Insensitivity Versus Sensitivity Towards Nature

         There is a constant struggle between the hunters who have a disregard for nature and the environmentalists who want to preserve nature.  This struggle can be seen by comparing and contrasting Maxine Kumin’s, “Woodchucks,” and William Stafford’s, Traveling through the Dark.” The tone in “Woodchucks” is unsympathetic and even gruesome towards nature. The narrator is a hunter who brutally murdered a baby woodchuck in front of his mother and after causing the mother agony, the hunter also killed the mother and then another baby woodchuck. This shows that he has no sympathy for the animal emotions. He is cruel and insensitive to nature. Furthermore, the hunter wishes to be even more disassociated with the murders he is causing. He states he wishes that the woodchucks would “consent” to being gassed “quietly” underground similar to the “Nazi way ” with the Jews in the Holocaust. The hunter is showing even more disregard for nature because ironically gassing humans or animals would not be more “quiet” because it would cause more suffering. However, he is so selfish that he rather cause more suffering for nature than take the responsibility of his own actions. In contrast, the tone in “Traveling through the Dark” is sympathetic and caring towards nature. While driving down a windy road, the author pulled over to move a deer out of the street to prevent accidents. He states, “swerving might make more deaths. In contrast, to Kumin’s poem, where the author murders a child in front of his mother, the author of “Traveling through the Dark” is concerned about the unborn child in the mother’s womb. In fact, he stops and “hesitates” for a moment because he is so worried about the unborn deer. The respect he shows towards nature is evident because he states that he could “hear the wilderness.” Thus, these two poems show insensitivity versus sensitivity towards nature, respectively.