Quote Originally Posted by Zap Dynamic View Post
I want to be careful about getting too modern with our interpretation. The idea of a "simulated reality" craze is a powerful part of American culture, but I don't know that it's an appropriate mythic element given the time period of the setting (late 19th century). I feel like people back then were more interested in the idea that nature was considered "passé" and were anxious for the day when the whole world became urbanized than the idea that reality is this place that needs to be escaped from. I feel like Ninjadeadbeard comes close with his latest comment: the idea of escaping reality is related to the existential movement, but I think it's a product rather than a cause.
Actually, 19th Century saw the rise of the Romantic Movement, where nature was seen as a mysterious, monumental, all-powerful force. Man was but a mote in God's eye. For some good examples, see The Open Boat by Stephen Crane, Herman Melville's Moby (rhymes with Pick), and Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper.

The Urbanization was still there, so I would say a great conflict in American culture has been Urban vs Nature, where the latter is seen as potent and magnificent, and the former is comfortable and inevitable.

Also, because it makes me laugh, Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses by Mark Twain.