Power

Nature is a key element in Linda Hogan's novel Power.  Nature has played a role in so many events already in the novel, and it's only been the first two chapters.  The role nature took on in the novel that has stuck out the most to me so far is the fact that it is Omishto's safe-place.  Usually a safe-place is a room in a house someone goes to to get away from everything.  Omishto takes it to a different level when she gets on her boat and goes out into the lake.  Omishto describes being on the lake in the first chapter; "It is beautiful here, this place I call mine, where clouds are born from water" (2).  You can picture this beautiful landscape.   The picture to the right is what I picture the lake to look like, engulfed by trees, calm, and beautiful.  It seems that Nature holds a special meaning to Omishto, especially the lake and her boat.  When the storm came Omishto was not OK with leaving her boat untied, so she risked her life to go and secure it.  That seems kind of ironic to me.  Omishto risks her life to save her boat, which is her main connection to nature, yet the storm, nature again, could take her life.  I am interested to see how nature affects Omishto's life, in a positive or negative way, throughout the remainder of the novel.