50 accepting them and learning to live with them.”
35
Cruelty may be the law of nature.
36
But this thought is coming from a selfish human point of view. People get consequences from mistreating nature
and they consider it to be a blame for nature. People are never looking back to find out the source of the matter. Because, man is the one who depends his life
on his surroundings. Nature has its own power to live and does not need man to be relied on. The five Alaska folklores above have shown how man is not
aware enough about the essential meaning of nature and its function of its existence on earth. Man should understand in taking nature as something more
than a dead object in life.
B. The Idea behind the Relationships between Man and Nature Based on the Five Analyzed Folklores
We already know what kind of relationships that occur in the folklores. We also know how things go differently if we take a look at man’s thinking and
then put it into nature’s point of view. The five folklores were served in variety where conflicts and resolutions of the stories formed in different ways.
After analyzing the folklores on previous section, the writer put a basic thinking where nature was considered as monster from man’s selfish point of
view. While nature actually stands to complete man’s life from its advantages in the world and its existence as a great beauty on earth, man tends to act as if he is
trying to conquer the nature with his very limited power. “Winning over nature”
35
Margaret Atwood, Survival-A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature Toronto: O.W. Toad Ltd., 2004, p. 80.
36
Ibid.
51 seems an action that leads man to feel more powerful, but in the reality; he is not.
And then man would be drowned in negative thinking and bad manners with disrespect, selfishness, arrogance and being out of control. Therefore, sometimes
nature reacts very viciously in order to give a lesson to man where life on the earth needs to get along side by side.
Seeing from the analyzed folklores on previous section, the writer sees one obvious truth from man’s point of view. It has proven from these folklores that
man is dependable to nature. When it is mentioned dependable, it means more likely that man can not be separated from nature in his life. It is like the
relationship between mother and her child. Nature with all of its unlimited power could give and fulfill what man needs in life. Like a figure of a mother, nature has
its wisdom and maturity to give lessons to man. And as what commonly happens for a child, man does not have any direction or guidance about how to live on this
earth in an appropriate way. It is also like a typical of a child, man sometimes feels challenged to rebel and break what have become rules in life.
It happens in our daily life where mother takes care of her child patiently. When her child commits a mistake, her wisdom would give the child forgiveness.
Mother always forgives her child because she always tries to show the right manner to her child. And when her child commits a terrible mistake, sometimes
mother would give punishment. But in the end, the best thing must be done to give child a lesson in life. So, it also happens between man and nature in the
analyzed folklores. Without nature, man would die in hunger and freeze. Without the guidance of nature, man would not know what he should or he should not do
52 in this world. Moreover, whether it is understood or not, man’s life is fully
supported by nature. Trees exist for protecting man from heat or rain, some animals like horses or camels can be used for transportations, etc. There is nothing
that nature can not give to man in this life. Nature always completes what man needs. And basically, man successfully lives and adapts himself in this world
because of the education from nature. So, man should not mistreat the nature. To support the explanation above, the writer finds a perfect statement to
show the idea behind the relationships between man and nature, “…Nature under the first mode was awe at the grandeur of nature; under the second, you were
supposed to feel that Nature was a kind of Mother or Nurse who would guide man if he would only listen to her.”
37
It can not be debated anymore how nature gives a remarkable beauty on this earth. Man is amazed for its beauty. Moreover, the role of nature in giving
what man needs is a noble thing that man can not pay back for his whole life. However, man tends to break what it is destined; man tends to conquer and feels
as the one who has the biggest power over everything. And that what makes man sometimes forgets that he has nothing but limitation. It is perfect to have an idea
where Nature is put as Mother or Nurse. As the greatest power on the earth, nature is the only thing where man gets his lessons in life. And moreover, man gets his
life from the existence of nature. Man mostly gets terrible consequences in the analyzed folklores because he never tries to learn living with nature. For
considering this thing, there is another example in Eskimo people’s life when he is
37
Ibid., p. 60.
53 willing to live with nature; snow could be something man hates or even dies with.
However, there is also another important point where man can make houses in snow as something beneficial in his life. If man would let himself to be thoughtful
for once, he would know how beautiful nature towards his life. To continue the previous statement above, here is what the writer could
also get, “As long as we remain true to the Divine Mother, so long will she remain faithful to her suffering children.”
38
The thought where Alaska people choose nature as something deserved to be worshipped is already good. Because they could see how life should be living
through nature. Death or other consequences are only part of what man experiences in life. Therefore, the statement above perfectly reflects what the
folklores have shown us. Nature would be something great in life for people if they keep their life on the right track. Man as suffering child could be said as a
correct thing. Because man has no power to show, not even deserves to be arrogant. Man is a dependable creature on earth that desperately needs nature in
his life. The nature itself as the Divine Mother guides man how to live in the right way.
However, not all folklores show how man could be ended in tragic and miserable life. Based on the analysis, Crow Brings the Daylight is a good example
of relationship between man and nature. People know how to respect and be thankful to the nature, and then nature would sincerely sacrifices for the sake of
man’s needs. In the story, we could see how man simply admits his limitation of
38
Ibid., p. 61.
