Ecology of a Cracker Childhood

Clearcut: Chapter 10

One of the most potently titled chapters of Janisse Ray's book is the chapter entitled "Clearcut." As is evidenced by the illustration on page 123, the clear cut is a kind of forest cutting. Yet clearcut also has the resonance of something that is clearly cut or denoted. However, Ray makes clear that the moral resonance of "cutting" clear the forest is anything but certain. The only thing that is "clearcut" is God's moral judgment upon the arrogant.

I'd say, pray extra hard; and pray hard when you're hauling them away. God doesn't like a clearcut. It makes his heart turn cold, makes him wince and wonder what went wrong with his creation, and sets him to thinking what spoils the child." (123)

Ray creates a delicate balance between faith and ecology in this quoted passage. She knows that it is necessary, at times, for humanity to clear the forest and to clear forest passages of pine. But it also is an act of human arrogance to shape the forest and to kill God's created leaves and pine. Roy implies that her cracker people have a certain human respect for the divine presence in the woods because of the fragility of their existences. She is not naively sentimental about the power of nature. In fact, the command to "pray extra hard" suggests she fears nature. Also, sometimes it is necessary to "haul" away woods to survive, even in the face of the anger and disapproval of God -- but the hauler must be sure the act is necessary. God "winces" and "wonders" to see human arrogance and shaping inflicted upon other ecological aspects his creation. Hence God's Old Testament like human face, wincing and feeling cold in judgment, and disliking an action much like a human dislikes or likes something.

Spoiling the child" refers to the adage, "spare the rod, and spoil the child." Without God's inflicted reminders of nature's power, humanity grows spoiled and over clears the pines. The reference to "child" also recalls the author's own childhood and connection to the land, and her own tumultuous relationship with her own father.

Works Cited

Ray, Janisse. Ecology of a Cracker Childhood. New York: Milkweed Edition Reprint, 2000.