Fear and the "Implacable INdifference" in Desert Solitaire

"Alone in the silence I understand for a minute the dread that many feel in the presence of primeval desert, the unconscious fear which compels them to tame, alter or destroy what they cannot understand, to reduce the wild and prehuman to human dimensions. Anything rather than comfort directly the antehuman, that other world which frightens not through danger or hostility but something far worse-- it's implacable indifference." (91)

At this point in the novel Abbey concedes to an understanding of the human capacity to fear raw nature that he denies in himself. His toughness, and condescension toward man's relationship with nature, causes him to take on a persona of "lone ranger." He regards himself as a man alone in the wilderness. He is weary of bothersome tourists who take a different, more shallow approach to "his" desert canyon. He demonstrates this weariness in his"hardness" towards humanity and his reverence of nature. In his treatment of tourists, we see sarcasm masked by humor, but also tolerance. If he really wanted tourists to leave the desert canyon, he could take a much harder approach (tell them it's dangerous, don't let them think he's joking, manipulate their emotions, and be abrupt-- all under a guise of friendly helpfulness). So we come to the conclusion that Abbey does not despise the tourists. He is disgusted by their behavior, but understanding of the reasons behind it, however morose and twisted the reprocussions may be.

The quote at the beginning of this post is Abbey's admittance of his own humanity; his own fear that he overcomes in pursuit of a higher knowledge and understanding of nature. Fear in this sense could mean many things: fear of diversity, fear of the unusual, fear of the unknown, fear of the uncontrollable, unrestrained, and the unrecognized. There are many reasons humans fear the rawness of nature. Personally, I could list a dozen more. Abbey is recognizing not only that these fears exist and run rampant in society, but also that they are natural and understandable (one step away from forgivable) fears. Difference is synonymous with fear in our culture. All things that are severely different cause conflict with our own beliefs systems, challenge our thoughts, emotions, and experiences.

Desert life poses serious obstacles for a man or woman raised in the comforts of cities we have created out of these once "natural" lands. Putting a city boy in the desert is like taking the lone, wild horse and putting him in a barn in rural Missouri. However, for Abbey to admit that fear is understandable, even in only a "brief instance" is a rare occurence in this novel. This leads me back to the question we have been trying to answer in class: "What is the desert a medium for in this novel?" I believe Abbey is using the desert as a medium for awareness. Just as Abbey is demonstrating awareness of our human approach to nature and it's understandable flaws in this passage, through Abbey's lense of experience we can become more aware of the desert (it's multi-faceted connections with humanity, animal life, and the global environment). We begin to touch the surface of understanding it's beauty. From the brief experience provided for us second-hand by Abbey I have determined that some of this beauty lies in the *difference* between nature and the cities we have created to shelter us from it.