Cindy V. began our discussion by
suggesting that the book’s theme was things destroyed or going to be destroyed.
This theme seemed to be on the author’s mind in writing the book and in our
minds as we read the book. The dams would change the river; but as the author
traveled, he saw many animals and large flocks of birds. The animals and birds
have been become noticeably fewer to those of us who have lived since the
1950s, and then there were the Comanches, whose large population has been
decimated after being relegated to the confines of a reservation. Dennis mentioned
that the author noted changes in the banks of the river and the geological
formations, as he continued traveling along the river.
A glimpse into history: Cindy told us that Cynthia
Ann Parker, a white woman who was captured by the Comanches at age 10, assimilated
and lived with Comanches for 24 years. Her son with a Comanche chief, Quanah,
later became Chief and tried to help the Comanche tribe to continue to survive
and prosper under white rule. After the Comanche had surrendered to the white Americans,
Cynthia was taken back by whites and kept, as most as she had been kept by the Comanche.
She really wanted to be back with her Comanche family and tried to escape back
to them, but she never saw them again. Taking her might have been arranged by
Charles Goodnight. Quanah was buried in
an Oklahoma cemetery, and he brought Cynthia's remains there. It's a special
cemetery for Native Americans.
The writing style of the book
was of interest. It was thought of as stream of consciousness. Sentences were
long, with jumps from one idea to another, as if the author were transcribing
from a tape recorder, though he claimed to have written in a journal. The writing
meandered like the river!
Pam suggested that the dog and
the weather anchored the book. The author came back to both often during his
travelog. Another anchor that Jay noticed was the repetition of daily efforts,
such as finding a place to camp, hunting, fishing, and preparing meals. We also
noted that the author continually told stories in which the actual history wasn’t
clear, because these stories were passed by word of mouth over the years and
miles.
Lydia, from England, was
amazed by the farmers who used up the land and then moved to a different spot.
Land in England has always been more scarce and better valued. Pam responded by
saying that in old Texas, the attitude was that “there’s always much more land ‘yonder.’”
This book inspired a lot of
conversation, about wildlife management exemptions, controlled burning to
control invasive species, Texas grasses, specialists who can tell a landowner
what chemicals to use for what (Roundup, anyone? Can’t happen here!), continued
building up of the soil, native species of plants, pollution from the oil
business, fishing, and more. Dennis noticed the abundance of wildlife in the
book that the author saw daily and mentioned the current statistic that there
are more chickens than all the other birds combined. Googling this, I found an
article from the New York Times titled, “It Could Be the Age of the Chicken,
Geologically.” It was relaxing and refreshing to accompany author Graves on his
journey.
The map of the river in the book
was very useful as the reader followed the narrative. Preparing for the book
discussion, Cindy V. was pleased to find that the UT main library has an online
map collection that is available to the public and has multitudes of maps. Browse
to your heart’s content: https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/
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