Analytical Essay on the Snow Hare

Analytical Essay on The Snow Hare

Nature can be a harsh mistress, killing you in an instant if you lose focus, but can also leave you breathless, basking in the wonders within it. Though nature is a vast array [pic 1] of different wonders, even the smallest things can touch your soul. The text “The Snow Hare” by Robert Macfarlane explores these themes by giving a detailed look on the relationship between man and nature, and by contemplating what effect nature has on man.

Chapter 9 of the book “The Snow Hare” by Robert Macfarlane can be split into two parts. The first part, from the beginning to the halfway mark, could be characterized as an ode. Here, Robert Macfarlane goes to great lengths to showcase the beauty of the mountains. He describes the mountains as a medium between man and something that goes beyond everyday life. Here, he differentiates between mountains as a challenge or obstacle and mountains as objects that enables man to get in touch with the spiritual sides of nature.
 The second part is not so much an ode to nature as the first, but here we are actually told a story of Macfarlane’s encounter with a snow hare while having wandered off alone into the snowy mountainside. His encounter with the snow hare shifts his relation to the impenetrable snowstorm on the mountaintop. As he puts it himself: “I no longer felt cocooned by the falling snow, I felt accommodated by it, extended by it — part of the hundreds of miles of landscape over which the snow was falling.”

The points made in this paragraph will be further explored later on in this essay.

Throughout the text Macfarlane’s language is very descriptive. He uses many subordinate clauses, which defines his writing style as very sophisticated. This is also backed up by Macfarlanes vocabulary.  Macfarlane also tends to include tons of details in his description of the nature of the mountain. Macfarlane writes about the ‘main character’ using “I”, which enables us to assume, that Macfarlane is writing about his own experience, thus he is the writer in the text.
        The chapter is opened by a quote from Rene Descartes, a French philosopher from the 17th century. the quote goes: “Wonder is the first of all the passions”. This quote really sets the mood for what is to come, and it gives the reader a preview of what can be expected from this chapter.

 Macfarlane then continues by mentioning George Mallory - one of the very first mountain climbers to attempt to climb Mount Everest. By using George Mallory at the very start of the chapter, the reader, given that he or she is familiar with George Mallory, will know that this chapter will center around the lust for adventure and a love for nature that man possess. George Mallory died while climbing mount Everest, though it is unknown whether he reached the top.

As previously mentioned, the excerpt of the text can be split into two parts, therefore it is appropriate to talk about each part separately. This paragraph will be about the first part, which covers the beginning until pg. 2, where the three stars separate the two parts.  The first part delivers firstly a reflection of our society and way of life in relation to nature and especially mountains. Macfarlane talks of mountains as objects which can make man, in his words, “[...] pose profound questions about our durability and the importance of our schemes. They induce, I suppose, a modesty in us” (Macfarlane, 2003). Mountains are therefore a part of man whether we realise it or not, because they induce this modesty in man which in turn dictates how you behave. The relation between man and nature in this chapter of “The Snow Hare” is therefore characterized as a relationship where, by using nature, man can reflect on themselves and perhaps realise unknown potential.