Abbey Road (#3)

     This week my group had our presentation over Edward Abbey's journals and Polemic. In his journals, I feel like I got to have an inside look into who he was and how his mind worked. Based on previous reading I had noticed his blunt honesty and solitary nature. All of these qualities and more were shown in these chosen entries. Several things that stuck out to me were his sense of self doubt, fear of the unknown, and almost a fear of life within societal constructs. There were many time where he would regret interactions, fear death and making wrong decisions, as well as a longing for life beyond what he had. It almost seemed like he was continually running from something and that nature and writing were a way for him to escape. In his writing, he is extremely reflective and appreciative of nature then he almost flips and shows this crude version of a man. He seems to have a split personality or split view of life that reveals itself in his writing. 

    I think nature is his place to just exist and not thing about the expectations or societal construct that the operate within. He had written previously about how nature was a safe place for him to cry and feel without worry about what people might thing of him. When he's in nature he becomes simply an extension of it and does not have to think about being anything else beyond alive. When you're alone in nature you don't have to be strong, smart, charismatic, successful, or even enough. I think this is an element of it that makes it so special for him and why he cares about the pureness and sacredness of nature so much. 

    On the other hand, when we learn about him in his life and interactions with others he shows another side. Even his values he writes about he goes from honesty and courage to materialistic desires. He shows his constant desire to flee from the life he has and look for more. He rarely mentions his family except to reveal his disapproval of his fathers decline and how he thinks of leaving his wife even though he is happy. He seems to have a strange relationship with others and thinks of himself more than anything. He has his passions, opinions, and values and thats about it. He is authentically himself and those around him just seem to be a part of his life but not his whole world.\

    In Polemic, he reveals his sentiments about continual construction of Natural Parks and development of Industrial Tourism. He criticized the continual use of parks as a money maker rather than preserving what we have. He calls out our society for being "wheelchair tourists" and refusing to leave the comfort of our cars and civilization to actually enjoy nature. He has many opinions about how the parks should be run and how to utilize the present construction to make it more beneficial for the environment. The biggest thing is that he just wants people to be in nature and truly be a part of it. I think he has had the privilege of knowing the impact and power of nature more than our society will ever realize from behind their screens. He wants to keep wilderness and civilization as separate as they can be and keep his sacred places pure. In the same way followers of religion protect and venerate their holy places, Abbey wanted people to view nature and national parks the same way.

    I think my biggest take aways from Polemic were how much we have really taken over nature and as much as we try to leave civilization we take it with us everywhere. When I think of National Parks I think of beautiful monuments of nature surrounded by granola people taking pictures to share with others in the comfort of their homes. The more hard core ones may spend more time hiking and camping in it, and only the extreme ones seem to really get off the grid and escape everything. When I have visited sites I have appreciated the easily accessible routes and a decent bathroom after a long car ride. I never stopped to think about how much industrialization has gone into it to make me feel comfortable.