Essay "Storm Over The Amazon"

Language is a form of communication that Edward O. Wilson beautifully expresses in his essay “Storm over the Amazon”. He writes a personal reflection about the eye-catching creations of nature encountered on a visit to the Amazon. Having such a passion for what he does allows him to effectively convey the importance of the environment. In “Storm over the Amazon” E.O. Wilson uses descriptive language in order to keep the audience intrigued so that the readers learn about biodiversity.

Despite not knowing whether insects may or may not appeal to the reader, Wilson aimlessly lures the reader in with visual descriptions that can be considered as wow factors.

If you were to ever ask someone, “How significant are bugs to you?” the majority would quiver and negatively rank such critters forgetting to look at the bright side. Now it is highly plausible that anyone would even consider reading through something completely factual about these insects. However, all creatures no matter their size play a role in the environment that Wilson effectively expresses onto his audience.

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“I swept the ground with the beam from my headlamp for signs of life, and found – diamonds.

They were reflections from the eyes of wolf spiders, members of the family Lycosidae, on the prowl for insect pray.” When mentioning diamonds in this sort of essay the reader may stumble among it until they continue reading and come to the realization that Wilson is speaking of a spider. Who were to think or even consider the eyes of a spider appealing this way? That is already enough to get the reader to visually think about how something as rich as a diamond could be represented on such a species, and has yet to inform the reader of what these creatures can do in our world.

Being able to know all these facts is one thing, but being able to effectively state your point across with the reader still focused is another.

Now as Wilson continues on about these radiant spiders he ties it all in with reality, “Today a riot of diverse forms occupy the whole world, of which this was only the minutest sample, yet even these species turning about now to watch me from the bare yellow clay would give meaning to the lifetimes of many naturalists.” Wilson has now connected all this factual intelligence together allowing the readers to clutch onto this new information being expressed to them. Not only will the audience get a feel about the importance of biodiversity, but also really understand where he is coming from. Various people can pick up a piece of writing, and there is no guarantee that they will recall any of what they read later on. However, with Wilson’s vivid writing style people are bond to recollect the information handed to them.

Now instead of just focusing in on one particular species, Wilson fully reporting the ciaos occurring around him as the storm is about to hit reflects the importance of patters in biodiversity that the audience can profoundly take-in. As humans we tend to view storms as a form of weather that can be detrimental in some cases. Although, the beginning of a storm in the Amazon is also the beginning of a quest for animals, almost like a renovation. As we can see, here is Wilson attempting to project the seriousness of biodiversity upon his readers while ironically displaying the effects arising within monkey’s that are also communicating to their own kind across the entire forest. “Farther out, a kilometer or two away, a troop of red howler monkeys chimed in, their chorus one of the strongest sounds to be heard in all nature, as enthralling it in its way as the songs of humpback whales.

A male opened with an accelerating series of deep grunts expanding into prolonged roars and was then joined by the higher-pitched calls of the females.” A vast majority of us have probably yet to encounter noises as these, so for those who have not might have found it hard to understand where Wilson was coming from. However, he does a fantastic job incorporating another sense. Making all these assimilations from pitch to chorus songs or roars to grunts, gives off a wide variety of elements for the reader to be able to interpret in the way he or she may better comprehend. At this point, the audience might not get where the author might go with this because what can sound possibly do with the involvement of biodiversity?

These screams within each other was actually just the starting signal and commencement for the forage of their necessary resources. “Animals and plants have come to use heavy rains and floods routinely to time episodes in their life cycle. They threaten rivals, mate, hunt prey, lay eggs in new water pools, and dig shelters in the rain-softened earth.” Readers can now embody the howls Wilson had previously mentioned to the ways in which an animal kicks into survival mode. The way an animal responds affects another species and the process is ongoing. Therefore, just with that auditory explanation of these animal’s signals against a giant storm, it allows the readers to better assimilate the information being presented and learn from it along the way. With substantial storms comes wreckage that is a crucial element in the Amazon that he accurately embodies onto his reader.

One could already imagine the aftermath of a storm, a mess of tree limbs and clutter scattered throughout, or as Wilson describes it, “A gust of wind whips through or lightning strikes the tree trunk, and the limb breaks and plummets down, cleaning a path to the path.” Therefore, it may never really occur to one what sorts of new life can be found under such demolitions apart from death and extinctions. These new forms of existence play into the expansion of biodiversity which is why Wilson portrays them so fondly. “Climb into the tangle of fallen vegetation, tear away pieces of rotting bank, roll over logs, you will see these creatures teaming everywhere.”

The reader can now not only visualize these aspects, but they will be able to put together the importance of the storm along with the chaotic mess.  Biodiversity can come about in a variety of different ways that the reader may not have expected, but has now learned. Not only have they been very well informed, but they have been able to perceive different concepts from elaborate perspectives and can possibly understand the passion Wilson has for what he does. People tend to have low standards about what we have in the world because they are categorized this way. However, when you take a step back to look at all the descriptions and explanations Wilson rigorously gives, readers are able to make out the importance of biodiversity with very clear understandings.