Walden On Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2013

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Introduction 1-Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Symbols & Motifs

The Grizzly Bear

Ken reflects on a recurring dream he had, in which he confronted a grizzly bear. He was unsure of the grizzly bear’s value as a symbol within his dream, but during the first summer break from his graduate program, Ken came face to face with a real grizzly bear. The bear did not attack, but its presence showed Ken the limits of his own ability to be wild or free. The bear symbolizes both pure freedom and insurmountable challenges. Ken envies the freedom of the bear, which has the power and sustainability required to live successfully in the wilderness of Alaska. However, Ken knows that he cannot match the bear’s ability to do so, instead fleeing from the river’s edge to get his shotgun.

The bear’s symbolic value as both freedom and adversity provides additional insight into the issue of student debt, as Ken and Josh’s debts become grizzly bears of their own. Unlike facing off against a grizzly bear, however, Ken could tackle his student debt directly, though it is difficult and time-consuming. The idea of paying off his debt provided a sense of freedom and primal wildness similar to what the sight of the grizzly bear evoked in him. In the encounter by the river, Ken knew that his shotgun and bear mace should provide ways to defeat the bear if it attacked, but the situation was not well suited to these methods, reflecting the varying situations in which people can or cannot pay off their debts.

Wilderness

Much of the book positions the wilderness in opposition to modern, industrial society. Ken criticizes the suburban life in which he grew up and idealizes the wilderness in which he wants to live. However, while the wilderness symbolizes his search for freedom from debt and society, it is also a motif: Ken constantly felt pulled to the wilderness and even tried to bring the feeling of the wilderness to Duke University with him. This gravitational attraction to the wilderness highlights one of his main arguments in the text, which is that being in the wilderness can transport any individual as they shed “civilized” life and become free. Thus, the wilderness represents the freedom Ken desired, the challenges he faced in pursuing that freedom, and the difficulties of returning to society after experiencing the freedom of the wilderness.

As a symbol, the wilderness is both dangerous and beautiful, and Ken frequently juxtaposes these qualities to show the unpredictability of the wilderness. After seeing the grizzly bear with Whitney, Ken romanticized the lives of animals in the Arctic, but Whitney reminded him of the harsh living conditions in The Gates of the Arctic National Park. For Ken, these challenges are rewarding: His first experience in the Brooks Range, climbing Blue Cloud, caused a fundamental change in his perception of the world around him, encouraging him to seek out opportunities to free himself from social conditioning. Ken’s argument, evident in Josh’s experiences, is that any person can experience this transformation if they are willing to overcome the dangers of the wilderness.

The Van

While the van poses a logistical issue in the book, as well as a solution to Ken’s desire to remain debt-free, it also symbolizes the tenuous relationship between poverty and comfort. Ken acknowledges throughout the work that many people are forced into situations where they are in similar or worse positions than Ken living in his van. Even those living in vans like Ken’s may not have the same safety nets in place—such as Ken’s parents’ willingness to help him financially, his stable job over the summer in Alaska, or the promise of advancement embodied in his graduate school program. Acknowledging these privileges allows the van to take on a broader meaning for the difficulties of living in modern society, in which money, housing, and stability are measures of one’s success but also critical elements of survival.

Reversing this meaning, however, the van—like the grizzly bear and the wilderness—symbolizes freedom from many trappings of societal obligation. Ken frequently remarks on how the “vandwelling” culture embraces instability and rugged living. Although he struggled at times, he ultimately loved the experience, as do many others. The van allowed him to move at a moment’s notice, freed him from the costs of utilities, rent, or excessive possessions, and gave him the freedom to control his own living space. Even when Ken completed his education and sold the van, he debated whether he would prefer to continue living in it, showing the power of freedom that living a spartan or minimalist lifestyle embodies.