54 power when Inuit people are hoping for daylight to come to the north. And the
figure of the crow makes all people of Inuit dream comes true by flying to the south and arrives home with daylight.
In general, the five Alaska folklores which have been analyzed have shown how man tends to act as if nature is only a dead object to be used in this
world. The Ptarmigan Story, The Squirrel Shaman and How Selfishness was Rewarded are the perfect examples about the issue. The boys in the first story
show how man underestimates the existence of nature. The boys use the ptarmigan as something to be fooled and played around. Meanwhile, the
characters in the second story show how hunting has changed into man’s favorite game. Hunting is then no longer defined as something sacred where man depend
his life’s need food on nature. In the end, How Selfishness was Rewarded has shown us how man with hisher selfishness acts as if nature belongs only for the
sake of one person instead of being consumed for people’s life welfare. In the story, the young girl uses nature with magic spell to fulfill her hunger while the
rest of her family members are getting weaker for being starving. These three folklores serve two possibilities of how one sees the symbolism through man and
nature’s relationships. The first, seeing from man’s perspective; man is the victim of the nature’s rage. Consequences are given to the characters in the stories as
punishment towards their acts. However, it could also be like this; nature is the victim of man’s actions. Animals as the representation of nature in the stories are
hurt by characters who consider myth and traditional beliefs from their ancestors as useless things.
55 Eventually, those two possibilities need to be clarified more clearly. Based
on the stories, the writer could use conflicts inside them as a guide to see who start the conflicts. In this case, man is the guilty one. Either it is started with an
immoral action from man or with man who disregards the power of nature, the stories show how nature is basically the victim over man’s action. Here is the
quote from each story that shows how the conflict starts because of man. -
Death is the consequence for the characters in The Ptarmigan Story because of showing disrespect to nature.
“I wonder if ptarmigan can fly straight without eyes?” “I wonder if ptarmigan can fly without feathers?”
- A negotiation in The Squirrel Shaman results in positive impacts to both
sides of man and nature. However, it happens because man is given a forgiveness after destroying nature.
“In a small village upon the Skeena River, three young brothers would hunt and kill squirrels…Together they had killed so many squirrels that
they had to go farther and farther away from home to find more.” -
Selfishness causes a young girl’s life ends in a tragic transformation in How Selfishness was Rewarded.
…That night, when she thought everyone lay sleeping, the young wife crept down to the shore and summoned a school of herring to the shore
56 using a magic spell. She swept two of the largest fish into her basket and
took them back to the lodge to cook. -
A happy ending story happens in Crow Brings the Daylight where man and nature could live harmoniously because they know how to respect
each other. But, the story started with a pessimictic tone of man towards what the crow could do about bringing daylight.
…the Inuit lived in darkness in their home in the fastness of the north. They had never heard of daylight, and when it was first explained to them
by the Crow, who traveled back and forth between northlands and the south, they did not believe him.
- The Meeting of the Wild Animals has showed how nature basically tries to
be fair for what happens in the life of man and animals. In this case, animals are threatened over hunters’ existence for killing many animals.
A long time ago, when the Tsimshian lived on the upper Skeena River in Prairie Town, they were the cleverest and the strongest of all humans.
They were good hunters and caught many animals. They went hunting the whole year round, and all the animals feared for their survival.
For a conclusion, man should not be ashamed when he has to admit that he is only a small part of this world. There is something much greater over man’s
power. And Alaska people believe that it is nature. It can be seen from the five Alaska folklores in this research, how man gets his lessons in life through nature.
Once he shows respect to nature, it turns out as something good in man’s life. On
57 the other hands, nature would turn into a rage when man treats it over his
arrogance or selfishness. It is an exact idea where nature is put as the Divine Mother and man as a child to be guided or nursed. It is because nature has its own
wisdom to teach man for living a good life.
58
CHAPTER IV CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION
A. Conclusion
Among many literary works we know today, folklore could be a great example for people to read. It is not only special because of its long historical
journey but also because of its wisdom that could be a good teacher for people in life. Before being read, folklore firstly existed as a story transmitted through
words of mouth, but it was not just an ordinary story. Folklore has its own lesson that teaches people to live in such a wise and beautiful life. However, we should
not forget mentioning the existence of myth which is mostly put inside folklore as a moral message to be delivered.
Our ancestors truly believe myth as something sacred that can be compared to the existence of religions nowadays. The previous generations use
myth as their social rules of life. It is also kept in order to preserve it as their cultural heritage. Myth has always become debatable for its absurdness. Modern
people tend to ignore and disbelieve it because they prefer something as what they call now; logic. However, we should not underestimate myth because no matter
how primitive these indigenous people thought described in folklores; myth always exists as a moral message that guides man to live wisely.
Alaska people can be one of the examples besides Native American Indians who consider folklore and myth as something precious in life. There must
be less kind of stories that describe how nature and animals become important in
