Analysis Of A Feeling Of Wildness By David Gessner

Within the short few pages of “A Feeling of Wildness”, David Gessner explains the differences between finding true “wildness” and wilderness. Wildness can be found anywhere one allows it to be felt, while wilderness is generally found somewhere off the beaten path, with wild animals and overgrown shrubbery. Gessner begins by giving himself credibility to the subject, making it evident that he is a seasoned writer in the field of nature, not just one who has traveled abroad for a vacation or two. This shows that not only does he have insight to properly discuss on the topic, but it acts as a way he can counter those who question his claim on the basis of traveling.

Gessner uses anecdotes of personal experience, descriptive words, and quotes of Thoreau to display his argument and support his thesis that “wildness” is found in common places or where you least expect it, not just in places devoid of human influence. Gessner establishes his credibility to the audience through personal experience. Due to the fact that the audience is people who are concerned with nature and/or finding the “wild” within it, Gessner makes it evident that he “traveled all over the world to experience the wild”. This supports that the primary claim he is making, that wildness is found where you least expect it, in many ways.

First, it is displayed that he has been many places that many would view as wild, such as Cape Cod, where in the summer it is full of tourists, but in the winter it is devoid of virtually all humans and is a true predator-prey ecosystem with whales hunting fish. He uses imagery to give the audience an understanding of how it looked when the whales jumped out of the water up from under the fish, but made it clear this is not true wildness. True wilderness is found in much simpler things, like the cycle of life and death. For example, Gessner felt the true feeling of wildness two specific times, both in hospitals. The first time was the death of his father, and how he felt the life leave his body. Gessner described this feeling as wild. Hearing his father's last gasp of air and the feeling of his heartbeat ceasing made him experience wildness more than any of his times in countries abroad. He felt that same feeling years later when his wife birthed their child. He was under the impression that a child would cause his life to become more come, while it did the opposite. He used descriptive words such as “a wild squall” to describe the sounds he heard in the delivery room. These words have the connotation associated with the wild, because wild animals usually squall and screech. Gessner also used words such as “deep”, “animal”, and “unexpected” when describing how these two experiences made him feel. His purpose in this is to keep the tone on the topic of wild. He uses animal to show that he truly felt more wild under the fluorescent lights in a small, white, and cold hospital room then in Cape Cod in the winter months.

Gessner used an outside quote from Thoreau to describe the misinterpretation of wildness as another supplementary, secondary claim. Thoreau stated that “wildness is the preservation of the world”. Gessner used this quote for the primary reason to show that many people think it says wilderness. However, wilderness is a more broad term, while many do not know where true wildness can be found. Gessner also used this quote to display that the topic of wildness is not a mystery, and other people have touched on it before. Wilderness is places that are untamed, usually with wild animals running around, with the common circle of life that leaves organisms unfazed when another organism dies. Wildness however, is not at all closely related to this. Wildness can be found in the most uncommon places, because wildness is not just a place, it is more commonly a feeling. Gessner arranged his work in a way that made it easier for the audience to agree with his thesis. He began with his personal experience of traveling abroad to build his credibility as a nature writer. He made it obvious that his audience was those concerned with nature and possibly educated on that subject. He then provided the quote by Thoreau to explain the differences in wildness and wilderness. He then used anecdotes and personal experience again to show how he has experienced wildness in his life: the death of his father and the birth of his daughter. He stated that these feelings was like a “wild gushing, both a loss, then a return to self”. This proved his primary claim that wildness is found where one least expects it. Gessner did not expect to feel his most wild with these normal, everyday life events, but he did. This showed that no amount of traveling will cause true wildness to cease its presence in one’s everyday life. After all of the secondary claims he provided, Gessner then got into the conclusion and his primary claim that wildness is found in the places you're most comfortable in and where you least expect it. Gessner put his primary claim at the end for many reasons. The audience was able to read his work without a predetermined bias, and got the evidence to his claim before they read the claim, causing the chances of them agreeing with the thesis to increase. It also caused the readers to pay more attention and search for the thesis, as opposed to getting the purpose at the beginning and hallway reading the evidence.

Lastly, Gessner kept his word short and concise, without overextending on anything. Gessner wrote in first person, telling a story for most of the essay. His personal experience was displayed through ethos, using emotion and personal stories. He also used pathos to display his personal experience which in turn built his credibility. Having credibility erased the possibility of counterarguments weakening his claims. He balanced the anecdotes, descriptive words, outside quotes, and personal experience and credibility to create an easily understandable essay. In his work, he seems to state how with moments like the ones described, “gives us a reconnection to our primal selves”. The last paragraph is where he tries to sell his point the most, this showing that you don’t have to leave home to find the wild.

How the essay was formatted, is almost a pyramid where he has his point of argument, or thesis, on top which is the last paragraph; then the supporting experiences, which then have subsections of their own of supporting ideas. These smaller, underlying ideas also support the thesis as well which give is an overall strong structure and nice flow so the audience never feels lost nor looking for a disagreeing point or counterargument. Gessner is constantly building up to his thesis with his anecdotes, personal experience, descriptive words, and outside quote from Thoreau.