Edward Abbey' Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness - Essay Example

Abbey writes Desert Solitaire takes us into "into the center of the world, God's navel, Abbey's country, the red wasteland" (pp. 4-5). He transports the reader from Planet earth to the celestial world when he pours out his feelings about the beauty that he experiences in the desert. "I am not an atheist but an earthiest," Abbey says. He loves his earthly life, "the grasp of a child's hand in your own, the flavor of an apple, the embrace of a friend or lover, the silk of a girl's thigh, the sunlight on rocks and leaves, the feel of music, the bark of a tree, the abrasion of granite and sand, the plunge of clear water into a pool, the face of the wind" (p. xiii) Travelling in the sand of the desert and the rocky barren land are like conducting the excavations in the goldmine which bring forth new hopes and experiences from the author’s perspective.

This book is like the oases in the desert. Abbey has no hesitation in stating categorically, ". I have personal convictions to uphold. Ideals, you might say. I prefer not to kill animals. I'm a humanist; I'd rather kill a man than a snake" (p. 20) and the reader will understand why Abbey makes such a hard observation as he turns the pages of the book! The content of the book is the summing up of Abbey’s benevolence. He intensely likes the silence and the grandeur of the wild desert and the quiet life of its inhabitants.

Interpretive….2 The beliefs and practices of this naturalist are the need of the time when artificiality dominates in every area of the human activities. When human being, enamored of the scientific achievements, acts as if the nature is the permanent enemy, its exploitation is the birth right and one must be ever at war with it. Abbey sees paradise in canyons and the Colorado River and resents industrial tourism. In every small detail, in the oscillating blade of grass and the mighty roar of the river, Abbey relishes the mesmerizing beauty of Nature!

He pleads that environmentalism should not be the view but the way of life. Condemnation of the defilers of Nature is not his literary pastime, but a strong conviction. The contents of the book are not the official annual report of the ranger who is posted in the part for one year. This one is not an ordinary ranger! For the exploiters, the bounties of Nature are the monetary rewards—it’s their commission. For Abbey it is the mission! Abbey feels helpless, as he challenges the dark forces of destroyers of Nature in more than one area, and he condemns them with his literary onslaughts.

What a brilliant entity, what a precious asset the desert is—visit the desert you have previously visited, after reading the book-- you will understand the latent grandeur of the particle of the desert sand, its sheen and shine, and will return as a new man after the re-visit! Not a geologist, not an anthropologist, but an individual with a vision can see munificence and the silent beauty that makes a desert. Each particle of the sand serves as the evidence to the evolution and Interpretive….

3 history of the desert. Abbey is twice blessed. He has intense noble feelings about the desert and control over the language to express the depth of his feelings. The language is flowery as well as ruthless often! He expresses his love for the wilderness thus: "Noontime here is like a drug. The light is psychedelic, the dry electric air narcotic. The desert is stimulating, exciting, exacting" (p. 135) He suggests to the reader not to try to find a meaning in the desert other than its own existence.

Out of his love, he mentions the naked beauty of the desert and addresses it as cruel! Conclusion Desert is a dry subject. Abbey has made it fertile. Rafting down the Colorado River is not an ordinary