Birdfoot’s Grampa

Throughout the poem, Grampa is located outside the car, in nature, while the speaker remains inside the car. Birdfoot is insulated and separated from the world around him while Grampa is literally knee-deep in nature. This juxtaposition of the two individuals provides a concrete image of where they both exist in their relationship to the natural world around them. Birdfoot observes all the elements of nature—the rain, the toads, the grass, the mist—from a position wholly removed from it, which is unnatural and artificial. By remaining in the car, Birdfoot aligns himself with manmade technology, and this position exudes dominance and control over everything outside of the car, as evidenced in the ability of the car’s headlights to blind the toads and Birdfoot’s ambivalence toward the toads. From Grampa’s perspective, however, the car is just one part of a broader landscape in which human beings can work and understand their place in nature. Grampa does not eschew the modern world; rather, he understands how technology can help the world around him (e.g., by using the light from the headlights to spot the toads in the dark) and that humans have a responsibility to temper the negative effects of the modern world whenever and wherever possible.