Tales From The Underground Summary

Human beings are a “subterranean-impaired bunch” according to ecologist David Wolfe in his book, Tales from the Underground. This means that we’re unable to see what is underneath us. This is opposed to plants which have a corresponding weight of roots below them. The mirrored root system that plants have, particularly for vegetables like carrots, allows them to define themselves beyond what meets the eye. Wolfe wrote his book to give insight into a world below ground, but it also illuminates a fundamentality of human existence. Humans, confined to a physical and aboveground life, are exposed material. A carrot growing out of the ground is seemingly a tuft of green leaves. Below ground though, it is further defined by a nutrient-rich orange …show more content…
The answer lies in the desire to feel concrete and stable. Mimicry is a specific form of comparison that allowed colonizers to maintain their position of power over the colonized according to Homi Bhabha in Of Mimicry and Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse. Colonized people, encouraged by colonizers, would mimic traits that they were shown and believed to be defining characteristics of a dominant white male. Mimicry allowed colonized people to participate in the very relationship that ensured their exploitation. The power dynamic between the colonizer and the colonized is like an artificial simulation of the ideal-I and the infant. The colonized people were always almost the same, but not quite and were basing their life on the image they could never attain. This replication of Lacan’s ideal-I shows that dependence on an image can set up a foundation for destructive inequalities between people. Comparisons ensure enduring dissatisfaction. When we tie our success to our ability to achieve an unachievable ideal, we will always be