Connection between Nature and Children in McMasters 'Lessons of a Starry Night'

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Essay 2
In Kelly McMasters’ memoir Lessons of a Starry Night, the author gives a reflection on Carson’s suggestions on how to foster a possible connection between nature and children. The author wishes to apply the ideas in her relationship with her son. However, life and nature are always unpredictable, and after a near-death experience, McMaster finds herself filled with fear for herself, her husband and child. Instead of fostering this connection, she initially tries to shield his child from nature because of her personal experiences but soon realizes that she cannot give that kind of protection forever. Based on this, therefore, this paper explores fear or fright as the mood of this memoir and how this creates a frightening atmosphere.
McMaster is in a mood of fear during the birth of her child. On the day of the delivery, the author says, “I began to mourn his absence within me. Never again would we be so close, so safe.” (McMasters 58). These words indicate that the author was afraid for her child. She felt that her womb had been the only safe place for her baby and now that he was coming to the world, she was afraid for him. The author was afraid that their close relationship would end even though the two would still be connected to each other. The fact that she describes the experience of bringing her son into the world as “opening a disused channel of sensory impression,” shows the extent of her fear. The fear is driven by the knowledge that this birth would lead to a connectedness that she had no control over.
The memoir shows the mood of fright after McMasters’ accident. It is mentioned that a few months after the birth of the author’s son, she drove alone in the snow and got into an accident along the way. The accident left her in great shock and fear, and she instinctively thought about her son. She says, “I reflexively placed my hands on my stomach, but the flatness there was quiet as the wind through the pasture,” (59). Ideally, this experience confirms her earlier fears that the world was not a safe place for her son and that encounter reminded her of this fact. The author’s description of the seemingly amplified silence and the smell of the snow indicate that she was frightened.
The memoir also shows the frightening mood when the author develops fear for darkness because of the accident. This fear becomes evident one night when the family is going back to their farmhouse, and the author imagines what horrors the darkness held especially since the family lived in a forested area. Concerning this, McMasters’ points out that, “I forced myself not to calculate how many steps it would take to get to the front door.” (60).This means that she was in a frightened mood because of the darkness and wished to get out of it as quickly as sh...