Cheryl Strayed's Hiking The Pacific Crest Trail

“I almost choked to death on what I knew before I knew. I was going to live the rest of my life without my mother. But now that she was dying, I knew everything. My mother was in me already. Not just the parts of her that I knew, but the parts of her that had come before me too.” 19 I believe that the Cheryl Strayed’s purpose for including this quote in her novel was to reiterate the importance of her mother and to exemplify the connection that she had with her mother—good and bad—that essentially pushed her to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). At the start of the novel, and before her hike, her mother was a looming topic that was usually associated with negative comments and complicated memories. As she hiked, the thoughts and memories of her childhood, her mother, and her mother’s death flooded her mind and changed the way she thinks. Towards the end of Cheryl’s hike on the PCT, she realizes that the time she spent with her mother was limited, and she would of given anything back to relive the memories. Her mother was one of the most important things she had to work out on the trail, and this quotation …show more content…
Throughout her time on the trail, she is “…still trying to figure out what [she] believes.” (252) and this quote best describes the conglomeration of those quotes and thoughts. The novel enters discussions of the ‘spiritual realm’ and other ‘religious’ and spiritual practices that are clearly favored over the traditional western image and dedication to’God’ Towards the end of her hike, Strayed finally realizes the importance of her spiritual balancing/development while undergoing her transcendent hike of self-discovery. This quote stuck out to me because I have a deep interest in spirituality and religion and I thought Strayed’s take on her spirituality and religious tendencies were