Family Nature Journal
Option 6: Allegory cont'd

"The mole had been working very hard all the morning, spring-cleaning his little home. First with brooms, then with dusters; then on ladders and steps and chairs, with a brush and a pail of whitewash; till he had dust in this throat and eyes, and splashes of whitewash all over his black fur, and an aching back and weary arms....It was small wonder, then, that he suddenly flung down his brush on the floor, said 'Bother!' and 'O blow!' and also 'Hang spring cleaning!' – Kenneth Grahame, Wind in the Willows, "The River Bank"


And so begins one of the great examples of allegory in childrens' literature, Wind in the Willows, where the natural world around us – more typically seen as the passing green landscape, or as the menacing mole who digs those pesky tunnels underneath our daisy beds – comes to life poetically through story. It seems important to briefly point out, when beginning to talk about humans' connections to nature and the function of allegory, that in more advanced analysis of nature studies anyway, there tend to be sometimes valid counterclaims as to why not to anthropomorphize nature. One of them being that it might provide us with a false sense of connection or security to the condition of the animals and other creatures that we are describing. The other, more obviously, is that anthropomorphism is no doubt inaccurate – we really don't know what animals are thinking and can mostly only offer up educated guesses as motives in nature. But so much of outdoor learning has to do with taking into consideration age appropriateness.  In the beginning stages, when the mind is still forming, wonder, innocence, hands-on experience and creativity are high priority functions. If it takes a sense of wonder, born out of the books of allegory, to strike that critical interest in the woods, than I do believe this is another 'green deal' I am certainly willing to make. Parents know through their own experience that as some of that mystery and wonder matures, our analysis will no doubt become more appropriately complex and scientific.

And so to set up the creation of an ongoing story in the mind for young writer, it may take some writing choreography on the part of the parent, some guidance, and some pre-sensing.  The anthropomorphic allegory, of course, tends to take its motives and characteristics from people and placed onto the actions of creatures; the opposite can occur too, where the characteristics of creatures are placed upon the actions of people. Either way, the connection does many things for the sake of outdoor learning: it allows us to ponder for a while the lives of the natural world; it places us inside a sense of wonder and imagination in which the creative impulse -- of mind and matter -- we come to realize is a much more powerful activity than merely receiving pre-created impulses from the likes of screens; it allows us to consider our own humanness – what are our motives, our cares, our humor, our seriousness; and finally, in a wonderful stroke of imaginative connection, it links the creative mind to nature, a bond if you will, which cannot be broken, much in the same way a painting, once completed and framed and set on the wall, is a permanent fixture in the imagination and can be recalled forever. Dreams and the imagination made concrete through art are indeed 'green bonds.' The same holds true for the 'green hour' each day. At 20, the young person will look back and visually see that time.  It will stay with her for the rest of her life.

Option 5: make a goal to write an ongoing, chapter by chapter, allegory in your family journal blog.  As for set-up, we already mentioned handing off a simple book such as Wild Wisconsin, so that there is an easy way for the reader to take a liking to a particular animal, creature, or landscape.  There is no need to make this heavy research -- remember that this must seem free and easy for the young writer. School is school; this is something separate, and hopefully, eventually, much more self-driven and therefore becomes a bundle of suggestions and introductions.  Create a simple two-sided ledger list on a piece of paper and begin to describe what you know about your raccoon, or mole, or seagull, whatever.  Then, over on the other side, consider an interesting characteristic of human beings.  Some small snapshot of people living that could be compelling. The above example describes an easily identifiable self-thought of the mole griping about spring work! If you live in the city, maybe there is the common complaint of griping about morning traffic on the roads. Could this be transferred over to the ducks that cross the street toward the water. Why are there so many ducks that gather here in the morning? What are they trying to get to? Why do some take so long, etc., etc?

Now, to consider imaginatively entering into the 'life' of one of the ducks as protagonist.  What is her background? What are they doing here in the midwest...don't they migrate? Why are these holdovers? Is the river here warm and ice free during the winter time? Has the duck escaped recent injury? What makes this duck courageous, a leader, a follower?  It usually inside these moments of seeing motivation in the creature that we tend to find what it is that we want to say either about the human condition itself or something about ourselves, and the story can go description to expression. If the writer is going through a time that gym class is really getting her down at school, well, then, maybe all this flying around and waddling around the park is similar for our duck.  Writing the nature-based allegory has an endless number of potential connectors.

To begin chapter one, be sure to place a downloaded picture of your chosen creature at the top of the blog post. Find a great quote from a book your admire near the picture, use that as inspiration. Begin writing without worrying how the story will move. Remember, this is a blog, not a published book. It begins as words on screen, but then tends to stay as something only you read anyway, and can be changed at any time.  Write at least two paragraphs describing a scene and your protagonist.  Near the end, see if you can imagine what happens next. Save this next scene for tomorrow. Repeat process.