Reactions and Reflections Essay

The writer Don Berry in his book Moontrap offers a rich history of the predicament of mountain work forces as they are pushed to the border of their freedom. and left with nowhere else to travel. This narrative is compared to the moonshine on H2O.

which eludes any traps. so fades everlastingly – like the mountain work forces whose freedom can non any longer be returned to them. The book offers chance to reflect on how society value and esteem the lives of people like the mountain work forces. and it recalls the sad narration of their destiny.

It tells the narrative of get bying and rediscoveries. of how a mountain adult male would ever hold that spirit and passion for the natural state.The book recounts the history of the 1800s Northwest. in a rich and compelling narrative.

Synopsis ( Puting and Plot ) The narrative is set in the twelvemonth 1850 in the districts of Oregon as it is being taken over by the civilised universe. The book Moontrap introduces two characters. John Monday. besides known as Jaybird. and Webster W.

Webster. or Webb as his familiarities and friends call him. As with the past authorship of Don Berry. the two characters are work forces from the mountains. The narrative focuses on the life of Jaybird. who longs to be stable and settle as a husbandman.

He stakes a claim in a land located across Oregon City. in the town of Willamette.As he was get downing to set to the life as a husbandman. as he was get downing to believe that possibly he has the opportunity to populate a life that is normal.

Webb comes into the image. Webb like the typical mountain adult male came along with an old Equus caballus. from a life along the borders of society. ignoring and non holding a attention for the civilised life. basking the offers of nature in the mountains. Webb reintroduces Jaybird in a series of escapades.

which finally ushers a rediscovery of his character and true ego. As Jaybird has about adjusted to his new life as a husbandman. he met a common-law married woman Mary. a Shoshone Indian. with whom he conceived a kid.

When he went to the justice of the town to hold the kid registered. the justice refused and alternatively wrote ‘bastard’ . This was a clear cogent evidence and galvanizing realisation how work forces like the justice who has power and control. and filed with dogmatism and contempt. can decline the life and contentment of people like Jaybird.

He so realizes that being a mountain adult male is something that is ageless ; a mountain adult male would ever be a mountain adult male. The writer Don Berry asks the sincere yet affecting inquiry of what is left for mountain work forces if they have reached the last of the frontiers.Since Oregon has already fallen into the appreciation of civilisation. with merely the great ocean beyond.

what are left for mountain work forces to make? The freedom that the mountain work forces enjoyed in their seemingly eternal ventures have come to discontinue. and the civilisation would forever oppress the hope of achieving such same freedom. This message and world was compared to how the contemplations of the Moon can non be everlastingly unbroken alive in the H2O. can non be trapped. merely as freedom can everlastingly be gone when it eventually fades.

Chemical reactions and ContemplationsThe point for contemplation for the book is rich and clear. The writer vividly recalls the battles and eventual disappearing of the lives of mountain work forces. who relishes the life in the wild and in the mountains. But it was a life that would non last as they had been pushed to the border of their land by the vanquishers who invades in the name of civilisation. The narrative is intriguing yet heartbreaking for it is how civilizations and passions die and fade.

The spirit of the mountain work forces died. because the moving ridges of civilisation have already swept through the last frontier – Oregon.Based on history. it recalls how the work forces of the mountains. how the old ways and old traditions has been cast aside as needfully result of following the civilised ways.

During the mid-1800s. the concluding traces of freedom of the mountain work forces. which is Oregon. has eventually fallen into the custodies of the civilized. and the monetary value is clear and non-negotiable. Freedom for the mountain work forces.

who lives at the border and ignores the confines of the jurisprudence. is necessary to be forgotten. for the civilised universe scowls at their ways. Although the narrative weaved from the imaginativenesss of the writer. it rings true of what occurred in the old America.

It is non merely mountain work forces. but besides indigens and Indians who have bit by bit lost the freedom in order to give manner to come on. The narrative recalls the unforgiving people in power whose infliction of civilisation comes with dogmatism and favoritism. The book is a powerful recollection of the historical battles of mountain work forces who no longer exists as they were easy eliminated by the dictates of civilisation. The history of the American Pacific Northwest is so field with profusion.

and has eternal narratives to state.This is what makes the book interesting. for it provides a absorbing mixture of contemplations and historical remembrances. The writer recounts how the white populations has taken over the land. and put an terminal to the lives and civilization of the indigens populating in it.

Although whether this infliction of civilisation is good or bad is arguable. what is definite possibly is that there were lost liquors as the lands of the Northwest was taken over. And this is so true in history. The book teaches the value of being faithful to your history and to where you come from.Even as Jaybird decides to get away from the life of a mountain adult male and get down anew. his past ever confronts him.

and he discovers that at the terminal of the twenty-four hours. the civilisation that he chose over his old ways would finally be the one to reject him. A mountain adult male would ever be a mountain adult male. There is no shame in being at place in outside the bounds of the civilised universe and there is no incorrect in enjoying nature and the mountains. What is in fact sad is how this life has been forgotten by the society as we have been taken over by the technological promotions that frown on the lives of them mountain work forces.The writer besides gives the changeless reminder that one time upon a clip.

there were indigens that roamed across the American land. who lived the life that was filled with carefree and freedom. This was a life that was given up. voluntary or otherwise.

but deserves to be recalled and remembered. Don Berry invariably reminds us that we must non turn our dorsums on the people that one time was. and he tells the universe that the civilisation that we are enjoying now was non for free. it came at a really high monetary value so.

Reference Berry. Don. ( 1973 ) . Moontrap. USA: Ballantine Books.