German 354

The complexity of Timothy Morton’s “Ecology Without Nature,” can be broken down into a critique OF the current critiques of the environment and nature. His critiques mapped interestingly onto our discussion of mermaids because of the ultra-critical way Morton describes how nature is depicted in literature. Timothy Morton takes nature and fantasy to a whole new level. He talks about how we have idealized nature and that we have become separated from it by making it part of “the fantastic”. One of his most striking quotes is, “putting something called nature on a pedestal and admiring it from afar does for the environment what the patriarchy does for the figure of Woman” (5). This connection between woman and nature is extremely related to our class discussion of the mermaid figure as being a hybrid form between nature and woman; the concept of gender and patriarchy that Judith Butler describes can also be related to his analysis of the environment.
Judith Butler’s essay on gender entitled, “Bodies that Matter” discusses the importance of the patriarchy and the roles that gender plays in society.  Gender, as discussed by Butler, is a performance, and also partially based on society, while sex is something that cannot be changed. Sex assigned at birth based on genitalia and chromosomes while gender is based on personal preference; sex cannot be changed, gender can.  Many researchers have discussed the relationship between sex, gender, and mermaids.  The gender hybridity of the mermaid figure is something that has attracted many people to changing genders because “below the belt” mermaids have no human sexual organ.
And while Timothy Morton talks about reconciling nature with our concept of nature, he also says that “nature wavers between the divine and the material,” and that ecological writing centers on that which exists “in between polarized terms such as God and matter” (14-15). Morton also mentions the issue of classifying nature as an essence or a substance. The magical reality we have defined in class supports the “good” and punishes the “bad.” The Nix, however, seems to ignore this black and white reality. In the story with the huntsman, the nix does not support or punish. She is a part of the magic reality but has an entirely new function. She is not “support[ing] the capitalist theory” or “undermin[ing] it.” The nix does not represent an idealization or condemnation of nature/Nature. In a way, she is an example of what Morton attempts to achieve. The nix removes nature from the equation.