An Analysis Of Gary Ferguson's The Carry Home

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In Gary Ferguson’s “The Carry Home”, he narrates his life with his wife Jane. He talks about their adventures in nature, her death, and the scattering of her ashes. Ferguson tells us how he deals with the grief of losing Jane. In the book “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed we hear about her life. Strayed writes about her childhood, her mother’s death, and her hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. Strayed also tells us about how she deals with the grief of losing her mother. Although nature plays a huge role in both of their grieving processes, Ferguson and Strayed had two very different experiences with it. Ferguson uses his friends and community to help him. He has a strong support system around him. Strayed takes the opposite approach. She isolates herself from anyone …show more content…

Strayed carries a lot of anger in her heart throughout her book. She is mad at her mom for dying. While Ferguson holds no resentment or anger towards Jane for passing. These two authors also have very different views of nature and how it should be used. Strayed uses nature as a personal challenge. Ferguson uses it as something to enjoy. When he is in nature he is calmed and comforted by it. In “The Carry Home”, Ferguson mentions the very close knit community in Red Lodge, Montana. Red Lodge was the town where he and Jane had their home. He and Jane also have a lot of friends in Red Lodge. These people were there for Ferguson when Jane passed. They all brought him food, and came to comfort and remember Jane with him. Ferguson somewhat relied on his friends and community to help him get through the aftermath of Janes death. One day Ferguson was going through Janes things. He found a letter she’d written to his mom. Jane wrote “one of my biggest fears is drowning in murky water” (38). This letter shocked Ferguson. He started having a panic attack. However, they have such a solid group of

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