Desert Solitaire

A detailed Summary of Desert Solitaire

Desert Solitaire is widely regarded as the greatest and most definitive piece of work that Edward Abbey ever wrote. Desert Solitaire follows Abbey in his two summers as a ranger in south eastern Utah's Arches National Monument. In his book Abbey shows disdain for the government that continues to help populate the western United States referring to "the insufferable arrogance of elected officials (177)." Desert Solitaire is a well written book, and in it Abbey mixes his wit and humor with serious issues involving the environment and the land that he seemed to love so much. Abbey's ability to mix humor with seriousness was exemplified in his story about getting stranded in a rock pool down. This story was both funny and scary and shows what a good story teller can do with writing. Abbey, who wrote and published many memorable books before his death in 1989, is still best remembered for Desert Solitaire. Sandra Yost in her eulogy to Edward Abbey referred to this piece of work as one of the most influential works for environmentalists. Abbey was curious about life and the way our ecology worked. One passage of the book stood out to me to show this curiosity, where Abbey tells about keeping an eye on a ju

OIL DRILLING IN THE ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

I believe that Abbey's main motivation was to entertain, as he saw his writing not as a career but as a passion. But, in the same light, he also used his writing to inform his readers, and the public, of, as he saw them, atrocities that were happening in our country.

Edward Abbey never described himself as an environmentalist, but just as a lover of the west. Despite his denials of environmentalist status Abbey sure fit the mold. He was constantly protesting, although not in the conventional protest manners, and his writing conveyed his disdain for what was happening to his beloved country. One unconventional manner of protest Abbey used was throwing beer cans out his window as he drove down the highway in the deserts, he did this "in protest against the domination of nature by the machine (Duryee, 1)." Abbey was indeed a lover of the area described in the book, and he wanted to convey the beauty of this part of Utah to his readers. I believe he wanted everyone to see this place as a beautiful place that everyone should enjoy and love as he did. He also wanted to convey his, I dare to say, hatred of the government who he believed was ruining it. Abbey was an environmentalist, despite his insistence otherwise and his sometimes anti-environmentalist actions (such as littering the highways with beer cans), and he wanted to try and help protect this area. He has said that he has had dreams of blowing up dams which shows his passion to preservation of the environment, but he also described himself as a coward in such area

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Approximate Word count = 1073
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels