Cheryl Strayed's Essay 'Reach'

     Elaine Tyler May's Homeward Bound weaves two traditional narratives of the fifties -- suburban domesticity and rampant anticommunism -- into one compelling historical argument. Aiming to ascertain why, unlike both their parents and children, postwar Americans turned to marriage and parenthood with such enthusiasm and commitment, May discovers that cold war ideology and the domestic revival [were] two sides of the same coin: postwar Americans' intense need to feel liberated from the past and secure in the future. (May, p. 5-6, 10) According to May, "domestic containment" was an outgrowth of the fears and aspirations unleashed after the war -- Within the home, potentially dangerous social forces of

For a few short years, she was married to a man she loved, and she had family who would support her through anything. However, when she was 22, she was faced with the devastating loss of her mother. With her mother being the cornerstone that held her life together, it began to fall into pieces. Her family, who were once ___ close, started to wander away. “Without her, Eddie slowly became a stranger. Leif and Karen and I drifted into our own lives,” her stepfather married someone else, and both of her siblings moved away (Strayed, 34). They turned into “four people floating separately among the flotsam of [their] grief”, Cheryl felt alone and like she “wasn’t able to keep [her] family together.” (Strayed, 34). Since her family was falling apart, she began to run away from her marriage. She started having affairs with a multitude of men, the most significant being Joe. He offered Cheryl an ‘out’ at the worst time in her life, heroin seemed like an escape route for her from her problems. This would be one of the hardest obstacles Cheryl had to overcome, a heroin addiction, she has “pulled it [heroin] in with both hands,” not stopping to think about what she was really doing (Strayed, 52). This was not the last straw though, weeks before her hike she had an abortion. “That I would get an abortion was a fact so apparent it seemed silly to discuss anything else,” Cheryl knew she was not in the right

[3] It all leads back to Burke’s definition of man. Strayed uses the symbol(monster), negates herself, becomes one with nature(PCT), is a woman(Hierarchy), and rotten with perfection (past failures). There are still huge complex issues that need to be dealt with. But the moral of self-help is discovering and confronting the issues affronted. “I didn't feel sad or happy.

The memoir Wild, by Cheryl Strayed focused on a woman whose whole life was in turmoil. From the passing of her mother to the divorce of her husband, Cheryl lost sight of her values and viewed her life as one ruined by failure and loss. In desperate need of something new to believe in, Cheryl decided to begin the journey with herself by taking an epic journey on the Pacific Crest Trail. Her beliefs and values transform over the journey from the victim of a bad situation to her belief in herself, rebirth and forgiveness.

In Cheryl Strayed's Wild, she gives readers vivid exposure to her turbulent and harsh past. She tells her journey from the beginning of what was the turning page in her life- her mother's death. Strayed goes through a roller coaster with unfortunate events both in her control and out of her control. She makes several poor choices, and she shares all her triumphs with pure honesty. Strayed speaks of her past with a distant remorse, as if she is looking at her past in a movie. She doesn't come across as ashamed of her past, but why should she? As all humans do, Cheryl Strayed makes mistakes and suffers their consequences as well. Everyone handles situations differently, and the best anyone can do is learn from the mistakes and apply it to

Straying away from life as a whole only to be alone, some may say is the strong way to heal themselves when dealing with extreme grief or a major crisis . In the book Wild, twenty-two year old Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost it all. Dealing with the loss of her mother, her family torn to pieces, and her very own marriage was being destroyed right before her very eyes. Living life with nothing more to lose, lifeless, she made the most life changing decision of her life. Strayed never seems remorseful on her decisions to up and leave everything behind while deciding to flee from it all. This being her way of dealing with life, it shows her as being strong; a woman of great strength and character. She shows personal strength, which is

