The Armadillo

"The Armadillo" by Elizabeth Bishop points out the tensions we see, or pretend not to see, between nature and man.  In the third stanza, when the speaker references the "illegal fire balloons," she says that "it's hard / to tell them from the stars" (line 9-10).  It's as if manmade things have become so much a part of everyday life and our existence that they have become indistinguishable from nature.  Humans have almost forgotten that the things they create are not natural parts of creation.  It isn't until the manmade clashes with nature and causes destruction that we notice it.  But even then, it seems as though the speaker is the only one in the poem to take notice.  Only she pays attention to the horror that has befallen the animals--specifically the armadillo who, despite its best efforts to curl up and protect itself, cannot escape the fire and manmade destruction.