Environmentalism Essay

Humans that live indistinguishably from their ecology benefit from a coexistence, but can only live a half life, extinguishing their individuality as time moves on without them. In J.M. Coetzee’s novel ‘The Life and Times of Michael K’, environmentalism is enveloped throughout and is most evident when Michael interacts with the world around him. As Michael’s hare lip is a physical representation his disability, either the color of his skin or the handicap on his speech furthers his lack of position in society. Although he interacts with other people and other parts of his environment, the eventual regression amounts to his isolation in a cave, over looking Karoo. As he tries to distance himself from the environment that rejects him, he is forcibly resurrected, each time with violent reproach or pitiful indignation. His traversing takes him through a vast unchanging landscape; he is unable to distinguish distinct changes in people he encounters, though they influence his journey is different ways.
Environmentalism is defined as, “a theory positing the primary influence of environment on …show more content…
In his dreams and on his own, he recalled the feeling of happiness, and though by an utterance of thought, it is still somehow unavailable to him in its entirety. The emotion is not directed at any particular moment, and rare in its occurrence. The narrator shows other people to have outspoken happiness, in circumstances that he does not believe to contain reason for it. Michael misunderstands situations, and in response, he removes himself from interactions silently. His emotionally childish reactions to other people are simply responding to violence, physically or emotionally, or pitying remorse, a guilty conscience, but the underlying nature of the meetings are as limited to us as Michael’s mind limits