ACCUSTOMED, CEREMONIOUS
 |
| My Father's Parents in 1969
Willard Samson Carriker (1898 - 1974) Melvina Adeline Beavers Carriker (1901 - 1981) |
Notice that Grandma is holding Timmy (her little Chihuahua)
on this year's rendition
of the traditional walk!
Happy Times! Of course literature abounds with beautiful descriptions of autumnal holiday walks, joyful, mellow, and long - remembered. However, I want to take a different direction this year -- a road perhaps less traveled -- and look at some unsuccessful literary walking experiences, starting with the utterly gloomy opening line of Jane Eyre:
the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds
so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that
futher out-door exercise was now out of the question."
~ Charlotte Bronte ~
Well, no one can help the weather. But even under perfect conditions--
"There was a good crystal frost in the air; it cut the nose and made the lungs blaze like a Christmas tree inside; you could feel the cold light going on and off, all the branches filled with invisible snow. He listened to the faint push of his soft shoes through autumn leaves with satisfaction . . . ."
--the walk can still take a bad turn, as happens in Ray Bradbury's story "The Pedestrian," written in 1951 -- 72 years ago, set in 2053 -- 30 years from now!
The main character, Leonard Mead, loves nothing more than to go out for a walk, stepping "into that silence that was the city at eight o'clock of a misty evening in November; peering "down long moonlit avenues of sidewalk" and walking "for hours and miles." Even though the sidewalks are slowly disappearing due to overgrowth and lack of maintenance, he still makes his way, breathing deep, examining a random leaf, and whispering quietly as he passes the dark houses of his neighbors: "Hello, in there." Unfortunately for Leonard, taking a walk has become a suspect activity, and one night he is apprehended and taken into custody by the police, who cannot understand why he is not safely indoors watching television.
Police: What are you doing out?
Leonard: Walking.
Police: Walking!
Leonard: Just walking.
Police: Walking where? For what?
Leonard: Walking for air. Walking to see.
Police: Have you done this often?
Leonard: Every night for years.
Found in the collection Twice 22
(pp 16 - 20)
With no further explanation or justification, Leonard is taken "To the Psychiatric Center for Research on Regressive Tendencies." Poor Leonard. He is aware that "In ten years of walking by night or day, for thousands of miles, he had never met another person walking, not one in all that time." But he never realized that it would be held against him. Sadly, in the mid - 21st Century, going out for a walk in the fresh air is deemed "regressive" and perceived as a threat to the normality of the neighborhood.
Apparently, the same suspicion of pedestrians holds true in Canada as well as the United States. In Alice Munro's short story "Simon's Luck" (written in 1978, around 25 years after Bradbury's "Pedestrian"), Rose looks forward to a slower pace and a change of scenery in her life, but her expectations are soon thwarted:
"'Country life,' she said. 'I came here with some ideas about how I would live. I thought I would go for long walks on the deserted country roads. And the first time I did, I heard a car coming tearing along on the gravel behind me. I got well off. Then I heard shots. I was terrfied. I hid in the bushes and a car came roaring past, weaving all over the road -- and they were shooting out of the windows. I cut back through the fields and told the woman at the store I thought we should call the police. She said oh, yes weekends the boys get a case of beer in the card they go out shooting groundhogs. Then she said, what were you doing up that road anyway? I could see she thought going for walks by yourself was a lot more suspicious than shooting groudhogs. There were lots of things like that.'"Contrary to Rose's pastoral vision, sometimes it is safer to take a walk in the city, though -- as Leonard learns -- not always. In the quest for pedestrian - friendliness, the walker must always be wary -- of rules and restrictions, of cars and all manner of anything mechanized, of impatience and intolerance. It should be so easy, to open your door and set out unimpeded by equipment, with the exception of a walking stick, should you so desire. You should not have to drive somewhere to go for a walk, but, alas, that is so often the best way. Despite the various hurdles and speed bumps tossed across the path, we must remain inspired (particularly here in Virginia!) by the words of the late, great (and yes, admittedly flawed) Thomas Jefferson:
Found in the collection Who Do You Think You Are?
(pp 201 - 02, emphasis added)
Habituate yourself to walk very far."
I think it's safe to say that solitary walkers -- Leonard Mead, Rose, Thomas Jefferson -- take to the pavement in search of inner peace and quiet, some time out in the world while simultaneously alone inside their heads. I thought about their troubles as pedestrians when reading Steve Almond's commentary on the "inner life":
"To focus on the inner life today -- to read books, to think deeply, to imagine with no ulterior agenda, to reflect on painful or confusing experiences [to take a walk!] -- is to defy the clamoring edicts of our age, the buy messages, the ingrained habits of passive consumption and complaint. It is not yet a crime, merely an arcane and isolating practice."
William Stoner and the Battle for the Inner Life
[Recommended by Ned; see also Stoner; and Victoria]
Walk while you may! Walk very far!
Next Fortnightly Post
Thursday, December 14th
Between now and then, read
THE QUOTIDIAN KIT ~ "Persimmons"
my shorter, almost daily blog posts
www.dailykitticarriker.blogspot.com
Looking for a good book? Try
KITTI'S LIST ~ More Alice Munro
my running list of recent reading
www.kittislist.blogsppot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment