The mentor, wilderness, and water - archetypes from 'Wild'As I've just finished up 2/3rd of Wild by Cheryl Strayed, I thought I would discuss with you all, the different archetypal characters and symbols I came across. First of all for the archetypal character, Greg acts like the "Mentor". Greg comes up and meets Cheryl while she was on her way to Kennedy Meadows. By this time on the trail, Cheryl was almost on the verge of giving up. Her experience had been very hard. When Cheryl first meets Greg, she feels an instant connection with him. Cheryl feels the urge to open up to Greg as they spoke. " 'It's been harder than I thought it would be,' I confessed, my heart heavy with the knowledge that I was even more of a big fat idiot that I'd initially reckoned. 'It's all I can do to cover eleven or twelve,' I lied, as if I'd even done that. 'Oh sure,' Greg said, unsurprised. 'That's how it was for me at the beginning too, Cheryl. Don't worry about it. I'd go fourteen or fifteen miles if I was lucky and then I'd be beat. And that was with me training ahead of time, taking weekend trips with my pack fully loaded and so on. Being out here is different. It takes your body a couple of weeks to get conditioned enough to do the big miles' " (Strayed 87). Although Cheryl felt discouraged about her progress through the trail, Greg's words encouraged her and gave hope. She says, "I nodded, feeling enormously consoled" (Strayed 87). There were many other encounters that Cheryl had with Greg, where he acted as a mentor. More encouraging words were spoken by Greg. " ' You're doing fine, Cheryl,' he said. 'Don't worry about it too much. You're green, but you're tough. And tough is what matters the most out here. Not just anyone could do what you're doing' " (Strayed 89). Cheryl was "so buoyed by his words that [her] throat constricted with emotion" (Strayed 89). Greg has all qualities of a mentor. He encourages Cheryl and guides her as she is 'less-experienced' in hiking. Greg helps her by showing how to use the ice ax. There are many other examples and quotes of how Greg acts like the Mentor. Greg. Image retrieved from: https://www.google.ca/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjl-47JxMDQAhUJ74MKHYBsAt8QjRwIBw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pcta.org%2Fwild%2F2015%2F01%2F28%2Fgreg-first-person-story-wild%2F&psig=AFQjCNGVeFtM1BoE9p1tQPioOwKH3Ita3Q&ust=1480047392404506 One of the archetypal symbols that is prevalent throughout the novel is the wilderness/forest. Although it is generally considered that the forest is a dangerous/dark world, a contemporary approach to this can be considered as the wilderness to be a precious resource and a place to reconnect with nature. In this Novel, the wilderness can be seen through the contemporary approach. As Cheryl spends more and more time in the wilderness of the trail, she is able to see it as a resourceful place rather than a dark and dangerous world. Cheryl is able to personally connect with the forest. ".....perhaps being amidst the undesecrated beauty of the wilderness meant I too could be undesecrated, regardless of what I'd lost or what had been taken from me, regardless of the regrettable things I'd done to others or myself or the regrettable things that had been done to me. Of all things I'd been skeptical about, I didn't feel skeptical about this: the wilderness had a clarity that included me" (Strayed 143). The wilderness represents positivity in Cheryl's life because she is able to connect with the forest that didn't affect her negatively. She is able to connect to it in a way that healed her of her sorrow and pain. Another archetypal symbol from Wild is water. Water symbolizes purification. "I filled the tub with water and got in and scrubbed myself with a washcloth and soap. Within a few minutes, the water became so dark with the dirt and blood that washed off my body that I drained it and filled it up again. In the second bath of water I reclined, feeling more grateful than perhaps I ever had for anything" (Strayed 129). Here, Cheryl purifies her dirty body with the water and it cleaned her completely, because the water itself became dark with dirt. This exemplifies how not only Cheryl's physical body is purified by water, but her emotional state of grief and sorrow is also purified through her experience on the trail, hiking. There are other bodies of water that Cheryl comes across in the trail that she uses to clean her body and quench her thirst. All this shows purification. Through her whole experience on the trail, she purifies her mind of past sorrows. Works Cited:
Strayed, Cheryl. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. New York: Knopf, 2012. Print.
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During the past month, I've been reading an interesting novel called 'Wild' by Cheryl Strayed. The book is about the Cheryl's journey through the Pacific Crest Trail. Having read one third of the book already, Cheryl's choice of hiking the PCT all alone fascinates me. Cheryl Strayed is a very strong, brave woman. In the wake of her mother's death and her divorce, she needed a get-away from her grief. These reasons triggered her choice to hike the PCT. Talking about the PCT, it is a two feet wide, 2,663 mile long trail. Hiking this trail all by myself is unimaginable. I have never hiked in my life. I'm the kind of person that tends to play everything safe. If I ever had to grieve over something, I would never console myself by placing me in a vulnerable situation. However, that's what I like about Cheryl's life. In fact, her story inspired me. While reading the book, it was like I was hiking along with her, having a conversation. I can honestly barely relate to Cheryl's life. All that happened in Cheryl's life is something that I've never gone through or experienced. Cheryl says, "My father left my life when I was six. My mother died when I was twenty-two. In the wake of her death, my stepfather morphed from the person I considered my dad into a man I occasionally recognized. My two siblings scattered in their grief, in spite of my efforts to hold us together, until I gave up and scattered as well" (Strayed 3-4). Comparing this to my life, My father never left me, my mother never left me, my two siblings never left me. I can never imagine what happened in Cheryl's life happening to me. This explains to me how much in grief she must have been. I felt pity towards Cheryl's life. Reading the novel was like preparing myself for the struggles I may face later in life. That's what gives me hope. She fights against the stereotypes that women aren't strong. Cheryl says, ".........I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave. Nothing could vanquish me" (Strayed 51). This kind of determination and confidence is definitely hard to find in a woman who went through so much sorrow. The hike through PCT was an emotional roller coaster for Cheryl. She missed her mother, Paul and her siblings. Being alone in the wilderness, she didn't let negative thoughts take advantage of her. Instead, she kept uttering encouraging words to herself. Her words went like this about her 'monster' backpack, "I was amazed that what I needed to survive could be carried on my back. And, most surprising of all, that I could carry it. That I could bear the unbearable" (Strayed 92). Cheryl's words encouraged me. For a woman who went through lots of sorrow, the determination and positive attitude to life found in her is what fascinated me about her life. The loneliness that she must have felt through the hike is enormous. But the way she persevered through it all is very appreciable. I want you to picture yourself in Cheryl's shoes through the hike. Hungry. Alone. Scared. Dirty. Emotionally broken. Physically sick. Vulnerable surrounding. What would be your reaction be to this situation? It definitely takes lots of courage and strength to endure through. I believe that towards the end of the book, Cheryl will safely hike all the way she planned to go. She might face even more struggles down the road but will successfully make it through. Reading 1/3 of the novel has taught me how to endure through pains and struggles in life and believe in myself. I'm so excited to finish the rest of the book! Works Cited: Strayed, Cheryl. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. New York: Knopf, 2012. Print. Image of Cheryl Strayed at the top of the page retrieved from: http://media.vanityfair.com/photos/545bb90cc2dcfcdc402d3506/master/w_450,c_limit/cheryl-strayed-wild-in-the-details-vf.jpg
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AuthorI am Keziah Vilson from A.B. Lucas Secondary School. I write about topics we cover in my grade 12 English class. Archives
December 2016
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