Essay on The Damnation of a Canyon
In his essay The
Damnation of a Canyon, the author, Edward Abbey asserts that the damming of Glen
Canyon was the end of the free flowing and visually stimulating beauty possessed
by the 1959 Colorado River that wound through Glen Canyon. The author further
says that regarding the environmental and historical consequences produced by
Lake Powell, which is the product of the Glen Canyon Dam; his feelings are not
very pleasant. He has also gone ahead and put them in words, in this quote,
“Glen Canyon was alive. Lake Powell is a graveyard.” In the book, however, Abbey
does admit to being bias because of his “wild conservative” nature.
Abbey also feels that
the past was such that nature was for everyone, not limited to the affluent that
can afford the now necessary expensive equipment or pre-packaged tours. Abbey
has sarcastically made his point clearly, in the following quote from his book:
“If Rainbow Bridge is worth seeing at all, then by God it should be easily and
readily available to everybody with the money to buy a big powerboat. Why should
a trip to such a place be the privilege only of those who are willing to walk
six miles?
The book can be said as
Abbey's longing for exotic and beautiful places before technology does not
overwhelm or seem too excessive. The book therefore can be described as a work
of someone who loves nature.
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