John Muir - Stickeen

     John Muir was primarily a naturalist, one who spent a lot of time in nature and with animals. He published many of his accounts of several expeditions and explorations through nature, and has lots of experience with animals and all things having to do with the wilderness.

     John Muir’s Stickeen is an essay about his adventures through a harsh Alaskan glacier, named the Brady Glacier, and its terrain with a dog named Stickeen as his companion. The story takes place in 1880. They go through a fairly perilous experience together, with one helping the other along the way. Both Muir and Stickeen are both changed after their experience together. That brings me to Muir’s purpose – although most of the essay is spent describing the events that took place on the Brady Glacier, I find that the most important part of the essay comes from one of the last lines, “Thereafter Stickeen was a changed dog. During the rest of the trip, instead of holding aloof, he always lay by my side, tried to keep me constantly in sight, and would hardly accept a morsel of food, however tempting, from any hand but mine.” Muir’s message is that tragedies and difficult situations can bring two souls together. This message was probably intended for other naturists and animal lovers like Muir himself, considering that almost all of his work was published in naturist’s publications. Muir uses a huge amount of description and figurative language to put you in his position and make you understand exactly what he was experiencing, all to make you better understand the ordeal, and in turn better understand what it was that brought Muir and Stickeen closer together.

Muir's story of Stickeen and how hardships can bring people together reminded me a lot of rescue efforts following natural disasters, and how it brings people together against a common enemy that is found in the form of a tragedy.

Image from nyc.gov