At Home With Nature

One of the most evident parts of Power is the emphasis and detail that is put into describing the surroundings. Omishto is very descriptive with nature, with people and herself she only offers enough detail for the audience to be able to draw a sense of who they are and what they look like, but she rarely if ever goes into detail. Nature is one of the important parts of this novel because it is the one thing that Omishto can connect with.

The first in depth description comes during the hurricane when Omishto is stuck outside. Her ability to describe what she is seeing with her eyes is phenomenal, this is one of the first times that is goes into detail about anything around her. Much of her descriptions of nature are personified "The wind has pushing hands, it has a body. It screams like a train coming through" (34). Her descriptions show her inability to fully connect with modern society and to really only feel at home when she is out in nature. She also shows an enormous amount of strength while stuck outside, "I grab hold of another tree, feel the wind's body against me, hitting me as I pray at the bottom of the tree that it won't blow down. I grab at the tree roots and it is dark and I ache from trying to hold on" (35). This portion of description emphasizes Omishto's test of strength against nature.

However, there is a contrast to this when she is out at night with Ama. At this time she feels lost and uncomfortable while she walks through the night unable to grasp her surroundings, "We are not that far away from her place, not as far as I would have guessed anyway," (71). I think that this feeling can be attributed to her unease with knowing that by the end of the night she will have been present for part of nature's life being taken unnaturally. Not only this but we see a weak side of Omishto, "When she steps toward the cat, I say, 'No, Ama, I'm afraid. What are you doing?' I start to cry again" (67). These emotions are unlike her previous encounters with nature.

These are too conflicting emotions and personalities that she has. I think that throughout the novel we will see Omishto struggling with what she knows and what she wants. I found it interesting to see her have to very different interactions with nature, the only thing that she really feels a connection too.