Naturally towards nurture: The Eco feminist trailblazers in ‘Grandma Gatewood’s Walk’ and ‘Wild’

Abstract

‘Grandma Gatewood’s Walk’ speaks of the hike that Ms. Emma Gatewood undertakes, a hike through the Appalachian Trail, the world’s longest footpath, at the age of sixty seven, in 1955, leaving behind her household of eleven children and twenty three grandchildren from Gallia County, Ohio. She escaped from her thoughts and memories of an abusive marriage. She became a celebrity and was captured by leading newspapers; she escaped from the abuse of her husband only to find kindness in strangers and the terrain. Years later Cheryl Strayd undertakes a hike of the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995, she escaped the memories of her mother who succumbed to cancer and also escaped her own self that she did not recognize. She writes that she regained herself in the midst of nature. Both these woman go on these long and exhausting hikes only to feel rejuvenated and exhilarated, they reinvented themselves to become heroes in the eyes of the world.  Her book ‘Wild’ inspired many women to take this hike as a sport. This commonly became famous as the ‘Wild’ effect.

The experiences of these two women is very different from one another yet equally awe-inspiring, the beauty of the experience is that they found in the wilderness the most precious thing that they had lost deep down, a connection with themselves.

Ecofeminism movement explores the interconnection between women and nature, mainly oppression of women and nature by patriarchy. Women were denied access to the wilderness as it was mainly dominated by men. This paper attempts to compare the two books ‘Grandma Gatewood’s Walk’ by Ben Montgomery and ‘Wild’ by Cheryl Strayd and analyse them from an ecofeminism critical theoretical viewpoint.