The Past

Throughout Vesper Flights, through her examinations of the natural world, the author considers what nature can teach people about the past. In many of her essays, Macdonald intertwines her personal experiences with scientific and historical considerations, thus connecting past and present, and imbuing her anecdotal accounts with rich archival significance. This braiding of past and present not only allows Macdonald to comment on the ways in which past human actions impact the current environmental condition, but to discuss the dangers and possibilities of the future. In "Tekels Park," Macdonald writes: "We so often think of the past as something like a nature reserve: a discrete, bounded place we can visit in our imaginations to make us feel better" (31). Yet she suggests with this essay, and those surrounding it, that perhaps humans should reconsider their understanding of history. She wonders "how we could learn to recognize that the...