Week...Whatever Week it Is. a.k.a Presentations.

This week in class we heard from the first two presentations from the groups that read the Wendell Berry books Hannah Coulter and The Memory of Old Jack. Based on the presentations I noticed some themes that are mirrored in both novels. Both novels talked about the inevitability of change and the consequences that arise. Both novels seem to (at least somewhat) acknowledge that change and technology aren’t all bad and that there are legitimate pros as well as cons. The character Old Jack represents the old ways attempting to hold on in an ever changing world and the bitterness that comes with it. Old Jack failed to adapt to new farming technology and methods and his farm failed when he tried to overstep his bounds because of it. He tried to have a foot in both worlds, he wanted to use the traditional farming methods but wanted to do so on too large a scale, he wanted to grow without changing his ways. That lead to his ultimate downfall and has been the downfall of many people, you can’t take on too much without losing something. Jack stood to lose his old ways of farming but couldn’t accept that which led to his ultimate downfall. While he clung to the old ways his family moved on without him and he blamed change. Hannah Coulter appeared to be more reflective on change and isn’t necessarily fighting or accepting it. Hannah simply reflects on how change and technology has affected her personal life and her family. She blamed education for taking her children away and technology for her lack of an heir. She saw that tractors helped farmers have to work less and have larger farms but noticed that the Beechers (I think) had a much larger family because they used the old ways. She saw that change brought problems to town but also brought positive changes, it was great that individual farmers could make a better living more easily but the family suffered. She saw that families weren’t as close and that their children didn’t appreciate nature nearly as much as she had.

I think that both characters see legitimate problems but have misplaced the blame, education isn’t to blame for Hannah Coulter’s son never calling his mother it’s his poor character. There are plenty of uneducated people who never call their moms and plenty of educated people who do. Technology and change isn’t inherently bad or good but is wholly dependent on how it used. Nuclear fusion can be used to decimate an entire city or used to provide cheap and plentiful energy. It depends on who is wielding the technology. It seems to me that these characters are too apt to blame technology itself than the people who are using it. Maybe Hannah doesn’t want to admit that her son might not be a very good person and would rather say education stole him. Maybe Jack doesn’t want to admit that the people adapting new technologies aren’t necessarily wrong and that change is something that is just going to happen. These characters saw something negative in their world and blamed the method rather than the perpetrator.