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Summary Of The American Indian Wilderness

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The American Indian Wilderness is a story by Louis Owens that tells of two different viewpoints that a man has and how his viewpoint changed from one to the other. The first viewpoint is that nature and civilization are separate and should stay so. The second viewpoint is that nature and civilization are connected in many ways. The author, a park ranger with the United States Forest Service, is tasked with the removal of an eighty year old shelter high in the White Pass Meadow which is located in the Glacier Peak Wilderness. The shelter removal is the key point of the story, as it is a turning point in the viewpoint of the author.
In the beginning of the story, the author views nature and civilization as separate things that should continue to be separate as Owens states on page 244 and 245 “It was part of a Forest Service plan to remove all human-made objects from the wilderness area, a plan of which I heartily approved.” This quote shows that the author thinks that human-made objects, or civilization, should be separate from the wilderness area which is nature. The author also shows the viewpoint that civilization and nature are separate on page 245 where he states “At the end of those five days, not a trace of the shelter remained, and I felt good, very smug in fact, about returning the White Pass …show more content…

The author meets the two old women who he comes to realize are headed to the cabin that he had just destroyed as it was built by their father for berry picking. He senses that the women have a deep connection with the wilderness and he begins to question his earlier understanding of nature and civilization. After talking with the women for some time, they forgive him for destroying their shelter without saying as much and he becomes more knowledgeable about the connection between all things by watching the women and talking to

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