people lived so rurally that they hardly had the capacity to live a comfortable life even though it may have been a fulfilling one. I don’t know how I could have survived such a time let alone make it an enjoyable one.
Another thought is that of what makes someone sophisticated. I can hardly justify this as being necessary in the time of such imminent danger but there was such abhorrence directed towards the “unsophisticated” ways of the Native Americans that it makes me wonder what prominence sophistication had in the lives of these people. Was it a comfort to them or an ego boost to feel that they could live in a wild setting yet maintain some semblance of being cultured.
These thoughts provoke many questions. What is civilization? What does domestication of the land really mean? Does this connect in any way with sophistication? How does one relate being civilized with to living well? Is civilization necessary for a good life?
8 comments:
Some days I believe that we would all be better off if we reverted to more "primitive" ways. Living off the land as our ancestors did might make us appreciate this life, and the world around us more. I believe there is a difference between our concept of "civilization" and being "civilized". For me this idea is only the organization of people, but to others this might mean having a western education. This of course connects with our concept of sophistication. Domestication of the land is another idea entirely: cultivation and production of agriculture and horticulture that was not necessarily present before man arrived here. However, this domestication began before europeans ever settled here, when the native americans first appeared. This too requires a level of sophistication, but I think it could be considered a different definition of the term as we are familiar with it.
These are all very interesting questions as I believe their interpretation is left to the reader.
Civilization is defined as an organization that is the most advanced. With that thought, we can say being civilized is living the most well.
As far as domestication of the land goes, i think it just means using it for profit. Any which way you wanna use it, be it a theme park or a field of wheat. So once these pioneers started living on the land, it became domesticated. If you think of domestication of land and the definition of civilization together, the people on the land would be using the most sophisticated techniques to profit from their land, but without civilization people wouldn't be able to use collective thought and action to find the best way to use their land.
A civilization is a time and a place, currently or in the past. A civilization and being civilized are two different things in my eyes. To be civilized is to be settled and in some senses sophisticated to your surroundings. A civilization describes a group of people, their culture, and way of life during a time period and in a particular location. I believe that living well and being civilized are in direct relation. Being civilized is to carry yourself with a level of respect for yourself and others around you and abiding by a moral code. These attributes are the cornerstones to civilized living. If people are able to life without fear, they will be able to be productive members of their society. Enabling them to work hard to make a better life for themselves and the people around them.
In Cather’s novel it seems like sophistication comes after civilization and domestication of the land. While the characters were still trying desperately to tame the wild land they ran around barefoot and lived in sod houses. Even so, there were people like Mrs. Bergson who insisted on wearing shoes and living in a log house. She frowned on the others who allowed themselves to be so unkempt just because they were in the wilderness.
When I was sixteen I spent two months camping in Utah with a wilderness program for teens. Many of us took “Nalgene showers” and managed to maintain some level of cleanliness and sophistication as close as possible to our previous standards. Others let themselves go completely and were not only dirty but also rude and had no social boundaries.
Sophistication is absolutely possible without domestication of the land, as is civilization. I think that when people are referred to as “unsophisticated” it is not so much about their actual level of sophistication but more about their ability and willingness to conform to the social norms. Just like when people are referred to as “uncivilized” it’s not about them not having a civilization.
In my eyes, civilization is the coming together of a group of people which then form some sort of organized structure where rules and workings of a civilization are clear. The concept of civilization makes me think of movies where people go out camping and there’s the one person, usually a lady, which absolutely can’t adjust to the ways of life. When the people get back from the trip, the woman says “thank goodness. I’m so glad to be home. Civilization!!” In this case, civilization also entails accommodation and luxury such as running water, toilets, homes, grocery stores, etc.
A good life depends on ones definition of what a good life actually is. It could be as simple as someone figuring out who they are, as complicated as changing the world, or somewhere in-between like spending life with someone you love. For the simplistic definitions, civilization is not necessary, however, if one wants to change the world, there has to be a civilization to change. I don’t think it is necessary to be civilized people (not to be confused with civilization) to have a good life. Life can be good without manners or socially acceptable behavior if the concept being civilized is not known or practiced by the person.
I think as civilizing has gone to some among of level, people as we said been civilized have taken and looked everything as the matter of course. But we have never realized that just one little technology devise we are using, the production processing isn't that simple at all. It may be going to different countries and globe and different parts of the product need to be made and completed by different companies. It needs to be cooperated! Since civilization isn't easy, I think we should be more appreciate everything we have gotten and things that make our lives easier!
Civilization is a higher state of society. Domestication of the land can be akin to domestication of an animal, going from something untamed to the rules of the domesticator, to the control and rules of that domesticator. Depending upon one’s background and culture, sophistication can carry many meanings and definitions. Going from “unorganized” to “organized” might be a way to categorize this, however it is only one of many. Being civilized and living well are subjective ideas that range from person to person.
A full course could be dedicated to defining what makes a civilization, but in the context of the American West and Willa Cather's novel, I feel that the domestication of the frontier was one of the foundations in creating a "western civilization." The concept of working the land and providing some sort of service to the community as a whole through the processes usually associated with domestication created a social contract amongst the settlers in emerging frontier towns. This concept also lends itself to the idea of sophistication with in the society. By acknowledging the responsibility associated with running a farm or store in these small towns was a demonstration of sophistication. At the same time, I find it a little ironic that settlers considered the Native Americans an "unsophisticated people" even though many of the same social codes that the pioneers relied on were already being practiced by natives (hunters provided food for everyone, while others took care of the children, ect).
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