Desert Solitaire Sparknotes

Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey is a memoir depicting his experience as a Seasonal Interpretive Ranger at the Arches National Monument in Moab, Utah. In addition to his own memories, Abbey describes the rich biodiversity of the land, stories about the area, and descriptions of the Industrial Tourism developments happening in the area at that time. During the summer in which Abbey resided on land, he lived in a tin trailer provided for rangers by the government. The Arches themselves are visible from his doorstep, and, in the first chapter describing his first morning on page 5, he says that “I feel a ridiculous greed and possessiveness come over me. I want to know it all, possess it all, embrace the entire scene intimately… at least there’s

A whole chapter is titled “Polemic: Industrial Tourism and the National. Parks.” Part of the chapter is an encounter that he had with two men: engineers working for the Bureau of Public Roads who were a survey crew planning a road into the Arches. Abbey describes their story as “full and terrible” and “confirming the worst of my fears.” He goes on to include other National Parks in his complaints about industrial tourism. This course discussed the argument between industrializing parks versus conserving/preserving the wilderness/natural aspects of the land. Abbey is an advocate for preservation. He even introduced possible ways to decrease the effects of industrial tourism. One example of his proposals was to return the motor vehicles and camping grounds back to the beauty it once was. To do this, visitors would have to lock up automobiles and continue their journey through the land on bikes or on foot. Requiring travelers to travel light, tourists would be able to collect the rest of their supplies after it is driven in by rangers. Or another example of a solution is to build parking lots for these areas miles away from the park, which would make tourists emerge from their mechanized vehicles and actually experience nature. Management issues within his ideas would the public’s response to them. Many people want the quickest and easiest way to view natural areas, and the idea

I believe that natural areas should be preserved and protected from urbanization and that many people (especially Americans) do not care whether they experience the place. They only care about if they get good photos. Abbey describes the landscape in a way that lets the reader imagine it, but his abundance of details about the plants and rocks could get boring because of how much he talked about them. It is impressive that he knew plant names, but it was difficult to read through those parts because it had such a lengthy description. Abbey’s writing is very good, and it shows a strong voice, tells his stories well, and presents his opinions in ways that show exactly what he thinks. I think that some of his solutions are impractical, such as the requirement for tourists to only travel with the least number of supplies they can and then receive the rest once they are in the park. Enacting this would take many policies and regulations. It’d also take many more employees to provide this service, as well as employees to placate the frustrated tourists. In general, this book is very well written and speaks Abbey’s ideas in ways that have intense imagery in order to make the reader feel as if they were there with