“People feared snowstorms once. Hazel read about this all the time. Pioneers opened their front doors and saw they’d been entombed in snow overnight. They walked across malevolent swirling whiteness and did not know if they would survive. Nature can destroy us in a blink. We live on only at its pleasure. That was what looking at the witch was like.”
Reflection Questions
As we ponder on the powerful imagery of nature's potential for destruction in Anne Ursu's quote, here are some reflection questions to consider:
- How does this description of snowstorms and nature's power make you feel about the world around you?
- Have you ever experienced a moment where nature's power felt overwhelming or beyond your control?
- How does this quote relate to the idea of vulnerability and our place in the natural world?
- In what ways can we find solace or strength in the face of nature's unpredictability and potential dangers?
Analysis
In this quote from Anne Ursu's novel, "The Real Boy," the protagonist Hazel reflects on the fear and power of nature. Through the comparison of a snowstorm to facing the witch, Ursu conveys the sense of uncertainty and danger present in both situations. The imagery of pioneers being entombed in snow overnight highlights the sudden and overwhelming force nature can exert on human beings. The idea that we live at nature's mercy emphasizes our vulnerability and the lack of control we have over our environment. Overall, this quote serves to underscore the primal fear and awe that nature can evoke in us.
Nature's Power and Human Vulnerability
In the quote by Anne Ursu, the fear and awe of nature's power is vividly depicted through the imagery of snowstorms and the sense of being at the mercy of the environment. This theme of humanity's vulnerability in the face of nature's wrath remains relevant in the modern world, where natural disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis, and wildfires continue to remind us of our own mortality. The quote serves as a poignant reminder of the delicate balance between human civilization and the forces of nature.
Example of Usage:
In this passage from Anne Ursu's book, "The Real Boy," the character Hazel reflects on the power and unpredictability of nature. Ursu uses vivid imagery to convey the fear and uncertainty that can come with facing the forces of the natural world.
Similar quotes
“Maybe it’s not the doors that open in our lives, but the doors that close that define us. That guide us. Because they force us to move on. Instead of thinking about what we lose, look at what we can gain.”
“Maybe its like you said before, all of us being cracked open. Like each of us starts out as a watertight vessel. And then things happen - these people leave us, or don’t love us, or don’t get us, or we don’t get them, and we lose and fail and hurt one another. And the vessel starts to crack in places. And I mean, yeah once the vessel cracks open, the end becomes inevitable. Once it starts to rain inside the Osprey, it will never be remodeled. But there is all this time between when the cracks start to open up and when we finally fall apart. And its only that time that we see one another, because we see out of ourselves through our cracks and into others through theirs. When did we see each other face to face? Not until you saw into my cracks and I saw into yours. Before that we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade, but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”
“When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but sometimes we look so long at the closed door, that we don't see the one which has been opened for us...'Maybe it's time we stop looking at the closed door, Red.~ Ken ~”
“Maybe it’s more like you said before, all of us being cracked open, like, each of us starts out as a watertight vessel, and these things happen, these people leave us, or don’t love us, or don’t get us, or we don’t get them, and we lose and fail and hurt one another. And the vessel starts to crack open in places, and I mean, yeah, once the vessel cracks open, the end becomes inevitable, once it starts to rain inside the Osprey, it will never be remodeled, but there is all this time between when the cracks start to open up and when we finally fall apart, and it’s only in that time that we can see one another, because we see out of ourselves through our cracks, and into others through theirs. When did we see each other face to face? Not until you saw into my cracks, and I saw into yours. Before that, we were just looking at ideas of each other, like looking at your window shade, but never seeing inside. But once the vessel cracks, the light can get in. The light can get out.”
“I shake my head, watching snow tumble and swirl from an all-white sky. The world seems so clean if you only look up”