There's a graveyard in northern France where all the dead boys from D-Day are buried. The white crosses reach from one horizon to the other. I remember looking it over and thinking it was a forest of graves. But the rows were like this, dizzying, diagonal, perfectly straight, so after all it wasn't a forest but an orchard of graves. Nothing to do with nature, unless you count human nature.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Human-made destruction contrasts with natural order. War graves arranged like an orchard show how human nature overrides nature.
- In plain terms
- Graves arranged by humans look artificial compared to nature.
- What can you take from it?
- Recognize how human actions reshape the world.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How does human order differ from nature?
- What stays in memory after war?
Another view
Nature itself can be destructive without human intervention.
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