Madrone And Metal – Military Machine In The Garden
I took this photo on Point Wilson because as I walked by I was struck by the juxtaposition of the rusted metal jutting out of the earth amidst lovely dune trees.
I thought that was a perfect image of the classic “machine in the garden” motif:
[Leo] Marx identifies a major theme in literature of the nineteenth century—the dialectical tension between the pastoral ideal in America and the rapid and sweeping transformations wrought by machine technology. This tension is expressed “everywhere” in literature by the recurring image of the machine in the garden—that is, the sudden and shocking intrusion of technology into a pastoral scene. “Within the lifetime of a single generation,” Marx writes, “a rustic and in large part wild landscape was transformed into the site of the world’s most productive industrial machine. It would be difficult to imagine more profound contradictions of value or meaning than those made manifest by this circumstance. Its influence upon our literature is suggested by the recurrent image of the machine’s sudden entrance onto the landscape.”[2]
A “sudden and shocking intrusion of technology into a pastoral scene” indeed!
The area was closed off (dune restoration project) so I couldn’t get in closer to try to figure out what the metal pipe was all about, but it obviously was part of the gun emplacements at Fort Worden.
As I stood there taking pictures, a young woman walked by. I sensed she may have been concerned that I was about to trample the dune restoration project.
I made some comment, like “I couldn’t help myself”, given the gorgeous contrast.
She agreed, but pointed out something just as stunning that I didn’t even see.
She noted the amazing orange color of the madrone tree on the left and the rusted metal.
They are very, very similar, no?
Two sets of eyes are always better than one:
While popular culture traded on “puerile” and sentimental pastoralism—that is, the simple and unreflective urge to find a “middle ground” between the over-civilization of the city and the “violent uncertainties of nature” (28)—serious literature took a hard, careful look at the contradictions in American culture, and particularly at the conflict between the old bucolic image of America and its new image as an industrial power (26). It is the “role” of literature, argues Marx, to show us the “contradiction” of our commitments to both rural happiness and “productivity, wealth, and power.”[3]