Section 1, Part 12 Summary and Analysis

"Plastic" The author describes plastic, in its myriad uses and colors, as "a miraculous substance [given that] a miracle is always a ... transformation of nature." He describes humanity as being amazed by the fact that plastic exists, and that humanity created it. He then adds, however, that its presence is ultimately a negative one—it has no character of its own, no real warmth, and at the core of its being the purpose of cheaply reproducing not only that which is expensive, but that which is natural. "The age-old function of nature is modified," he writes. "It is no longer the Idea, the pure Substance to be regained or imitated: an artificial Matter, more bountiful than all the natural deposits, is about to replace her, and to determine the very invention of forms." He goes on to suggest...