The Wild Essay

Choose one of the following two topics for your essay on Cheryl Strayed’s Wild.  Each topic has several questions, and is related to issues raised by the story.   Rather than systematically answering each part of the prompt, your essay should be cohesive and have a single thesis which stems from your thinking about the questions.  Essays should be at least 5-7 pages double-spaced, and documented in MLA style.

Option 1: The Gendered Journey

On the trail, Strayed is usually alone — but when she encounters other people, most of them are men. What role does gender play when removed from the structure of society? Does Strayed seem more (or less) connected with her gender at different points in the book? How and when does she seem to view herself as a woman, rather than just as a human? Choose at least three passages in the book to discuss, and connect them to ideas or passages from Updike and Atwood. Your discussion should support a thesis statement that argues what Wild shows us about gender in and/or outside of society. Requirements: At least three quotes from Strayed, and at least three quotes total from Atwood and Updike (you don’t have to use quotes from both, but you may if you like).

Option 2: Transitions on the Trail

In the promotional video for the book (posted in our “Overview” for this module), Strayed states that her journey was a process of “coming to terms with [her] life.” She also says that her transformation did not happen “in a neat arc,” but in a more complicated way.  Think about how and where Strayed changes or grows on the trip, and how Mark Rudman’s and Gould’s essays (which we know she read on the trail) may have affected her transformation. Use at least three quotes from Wild, and a total of at least three from the essays (you don’t need to use both Rudman and Gould, but you may if you like).