The Iron Giant

Nature and technology are connected in the story in the way that the Iron Man interacts with nature through his encounters with the elements of air, water, earth, and fire. The Iron Man is a strange and puzzling combination of mechanical parts and an inner sentience that gives him emotion, thought, and the ability to communicate. The Iron Man first appears in a totally natural setting, a stark contrast of metal against a windy and grassy landscape: “The wind sang through his iron fingers” (1). He seems drawn to the sea, and when he plunges into it, he breaks apart; his hand, as it lays on the rocks, is compared to a crab on its back. The Iron Man’s parts are picked up by gulls who try to eat them, but his very existence clashes with the world in which he was introduced. The wind cannot ravage him, and the sea cannot consume him, so he proceeds with his journey to find metal to eat. Like all living things, the Iron Man consumes to sustain himself, but the Iron Man consumes only metals, which implies that his purpose is to cleanse the Earth of waste and to heal the damage done to the environment by the rapid development of technology and the disposal of what is no longer deemed useful.