Illinois Bus Ride Aldo Leopold
ILLINOIS BUS RIDE A number of ideas, suggestions, and points can be extracted from “Illinois Bus Ride,” a passage from Aldo Leopold’s collection of essays entitled A Sand County Almanac and Sketches Here and There. ... Leopold argues that we Americans have manipulated the landscape and ecosystem of the prairie so that it seems to be nothing more that a tool at our disposal. ... And to be quite honest, I had not devoted a moment of thought to this phenomenon until I read Leopold’s passages. ... Only the mind’s eye can create this beauty now, and that is exactly why Leopold’s concerns are validated. However, Leopold does not state his point in a traditional manner. ... Early in the ride, he notices that “the field fences threaten to topple into the road cuts” (117). ... They create a metaphor that allows Leopold to illustrate his views without preaching. Leopold’s mind’s eye is displayed from the start when he imagines the giant cottonwood as it once may have served as a buoy to roaming buffalo or to pigeons. ... Moving along in his ride, he notices the ditches, the last remnants of the once endless prairie. ... Leopold personifies the prairie by suggesting, “The water must be confused by so much advice” (119).