Desert Places

Desert Places by Robert Frost: Summary and Analysis

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The woods has its place in nature and it is also a part of a bigger picture. The speaker is so alone inside that he feels that he is not a part of anything. Nature has a way of bringing all of her parts together to act as one. Even the animals are a part of this wintery scene. The snow throws its blanket of whiteness over everything and to him it is a feeling of numbness. The speaker has lost his enthusiasm for life. He can not express his feelings easily because of this feeling of numbness.

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The speaker is also in denial about feeling alone. He is at a stage where he just does not care about too much and he is feeling a bit paranoid. The speaker was starting to realize that he had shut himself off to the world. He recognized that this winter place was like his life. He had let depression and loneliness creep into his life and totally take over like the snow had crept up on the plain and silently covered it.

If he continues to let these feelings run his life, eventually everything would be snuffed out much like the snow does to nature. This poem is about stopping to enjoy life or as the cliche goes, stopping to smell the roses. The speaker in this poem was a very busy man who always had obligations to fufill and places to go. A feeling of regret is present. The man would like to stay and enjoy this private nature scene longer but he knows that he has other things to do.

Again, Frost gives us a beautiful nature scene but this time we enjoy welcome solitude. This poem expresses the joy of nature. The speaker seems concerned about what the rest of society would think about him just stopping in the middle of nowhere for no apparent reason.

His horse represents society. He admits that just stopping does seem odd. He is also somewhat concerned about the man who owns the woods. The man almost feels guilty for looking so lovingly at this other man's woods. I think that the speakers life may be a little better off since he stopped to take a deep breath and enjoy all that really matters, the simple things.

The settings were exactly the same; calm, dark wintery evenings, but they express totally different feelings. The other is very happy and it makes you wish that winter was already here. These two poems are very different but they are also the same in some ways.

They show two extremes of the same emotion. Being alone can be positive or negative it just depends on the state of the mind. Loneliness can be very depressing or it can be a time to collect your thoughts without the pressures of the outside world crashing down. Winter is the perfect season to reflect upon when expressing solitude. Winter can make everything seem dead. It can be a very depressing time of year. Snow covers everything living and the cold seems to chill to the very soul at times.

Everywhere she went, the curious locals surrounded her, watching everything she did. Gangs of children followed her. Washing and toilet needs became problematic. Her descriptions of all this convey her stress, but still come off as entertaining and even thoughtful. In the fifteen years since Tracks , Ms Davidson had become an accomplished travel writer. Life will do that for you in fifteen years. She does describe beautiful locales and engaging, hospitable, even loving people. Still, it is evident that her time in India many months overwhelmed her with the cultural isolation, the political corruption, poverty, disease, and the general wretchedness around her.

In one passage, she makes a poignant metaphor for that wretchedness with a description of the prevalence of human excrement: Around the rim of the dam, twists and curls of excrement slowly leeched disease into the water…Shit is rarely mentioned in the tourist guides to India. Nor are those public loos in which faeces fill the corners and line the walls as far as the ceiling in such positions as to beggar imagination…omnipresent, human shit. That repulsive prevalence impressed her as a picture of one of the two, coexisting, worlds she came to see clearly.

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Her struggle with that duality is a continuation of her experience in Australia. In both adventures she found the safe, comfortable world of air conditioning, cars, and bathrooms, existed together with one of insufferable heat, walking, and human wastes of all sorts. Her Indian journey occurred mostly in the latter. She returned with a picture of the despoiling of the natural world—our beautiful home—that makes a simple travelogue seem pointless. It is a touching picture of what is all but lost.

I consider Desert Places a valuable piece of travel literature because Ms Davidson does not romanticize the world she finds. Rather, she seeks honestly to understand what she experienced and not gloss over any of the ugliness that was a big part of it. She achieved insight, but at the cost of suffering. She found beauty, but had to dig deep. I think the same is required for anyone seeking to find understanding in their own deserts. I bought this book without doing more than glancing at the title and the cover picture, always a dangerous way to choose a book.

I assumed it would be something about desert ecology. The author apparently contracted with a magazine to produce an article about traveling with pastoral nomads on their seasonal trek through the desert in northern India. While most of the book takes place in the desert, the author doesn't say very much about it. She is focussed on the pastoralists, impoverished peopl I bought this book without doing more than glancing at the title and the cover picture, always a dangerous way to choose a book.

She is focussed on the pastoralists, impoverished peoples whose way of life is disappearing fast, along with the grazing land they need to keep their animals sheep and camels alive. India's population has grown to the point that it can barely sustain itself on what the land grows, and much of the vegetation in that part of India in and around the Thar desert in Rajastan and Gujarat has been consumed in the constant effort to feed animals, feed cooking fires, and house people.

Davidson writes as much about her mental state as she does anything else, which can be exasperating, but given what she was going through I felt the emotions were understandable, and that experiencing anything like she did would require one to cope with a great deal of emotional stress.

There appeared to be some sort of background story in her life at the time of the book which she never explains, so you do get the impression of being left in the dark about her personal life. Nevertheless she has a great deal to say about modern India, and the treatment of the poor in general. I found the book informative and enjoyable, but I can see where some would find her running commentary on her emotional state annoying. May 10, Sally Edsall rated it really liked it Shelves: Ms Davidson is a tough woman, who for some reason sees the need to put herself into the most excrutiatingly isolating situations.

I found the book fascinating, and was overwhelmed at times by the sense of being so alone within a country where there is the most confronting closeness of human being with human being. This is an India I know i would not be equipped to deal with. The need to retreat every so often from the sheer hard grind of trying to accomplish the task she set herself.

