Chapter 18 and 19 "Wild" Entries

Chapter 18:
   Cheryl uses this chapter to prove that she has been successful in what she had originally set out to do. At one point, she sits by a river and finds herself once again thinking about her mother: "Where was my mother? I wondered. I'd carried her so long, staggering beneath her weight. On the other side of the river, I let myself think. And something inside me released" (Strayed, 306). This quote proves to the reader how much Cheryl has grown, improved, and healed on this trip because she is finally at the point where she can release her mother from her metaphorical grasp. Her mother would have wanted Cheryl to learn from her mistakes, to grow and heal after everything that had happened, and to make a new life for herself. Cheryl is on the path to doing all of these things; she has reflected on everything she did wrong in her life and has accepted that she did them, she has used this experience to heal and to become a better person, and she will move to Portland after her trip ends to kick-start her life again. Her mother would have been very proud of the woman that she is becoming because of how much she has grown as a person because of her hike on the PCT. Because Cheryl has learned how to let go of her mother's death, she has finally been able to heal herself.

Chapter 19:
As Cheryl sits on a bench near the Bridge of the Gods, reflecting on her journey that she has just finished, she meets a man in a BMW who gives her a card with his information on it, offering to meet up with her in the future. Cheryl later reveals that she never sees that man again. This completely juxtaposes her previous encounters with men she has just met at other points in her life because normally, she would have followed through, met up with the man, and probably would have slept with him. Now, she chooses never to contact him. This shows how much she has grown and changed as a person because she no longer feels the desperate need to be with a man at all times, and does not need to be intimate with strangers all the time. She chooses to include this seemingly insignificant event to end the book to show strong character development and how she herself has changed her views and ways. By going on this life-changing hike on the PCT, she has healed herself and now has a completely new perspective on her life.