J. Prometheus Birdsong Character Analysis

Birdsong is an anonymous man who appears at Abbey’s campsite one evening and engages Abbey in a debate on several big topics, including humanity’s relationship to nature and the difference between culture and civilization. Though they disagree sharply over the inherent good of medicine, this man helps articulate Abbey’s essential stance that, while humans are not exactly inferior to nature, it’s a mistake to believe that they are superior. With Birdsong’s help, Abbey calls the opposing view “anthropocentricity,” or human-centeredness, a view he argues against as he communes with animals and the environment and as he deplores humanity’s arrogant destruction of Earth. The man’s pseudonym—recorded in the park’s visitor book—invokes the Greek hero Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods to benefit humans. His choice of name echoes Prometheus’s belief in humanity’s superiority.