Ford vs Forest: The Confrontation of Nature and Technology

In William Stafford’s “Traveling Through the Dark” we see a major juxtaposition of nature and technology. The speaker comes upon a dead doe on the side of a road in the night and, thinking of the other drivers on the road, decides to roll it off the road into the canyon. This decision is part of a much larger dilemma between humans and nature. The speaker hesitates when he learns that the doe is pregnant and that her baby is still alive inside of her. His deliberations over whether to roll the still living fawn into the ravine with its dead mother reflect the greater conflict between nature and technology. As a race we often think of ourselves before we think of nature and in most cases we destroy nature for our own convenience. Stafford uses this simple situation to show the greater decisions we make regarding nature and through the speaker’s decision shows the usual outcome. In reference to his earlier line “to swerve might make more dead,” the speaker refers to his indecision over the fate of the unborn child as “swerving” and his swerving did make more dead, namely the fawn.

Throughout the poem technology, more specifically cars, is personified as a predator that kills off nature, the doe. The doe that the speaker finds on the road has been presumably killed by another car, the car has become the predator. While the speaker is dealing with the doe he describes his car in a manner that implies that it is a living beast. “The car aimed ahead its lowered parking lights,” as if in deep thought over this recent kill as “under the hood purred the steady engine.” These images give the sense of a powerful predator, and by placing a car in the space that ought to be filled by a living creature Stafford shows how technology has become a predator of nature. The cars prey on the does and leave behind the carcasses to rot, which ironically poses a threat to other cars, “to swerve might make more dead.” The doe represents nature and the car represents technology, and in this recurring confrontation nature is losing. The car a, hulking metallic beast, takes on the doe, a small undefended creature, and crushes it instantly. But even though it kills the doe it leaves hope of new life in the doe’s unborn fawn and the speaker’s decision regarding it. Unfortunately the speaker decides to kill the unborn deer and with it the chance for new life.

The title of “Traveling Through the Dark” conveys the path that the speaker takes during the course of the poem. The darkness is representative of the indecision and moral ambiguity that the speaker must battle in his decision between nature and technology. He must decide over the life and death of the unborn deer and in doing so serves as a greater allegory for man’s choices between nature and technology. At first when the speaker assumes that it is just a dead doe he speaks in very matter of fact tones about how it is better to roll the carcass into the canyon but when he realizes that there is still a living baby inside her he realizes his dilemma and finds himself in the darkness. As he “stood in the glare of the warm exhaust turning red,” he comes to his realization. The light is the symbol of his decision and since it comes from the car itself it is no surprise at his decision comes as it did. In the end we are left with the image of the doe being pushed into the river and the man driving on to forget about what has occurred. Nature loses another battle to technology and man stands by and watches it happen. (633)