Crude thoughts and fierce forces are my state. I do not know who I am. Nor what I was. I cannot hear a sound. Pain is near that will be like no pain felt before.
Norman MailerRead
We divorced ourselves from the materials of the earth, the rock, the wood, the iron ore; we looked to new materials which were cooked in vats, long complex derivatives of urine which we called plastic. They had no odor of the living, ... their touch was alien to nature. ... [They proliferated] like the matastases of cancer cells.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote critiques humanity's reliance on synthetic materials over natural ones, highlighting the alienation from nature.
Norman Mailer expresses concern about the shift from natural materials, such as wood and stone, to artificial substances like plastic. He suggests that this transition has distanced humans from the essence of nature, comparing the proliferation of synthetic materials to the spread of cancer cells, implying that these materials, though useful, are harmful to both the environment and humanity's relationship with the natural world.
Themes
PlasticNatureAlienationMaterialismEnvironment
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared at an environmental conference to emphasize the importance of using natural materials.
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