Jonathan Hranek
Dr. Adam Johns
English Composition 0200
24 September 2014
Societal Dilemmas
After weeks of waiting to hear from
Edward Abbey to schedule an interview, I have finally heard back from him! Choosing
a setting that I thought would evoke honest answers, we meet in the ever-moving
Times Square. Walking towards an already surly-faced Abbey, I introduce myself,
exchange pleasantries, and begin.
“So right to the chase, Mr. Abbey. How
does your reverence for nature and the environment affect your feelings towards
humanity and society as a whole? You seem to fluctuate between absolute
loathing people to missing them dearly.”
“To me, nature should be protected and
respected, not destroyed. There is so much beauty and raw power in every aspect
of nature, and all humans do is obliterate the world for the sake of their own convenience
and laziness. Roads cut through the heart of the natural environment simply to help
tourists, while allowing them to lose sight of what’s around them and speed
through the grounds without fully appreciating anything. Acres of land are wasted
for the necessity of fat people to continue being fat. Humanity is sowing its
own destruction. I keep wondering how I can help these people who simply don’t
want to be inconvenienced at all for the chance at having the most amazing
experiences possible. It’s like people in general are ‘sealed in their metallic
shells like moluscs on wheels, how can I pry the people free’ (233). I want to
open the doors to the possibilities of finding yourself while getting lost in
nature. You lose your physical body in the vast landscape but discover more
about yourself than anyone though possible. The loneliness is what makes the
experiences exhilarating. I find it extremely ironic that humanity makes
everything from the environment while further destroying it.”
“I would like to touch on one of the
subjects you hinted at. How did your solitude as park ranger affect you? It’s almost like you hate idea of being
attached to anything man-made.”
“Alone-ness has both some benefits
and negatives that go along with being in solitude. It allows you to completely
rely on yourself, and in turn teaches you to respect the environment. By being
alone, you’re away from the madness of the real world, where comfort is routine,
and enjoyment is familiarity. There’s a dependence on everything to do with the
normalcy of a structured life, but there’s not necessarily a structure in
nature. This lack of a structure is what makes you think by yourself find your
limits. I want to tell people to leave their lives and families for a short
time to simply come to a reckoning with nature, to ‘turn your back on them and
take a long quiet walk straight into the canyons, get lost for a while, come
back when you damn well feel like it, it’ll do you and her and them a world of good’
(233). However, I understand the idea of making times easier for people, but
not for the abuse of those commodities. Look around you at Times Square. It’s over
indulged with unnatural light and clogged with fumy cars. People like the idea
of going out and experiencing everything the environment has to offer them, but
their busy minds are like this spot in New York. Everything distracts from the problem
at hand and prevents them from leaving it behind, much like the traffic disables
the drivers from reaching their destination on time. I absolutely do not hate everything
man-made, but I strongly dislike the ways in which they have become so depended
upon.”
“With that, I have one last
question. Considering your statements regarding the ideas and actions of people,
which would you say you have the biggest problem with? The ideas of humanity or
its actions.”
“Without a doubt I have bigger
problems with the actions of humanity. Humanity is not a bad thing. It allows
for goodness and logic. Its ideals are in and of itself positive and sincere,
but the attempts to further humanity is where things start to go awry. People may
be doing so in order to help a cause, but in the end the tragic effects aren’t
felt until the damage has been done, and therefore can be extremely difficult
to predict beforehand.”
We wrap up our interview and part
ways. As he walks away, he gives off a sense of being comfortable in this
modernized world, but at the same time removed.
Works Cited
Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness.
New York: McGraw, 1968. Print.
I like the theme of self-discovery. It works, but it's not totally obvious.
ReplyDelete"you’re away from the madness of the real world," --- Abbey wouldn't say that without putting quotes or around "real", or otherwise making it clear that he was speaking ironically. Also, in the same paragraph, don't you think he'd speak more specifically about Times Square - something about commercialism or advertisement, rather than just about the cars which can be found anywhere? You chose a specific and interesting setting but don't really take advantage of it.
Overall: Your questions are reasonable starting points, and you certainly offer relevant support from the book. But you aren't really taking the opportunity to push a particular interpretation of Abbey. You stick mainly to low-hanging fruit, material which he would obviously agree with but that doesn't really expand our understanding of him in any particular way. I think you could have made it more compelling by even doing something as simple as really zeroing in on your chosen setting (giving him a chance to attack something specific about Times Square), or by focusing on the theme of self-discovery you open at the beginning.