In the beginning, Owens uses the persona of the unthinking, cocky businessman. He is in the mountains to support and carry out “a plan of which [he] heartily approves.” (para.2) He is at the extreme end of his way of thinking, believing that the Forest Service is right in their idea about wilderness. “At the end of those five days, not a trace of the shelter remained, and I felt good, very smug in fact, about returning the White Pass meadow to it’s “original” state.” (para.3) He shows us that he has no doubts and completely agrees that in order to restore the wilderness, he must carry out the plan. As he heads back down the trail, he says that his, “mind was

He now assumes his ashamed and thoughtful persona. As the women approach, he feels, “growing amazement that, by the time [they] were face-to-face, had become awe.” (para.4) From the beginning, he has a sudden respect for these two women. We can already see that when they speak to him, he will listen, that he will be open and trusting of what they have to say. Upon hearing that they are on their way to White Pass, Owens completely changes his persona. Now, instead of showing the confidence and smugness he did with his original persona, he now shows that he is ashamed and calls himself ignorant. “I wanted to excuse myself, to edge around these elders and flee to the trailhead and my car, drive back to the district station and keep going south.” (para.9) He shows us the inner conflict he is experiencing and his reaction to the news he has heard. At the moment, he hasn’t quite come to grips with his new point of view. He begins to feel ashamed, not because he realizes his view on !

s wrong, we are ready to hear how we should be thinking.

Unless Americans, and all human beings, can learn to imagine themselves as intimately and inextricably related to every aspect of the world they inhabit, with the extraordinary responsibilities such relationship entails – unless they can learn what the indigenous peoples of the Americas knew and often still know – the earth simply will not survive (para.12).

Some topics in this essay:
Pass Owens, Peak Wilderness, White Pass, Louis Owens, Pass Shelter, Unless Americans, Forest Service, Effectively Owens, lecturing teacher, white pass, , cocky businessman, persona lecturing teacher, gains trust, nature’s beauty, wilderness final, willing admit, straw figure, unthinking cocky, ashamed thoughtful persona, unthinking cocky businessman, view wilderness,