Comparison Essay

"A Son of the Middle Border" and the journey of Lewis and Clark are similar in many ways. Many great lessons can be learned from nature including the fittest people survive and survive for longer than the weaker people. During both of these events in history there are many encounters with nature and all of the characters in both of the events learn to love nature.

In "A Son of the Middle Border" the narrator experiences a very deep sense of awe. He sees that they are in the middle of a huge field, and it is so big they can not even see an end to it. Lewis and Clark must have experienced this more than a few times when they were traveling to the west. I know I would stop and admire a field of grass that seemed to never end. In this day and age a field of grass so large you can not see the ends of it may not exist in the United States. You would probably have to travel to Africa or Australia to find a piece of open land that big.

In both situations many new animals were found, and new animal characteristics were discovered. In "A Son of the Middle Border" the narrator sees a herd of wild horses being herded just for fun by a man on a horse. In the Lewis and Clark expedition many new animals were found including the grizzly bear, antelope, mountain goat, and the prairie dog. The excitement of finding a new animal or seeing something you have never seen, and most people never see can be great. I once saw a pig native to Hawaii that there are supposedly only about one hundred of.

There were many similarities between "A Son of the Middle Border" and what we know about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Some of these help us realize how diverse our would is, and some help us look at the world in another way. If we do not preserve some of these wonders that are left the future generations may only get to see them in pictures and imagine them.