Outside Reading, Laura Boleyn

After reading about Wendell Berry n chapter 9 of Making Nature Sacred, I wanted to read some his work. As another outside reading, I read a short story, “The Wild Birds,” from a compilation of his short stories in The Wild Birds. I found the story very interesting, especially because the main character, Wheeler, parallels Berry. Wheeler is a lawyer in a small farm town whose clients are friends, family and other close members of the community, and are treated as such, more than they are treated as clients. Wheeler works in an office but also farms, and actually prefers to be there than in his office. The character of the people of the community can really be seen in one his clients, Burley. Burley is a close childhood friend of Wheeler and represents a true farmer. He is polite and s writing a will to leave his farm to his son, the child of a girlfriend (before he was married). This demonstrates the true meaning and importance of family because he is choosing his son over his wife and nephew, who he has lived with for a long time. Throughout the story, Berry reminisces to when he was growing up and hunting with Burley. Wheeler remembers always being a stranger and a guest, even though he went quite often, calling the forest and the wilderness an “entrance to the wild darkness.” Wheeler reflects on the woods: “solitary in the woods at night has beguiled Wheeler’s imagination and held it, more strongly than anything else outside the reach of his own life.” This shows the true mystery of the woods and as discussed in chapter 8 of Landscapes of the Sacred, it takes imagination and faith to able to really enter the woods. Berry continues and says that Wheeler knows that these woods represent a freedom for him and this freedom is rare because it is “strenuous” and solitary. This short story and these regressions to memories of the woods give a fictional example of an experience of place. Wheeler and Burley knew that the wilderness was dangerous and unknown, but for them it represented an escape from reality. The two truly entered the woods and experienced and touched all parts, the plants, animals and insects, and they touched back.
The story not only represents the woods as an experience for sacred place for Wheeler and Burley, but it also helps to understand the close friendship between the two men. The story also represents Wendell Berry’s emphasis and importance of family, community and farmers. The themes of Berry, such as agrarian culture and family, discussed in chapter 9 of Making Nature Sacred, can be seen this short story, “The Wild Birds.” Berry, through Wheeler and Burley, shows the importance and disappearance of agrarian culture, personal values and family.