The following passage is adapted from an essay on American environmental history.
Paragraph 1 (lines 1-11)
For early European settlers in North America, the wilderness was not a sanctuary to be preserved, but a moral and physical void to be conquered. Rooted in Puritan theology, the untamed forest was viewed as the domain of chaotic forces, standing in direct opposition to the orderly, Christian civilization they sought to build. Progress was measured by the clearance of trees, the cultivation of fields, and the subjugation of wild landscapes. This utilitarian and adversarial relationship with nature dominated early American thought, framing the wild environment as a spiritual adversary that tested the resolve of the community.
Paragraph 2 (lines 12-26)
By the mid-nineteenth century, however, a profound shift occurred in the American literary consciousness, driven largely by the Transcendentalist movement. Writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau began to argue that the wilderness, far from being a moral vacuum, was the ultimate source of spiritual renewal and sublime truth. They posited that communion with nature allowed individuals to transcend the corrupting influences of industrial society and connect directly with the divine. In this view, the preservation of wild spaces was essential not for their material resources, but for the moral and psychological salvation of the human spirit.
Paragraph 3 (lines 27-40)
This intellectual re-evaluation laid the groundwork for the modern conservation movement, transforming wilderness from a frontier of conquest into a national treasure. Figures such as John Muir championed the creation of national parks, translating Transcendentalist philosophy into public policy. Yet, this romanticized view also obscured the realities of the landscapes it sought to protect, often ignoring the fact that these "untamed" spaces had been actively managed and inhabited by Indigenous populations for millennia. The legacy of this shift is thus double-edged, birthing environmental protection while cementing a myth of uninhabited nature.
Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea of the second paragraph (lines 12–26)?
- AIndustrial society in the mid-nineteenth century was increasingly viewed by writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson as a corrupting influence on the human spirit.
- BMid-nineteenth-century writers argued that wild spaces should be preserved primarily to safeguard their valuable material resources from industrial exploitation.
- Mid-nineteenth-century intellectual shifts redefined the wilderness as a vital source of spiritual and moral rejuvenation rather than a hostile threat.Answer
- DThe American perception of wilderness evolved from a hostile frontier into a romanticized ideal that spurred conservation efforts while neglecting historical human presence in those landscapes.