Skunk Dreams

Whether it was in a football field in North Dakota, or the pine forests of the Northeast, the authors love and need for the open landscapes of the world always followed him. This want, this love, this need is the substance behind our dreams. And still the question remains: what are dreams? Are they simply a figment of our imagination? Or are they something more? Could they be a glimpse into the unknown, mysterious world of life after death? Like many other human being, the ideas of the author about life after death has evolved throughout his lifetime. There is no doubt, however, that the belief in life after death is something that brings many hope. It may, in fact, be a thing of our dreams. Erdrich says it best about what she wants of the afterlife when she wrote, “I want something of the self on whom I have worked so hard to survive the loss of the body.”

These are all tremendous life questions brought about in only the first few pages of Skunk Dreams. Erdrich uses incredible descriptive language to set the scene and grab your interest. The explanation of the skunk’s smell is expressed as something that enriches the air breaking the common idea of its stench. The essay goes on to break the norms and ideas about the nature of the dreams of animals. She perfectly expresses human knowledge on dreams when she says that we know little more about our dreams than we do about animal dreams. They could be dreaming about home, junkyards, other skunks, or possibly even what his or her life would be as a human. We simply have no way of knowing.

On this note her essay shifts focus to a more personal exploration in the feelings involved in moving from the rural, “wild” west into the cramped landscape of New England. There, her need for the open space was not just something that she thought about once in a while, it was something that ruled her life. Being cramped in the Northeast was a disease that was eating her alive from the inside out. As she writes, sometimes her urge to get out would become so great that she would drive thousands of miles just to get away. She had the need to see the horizon, as it was what she was used to from her childhood. When stuck in New England, she has to settle for the dreams of the sky, the wide open space, and most importantly its freedom. She dreamed of a great game reserve, and here she does an incredible job of connecting this part of the essay to the beginning.

Dreams sometimes seem unreachable: something that is just beyond all the obstacles in our lives, but these obstacles can be overcome. When the author finally reaches the wildlife reserve in the forests of New England, she realizes one of her dreams. There she fell in love once again with the wilderness, but this time it was different because she didn’t have to drive thousands of miles to find happiness. Dreams can be reached and obstacles can be overcome if we just have the will. Skunks certainly do, they will face an obstacle the same way. “We should take comfort from the skunk, an arrogant creature so pleased with its own devices that it never runs from harm, just turns its back in total confidence.” The skunk clearly has it all figured out.

Two Cities

The events of 9/11 hit American’s like a train wreck. People across the nation were shocked, horrified, amazed, and emotionally crushed all at the same time. The World Trade Center crashing down was an event so disturbing that Americans everywhere could hardly comprehend it. Everyone knew that the possibility of terrorist attacks exist, but this is America. That kind of thing doesn’t really happen here does it? We received our answer on that fateful day. Updike did an incredible job of expressing this feeling of disbelief in his article, “As we watched the second tower burst into ballooning flame (an intervening building had hidden the approach of the second airplane), there persisted the notion that, as on television, this was not quite real; it could be fixed; the technocracy the towers symbolized would find a way to put out the fire and reverse the damage.” His magnificently descriptive language paints a picture of the event into a clear image. It allows his readers the ability to feel what it was like watching this infamous event.

This article also brings into question the true safety of Americans across the nation. Sontag has the opinion that we are not truly safe do to the “ineptitude of American intelligence and counter-intelligence” and in today’s world, where we seem to be more worried about what we can’t do than what we can, this may be true. Too many ideas today are idealistic, not realistic. It would be great to live in a world with no terrorists, no enemies, and no violence, but in reality, this is not possible. Our intelligence needs to be strong to protect the most important right of all, life. I agree with Sontag when she says this was an attack on the world’s “self-proclaimed superpower;” however, this is not entirely fair. The United States is the largest power in the world today, and it is also the center of freedom and democracy in the world. An attack on this superpower is an attack on liberty, justice, and civilization as a whole. America is the strongest country in the world; those who doubt its strength are foolish as Sontag expressed.

America does however have a limit on this power: it is not united. The United States is almost an oxymoron in the political environment that exists here. The media and politicians alike spew “self-righteous drive” and “outright deceptions.” It seems that every day the American people simply become more subjective to the will of the crazy, deceptive, power-hungry politicians who run our country. After 9/11, we could see the power of our country while politics were forgotten for just an instant. We came together as one to ensure a safe nation for the past decade and hopefully decades to come. Part of what makes the United States the greatest and most powerful country in the world is also part of what makes it the worst. This mysterious thing is freedom. There is a balance that has to be reached between safety and freedom. Americans want to have the right to do what they want when they want to. This so called wasteful war has done one thing for the United States that its critics fail to recognize. It moved the fight that started in New York on 9/11 overseas. This “aimless” war has kept Americans safe for the past decade when according to many, Al Qaeda is stronger than ever.

My favorite part of this essay was the last paragraph by Sontag. She explored the problems and challenges America faces: its politics, arrogance, and manipulation. Today, politics has become a game playing on emotion rather than fact. “Who doubts America is strong?” Sontag says. Nobody in their right mind should. She continues, “But that’s not all America has to be.” She is completely correct. America needs to have the will to evolve and move forward so it can continue to be the best country this world has ever seen.