TOW #8 - IRB: "Wild" By Cheryl Strayed

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed is a moving memoir of love and loss. Her 1,100 mile trek is recalled, while simultaneously flashing back to life before her mother's death: the tragedy that spawned her journey in the Californian wilderness. Strayed articulately crafts her book, using subtle metaphors and adapting a humorous tone to tell an amazing story. This memoir was written after successfully hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. Again, this incredible journey happened due to the tragic loss of the author's mother as well as her crumbling marriage. Strayed liberated her mind on the Pacific Crest Trail and Wild shares with the world her emotional and physical journey. This book is extremely uplifting.
The metaphor, a simple rhetorical device, is used by the author to portray her backpack on the hike through California. She nicknames the backpack "Monster", a demon weighing on her back. Throughout the book she attempts to display the metaphor that "Monster" is. "Monster" represents the weight Strayed carries on her shoulders throughout her journey, more emotional than physical. This, of course, resulting from the death of her mother and her failed marriage. When she first packs Monster before she begins hiking, Strayed is unable to move the bag, attempting to show that she has so far to go before she is able to feel weight off of her shoulders. However, Strayed hunches over and succeeds in getting a backpack that is more than half her weight on her shoulders. The emotional strength exemplified by Strayed when she does not quit or give up solely because her backpack would not move is inspiring, and shows her determination to not fail.
Strayed adapts a humorous tone when she recalls what she prayed for during the memoir. These prayers may be abnormal in the sense that they are, in the beginning of the book, heavily sprinkled, perhaps even doused, in profanity.
Cheryl Strayed perfectly exemplifies her time on the Pacific Crest Train in Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail.