Rite of Spring by Arthur Miller

Rite of Spring

Arthur Miller

Arthur Miller in his short essay “Rite of Spring” talks about his love and reluctance for gardening. Miller uses the title from a musical ballad of a Russian composer. The Russian composer Stravinsky’s ballad’s English title, “The Rite of Spring”, is about a pagan ritual in which a girl dances before being sacrificed. The wise elders of that pagan society are seated in a circle and are observing the dance. Later they are offering the girl as a sacrifice to the god of spring in order to gain his blessings. The word rite means sad ceremony or act; here Miller may call gardening as ceremony that is done in the spring season.

                    The writer begins the essay by stating that in spite of knowing the reason for gardening, he has been cultivating vegetables in his garden for the past 36 years. He knew well that buying vegetables is comparatively cheap and easy task than cultivating it in the garden. It requires complete attention as well. On the other hand he does not like eating vegetables instead he prefers to have hot dogs. If the present day tasty foods could be cultivated in the garden, he would do that without a second thought. But cultivating vegetables in the garden was a boring task for him, despite that he loves gardening.

                    In the month of April he is firm about not planting anything but soon nature’s signs call him for gardening. Firstly a scent of earth tempts him. Secondly the sun’s brightness and the birds screaming and finally the worms in the melting soil invite him to the task of gardening. He stares at the soil of his garden not only with pleasure but with conflict as well. The pleasure is about cultivating something in the garden and the conflict is about choice making that is which method to be followed.

In the past years he had been using 36 inch wide black plastic between rows to keep the soil moist in dry times and to keep the garden weed-free.  Though it is useful, it looks unromantic. The writer feels the black plastic in the garden gives industrial look. Hence this time he prefers hay mulch than plastic as it improves the soil’s composition. Gardening also enables one to be knowledgeable about the various types of soil in a small landscape and how sensitive it is. The use of chemical fertilizers will reduce the richness of the soil.  He claims that he will not use fertilizers more and he is not sure about the reason for it. He does not know why he uses very little fertilizer. Maybe he does not want to spend too much on fertilizer, or maybe he does not want the weeds to thrive on fertilizer. But certainly it helped him in learning nature.

He calls the attraction of gardening as neurotic for some and moral for others. It saves one from feeling pointlessness about life and difficulty to grasp something. Gardening also brings out one’s parental care as the plants lives completely depend upon the gardener. In other cases the plants like squash and cucumbers may endanger the lives by turning up in massive numbers. Miller calls gardening as moral occupation as it makes one to be ambitious. By April one will be ambitious to keep a neat garden like the one in the catalogues. But by July the unthinned plants brings chaos. That time his wife comes as a redeemer. Now as the mistress of the garden, she decides which plant to live by moving through row wise.

By this time his mother-in-law makes her first visit to the garden. She used to be a woman who spoke her mind and who was always straightforward in her speech, but now she has learned from experiences that it is not wise to do so. Now she has changes that instead of giving suggestion about planting by then she would wait till October when she makes her annual trip to her home. Her advice by October is of no use that upsets the narrator to decide not to plant anything next time. In spite of such decision, the thought of emptiness of the garden, motivates him to plant again. The sight of dozens of green shade leaves glittering in the sun, beautiful vegetables are lovelier to admire than the hot dogs. Here the writer changes his mind by preferring pants over hot dogs. This healthy growth reflects in orderliness in one’s own spirit as well. Thus the writer changes his mind by accepting that the April is for gardening.      

Now the writer changes his opinion once again by claiming that gardening is pointless, time-consuming hobby. He further states that he does not understand why people love gardening. Because gardening is not a simple hobby or a habit to love, but it is about character building. A garden can be seen as an extension of oneself. It is a place where determination will continue; it also allows one to accept one’s mistake. It helps in character building.  Gardening is not a simple task but it means more that is why Adam is a gardener.  The gardener can become hopeful after repeated failures. He believes that this year will have a good harvest, even though there might be disasters like drought, flood, and typhoon. The God has done His job properly and chosen the right occupation for mankind, because only man can regain hope after repeated failures, believing in new and better possibilities. He concludes the essay by stating that he wrote it in the coldest days of December. He might want his readers to justify his lack of interest in gardening as the result of the climate; yet he pointed out the role of gardening as character building.