Or close” (Strayed 290). One accomplishment that she just grasped is that she no longer feels the need for heroin which is a step in the right direction for beating her addiction. By doing this she is being forced to face her difficulties head on with no escape route. With difficult problems comes a bigger reason for people to want to avoid it. Steven Rocker had played the “dad” role in his family since his parents weren't around he wanted to make something with his life but grew up around violence and drugs, he is finally able to make something from his life and said, “When you decide not to yield to life’s punishing blows, that is when you can make a future for yourself” (Rocker 2). by avoiding one's predicament it makes it harder to have pride when finally overcoming their adversity which is vital in discovering one's self worth. Strayed had been avoiding the fact that she has lost herself and in time it became harder for her to create the determination to go on this journey. It is especially important to notice that one must bring what is already inside of them out instead of trying to find strength from somewhere else. Strayed had finally finished the Pacific Crest Trail and went to a coffee

Paddling your own canoe can have several meanings such as, doing something on your own or being your own person. In my eyes Kendra Graham is a woman who does that. Kendra is my coach for Carolina Day Middle School soccer. She is one of the many people I know that can do actions on her own. She has helped sufficiently and she is her own person. I look up to her because of that. My coach, Kendra Graham, to me is a female who paddles her own canoe, she overcomes obstacles such as, having three kids that go to different schools, having a job in the state capital Raleigh, and being a labor and delivery nurse.

This implies that she’s lost all hope of communication and understanding between her and John in their marriage. She no longer holds the hope that she will get better with the help and support of her husband. This only throws the woman farther and deeper into depression in the prison of her mind. Because she lacked the feelings of fulfillment, love and support, she fell into a deep and dark depression that affected her both physically and emotionally.

Whitney Houston is a superstar. She works with a lot of people who struggle with additive behaviors. This social exposure has been difficult for her to handle. From media reports, Ms. Houston appears to be very stressed over family matters. She reports that she had a tumultuous marriage; suffering through many years of infidelity and public scandals in addition to the drug and alcohol arrests of her husband. Additionally, Whitney has been embroiled in another legal battle with her father for failure to settle a $100 million debt she owed his company (Whitney Houston, 2011).

Following the death of her mother and divorce of her husband, Cheryl Strayed, seeking redemption, decided to hike over a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest trail by herself with absolutely no backpacking experience. One could argue that this was not a trip of redemption but of escape from a reality that had become too much to bear for Cheryl. However, upon reflecting over the whole process of her trek, the trip was indeed a time of redemption and she does not come back from the trail as the same woman who started the trek. This movie is very intriguing, not only because it of its redemptive values, but because it blends the story, setting, and overall philosophy together in such a way that one without the other would be quite dull.

A common assumption that is made is that people who are addicted to drugs are suffering from a lack of willpower or moral fibre. People assume that these people could stop using if they simply tried a little harder. Unfortunately for those who are addicted, it is not that simple. When someone takes a drug regularly, heroin, for example, their brain chemistry becomes altered. The body produces less natural dopamine and begins to require more and more of the drug to feel its effects. Eventually, the body will begin to crave the drug, and going without it will lead to nasty withdrawal symptoms, including vomiting, increased heart rate, and

Some people continue to believe an addiction is nothing but a choice. If presented well, it could make a valid argument along

Although, there are many efforts to reduce the stigma of addiction, false concepts among individuals still persist. Many individuals may describe drug addicts as “people who are morally weak and cannot control their impulses”, or simply just “people who cannot get their life together”. Such misconceptions suggesting that

Addiction is a disease that I will battle for the rest of my life. After being sexually assaulted at the age of twelve, I started to self-destruct. Lack of parental support, less than pristine living conditions, and an addictive personality paved an expressway to a life of addiction. I chose to hang with undesirable people, and was introduced to Marijuana, LSD, Ecstasy, PCP, Cocaine, Heroin and eventually what became the love of my life, the prescription painkiller Morphine. Never did I think that trying pot would have a domino effect. It led me to try harder and more addictive substances ultimately turning my life upside down. Often publicly