Chapter 8:
In the last section of this chapter, Strayed discusses the contrasting relationships that she had with her mother and her father. She reveals that he was abusive towards her, her siblings, and especially her mother, during the time that she knew him. But, her mother always came back to him because she had no other place to go. The relationship that Strayed had with her father was very strange and distant. On the other hand, Strayed had a very close relationship with her mother, whom she had known her entire childhood and early adulthood. Her mother had always cared for her and protected her, nourished her and raised her. The relationships that Strayed had with her mother and her father were polar opposites. These relationships impacted Strayed very deeply. She never had one solid father-figure in her life (she had a step-father, but he was not always there), so she was not able to experience father-daughter moments that other children get to have. Her mother was such a big part of her life, that her death rocked Strayed to her very core. On page 134, Strayed remembers something her mother had said to her about her personality: "'You're a seeker,' my mother had said to me when she was in her last week, lying in bed in the hospital, 'like me'" (Strayed, 134). This could be interpreted in many ways, one of which is that Strayed has always sought answers, and she chose to take this hike on the PCT to get answers about her broken life.
Chapter 9:
In chapter nine, Strayed uses juxtaposition several times. An example of this is when she sees a fox, and it begins to walk away: "'Come back,' I called lightly, and then suddenly shouted 'MOM! MOM! MOM! MOM!' I didn't know the word was going to come out of my mouth until it did. And then, just as suddenly, I was silent. Spent" (Strayed, 144). This qualifies as juxtaposition because in the first sentence, she describes her random and sudden shouting. In the second sentence, she is suddenly silent again. This helps contribute to her purpose because one of her main reasons for going on this trip in the first place is because her mother had died, and she needed to be alone for a long time. In this quote, it is very clear just how much she misses her mother, and how she wants her mother's company again. Another example of juxtaposition in this chapter is in the last paragraph, where she reflects on the silence and commotion of nature around her: "It had been so silent in the wake of that commotion, a kind of potent silence that contains everything" (Strayed, 145). This counts as juxtaposition because she is comparing silence and commotion simultaneously. This also contributes to her purpose because the whole purpose of her trip was to be alone, and since she is alone, she spends a lot of time in silence. Because of this, she is able to hear the sounds of nature around her contained in said silence. Strayed's use of juxtaposition in this chapter also pertains to her purpose in her novel as a whole.
Part Three in General:
John Muir was a Scottish-American naturalist and author who supported the preservation of the United States wilderness. He succeeded in preserving Yosemite Valley, Sequoia National Park, and other areas of wilderness, and he also founded the Sierra Club, devoted to nature conservation. He believed in viewing nature as God's work (he was a very religious man), the individual over the group, and viewing nature as his true home. I personally believe that he was a "modern" transcendentalist, because much of his beliefs coincide with the basic principles of transcendentalism. John Muir contributed a lot to the preservation and conservation of nature, and therefore is viewed today as a great transcendentalist,
Source: Wikipedia
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