Most Helpful Literary Theory

     After analyzing the nonfiction novel “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed from three different perspectives, reader response, archetypal, and feminist, I realized that the feminist perspective was the most helpful, or gave me the best understanding of what Cheryl was trying to portray. “If he could do this, I could, I thought furiously. He wasn’t tougher than me. No one was, I told myself…” (Strayed). Cheryl was talking about her friend Greg who she met on the trail, and was saying that she thought of herself as equal to men. She was even told by two men on the trail, who were captains in the war, that she was tougher than they were. This helped me realize that, for a woman to go out into the wilderness, with wild animals, and only have whatever is on her back, she has to be a strong willed woman.

     Cheryl went through some tough times after her mother passed away. She divorced her husband due to an affair she was having, with a man that got her into heroin, her family split apart, and her life was going downhill. She knew she had to take extreme measures, and do something by herself, to clear her mind and heal her of the poor choices she has made. After she decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (the PCT), almost everyone she knew doubted her ability. They also worried about the fact that, in general, not many women hike the PCT, but to do it alone, was insane. She would often tell herself: “I am not afraid”, and she also said at one point: “Who is tougher than me… no body”. She had such confidence on the trail by herself, it was amazing. She was an ametuer hiker, only knowing the things she did because of the employees at the store she bought everything for her journey from, and the trail guide for the PCT that she had read. She wanted to prove everyone wrong, that just because she was woman on her own, hiking the PCT, she could survive and finish the journey. The feminist perspective of this, helped me to realize just how committed Cheryl was to proving her strength as a woman.

     Cheryl had to work very hard in order to save up enough money to buy all the supplies she needed for her hike, and pack enough money for each stop that she had, so that she could survive. She worked as a waitress for a lot of her life, trying to pay off her student loans, which she did not actually finish, so she didn’t get her degree. Cheryl had gone to school to get her degree with her mother, and her mother told her before she died, that it was important that she finish school and get her diploma. I feel like Cheryl stopped going to school and gave up on her degree (going against her mother’s wishes for her), because of the fact that if she went back to school, it would only bring her memories of her mother, and she was already going through so much grief. I can see why this might’ve been the reason Cheryl stopped. Some women can be very strong, like Cheryl. But when it comes to your mom, I feel like it is okay to not be so strong. Cheryl held in her emotions until she was alone on the the trail, but I feel like she was showing her loss of strength silently in other ways, such as her degree.

     The feminist perspective allowed me, and probably many other readers, to see deeper into what Cheryl was doing and thinking. To fully understand and realize just how powerful this story really is, and help me notice the pure strength Cheryl possesses. I mean, when Cheryl saw the mountain lion in front of her, and she blew her loud whistle to scare it off without even second guessing herself… I would have left the hike then and there. But she persevered, she knew how much it meant to her to finish the hike, and prove everyone wrong.

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