I know i would have had to find a 5 star, deep-bath resort long before Davidson welcomed the comfort of a barely basic hotel room with hot water! The lives of the rabbari as presented to us through Davidson's eyes and god knows they are hardly likely to be presented any other way! I know the attraction of the 'exotic' can lead to patronising people, but davidson never does that, and does not allow her dare i suggest, midle class, western, educated? Davidson's travel writing is unlike the vast majority of travel writing out there. She writes frankly about sticky travel issues like cultural relativism and deeply ingrained prejudice.

She addresses questions that have no real answers and acknowledges this. Strongly aware of her privilege she turns her critical eye both towards herself for being able to move so freely and for staying occasionally in hotels and towards Indian society in which she can get more medicine for a dog than a women ill Davidson's travel writing is unlike the vast majority of travel writing out there.

Strongly aware of her privilege she turns her critical eye both towards herself for being able to move so freely and for staying occasionally in hotels and towards Indian society in which she can get more medicine for a dog than a women ill from childbirth. Her writing is self aware, critical, understanding, and thought provoking. Unlike most travel books that glamorize and romanticize the journey, Davidson writes what those of us who have travelled for long periods of time in very different places know, that travel is hard, and sometimes you're miserable and hate everyone around you even when they've done nothing wrong.

Some times all you want to do is get back to comfort. But for various and numerous reasons that Davidson discusses, we keep going, because we want to or we have to or because some part of you says 'but you must' Jan 06, Elly Sands rated it it was amazing. Maybe because I spent a month in India many years ago that I found this book so very interesting. I could relate to many of the authors observations. Hate is a strong word perhaps frustration would be better. I vividly remember the streets filled with the chaos of people, cows, carts and traffic and the incessant noise not to mention the bathroom situations.

The most unsettling experience I had was being surrounded by Indian women touching my hair and pulling a Maybe because I spent a month in India many years ago that I found this book so very interesting. The most unsettling experience I had was being surrounded by Indian women touching my hair and pulling at my clothes to feel the fabric but then followed by their kindness of giving me their silver bangles. It's a country of seeming contradictions, at least through American eyes. The author really immersed herself in the life of the nomadic tribe she traveled with. Everyday was another challenge.

Sometimes I wondered if she was crazy or courageous to put up with all she did. Well I hung on her every word and truly relived the shock and wonderment of India. Aug 25, Katie rated it really liked it. Desert Places was an unexpected find. I randomly chose it from the World History shelf at the library because "the cover looks interesting" I actually said that to myself. After reading the first few pages, I was not sure I would finish but then suddenly I was hooked and by the time I reached the last 30 pages I began to read it extra slowly, as I did not want for it to come to an end.

An incredible insight to the daily lives and special occasions of a nomadic people of India as observed Desert Places was an unexpected find. An incredible insight to the daily lives and special occasions of a nomadic people of India as observed through a Western perspective. Also, an astounding story of the trials of world travel, the challenges of language barriers and cultural expectations or lack of and the personal joys and sufferings of traveling through the desert landscape. One of my favorites! Jan 16, Sashi added it Recommended to Sashi by: Suggested by a colleague at work.

Funny at times, heartbreaking otherwise to realise how we Asian Indians can be perceived by others. Very interesting, about an Australian woman travelling with rabari tribes in Gujarat.

Unlike most travel writers, she doesn't cover up the truth about India--she tells her experiences in a very feeling way. I am sorry she had to go through what she did. Lets face it, India is like that. But the author still has fond memories and affection for India, which is ver Suggested by a colleague at work.

But the author still has fond memories and affection for India, which is very commendable if you ask me. Jul 14, Mona rated it really liked it Shelves: It was recommended to me; and it met my reading challenge criteria being connected to the book before it, Desert Terroir, both having the same word in their tittles REVIEW: The author is a journalist so she knows how to write. She has a critical eye both for evaluating what she sees and what is within herself.

Reading about nomadic migrant groups in India on the one hand made me want to run out and go to India. On the other hand it scared me about going to India. How would I be able to deal with the hardships. The extreme heat, filth and poverty. The corruption, having to pay to do the most ordinary things walk down a road, catch a rabbit. The biggest thing is that since there are so many people and communal way of life is much more prevalent, especially with the nomadic castes, that constantly being in someone's presence would be difficult for me.

Then having them stare at you constantly because you are a foreigner. That would be maddening. The author does a good job of winding her way through the cultural complexities and her own complex feelings about the culture. This book is Robyn Davidson's travelog of her trip in northwest India with the nomadic Rabari people.

Like so many other tribes around the world, they are losing their nomadic way of life to the modern age. The life of the Rabari people is brutally rough, and Davidson's time with them was also rough. I liked her honesty about her trip, even though the extreme poverty in India was sad and shocking. But many beautiful and heartening events are sprinkled though out the book. And I also thought some This book is Robyn Davidson's travelog of her trip in northwest India with the nomadic Rabari people.

And I also thought some of her metaphors were amazing.

Desert Places - Robert Frost

It is definitely worth reading. Jul 05, Le rated it it was amazing.

An educational, enthralling, and beautifully written travelogue. It's not always an easy or pleasant read, but it's not meant to be. If you have ever been the least bit curious about Indian culture and travel, this book is a must-read. Feb 19, Sara Gray rated it it was amazing. With this book, Davidson has been added to the list of my favorite authors. Stubborn, pithy, compassionate and insightful, this book records her time hanging out with the last migratory nomads of India in the early s. She doesn't shy away from listing the harshest truths of living in India--its extreme poverty, corruption, and despair--but she also keeps well aware of her own position and privilege within its system.

It's a gorgeous book, if hard to read at times due to what she puts herself With this book, Davidson has been added to the list of my favorite authors. It's a gorgeous book, if hard to read at times due to what she puts herself through to finish her assignment. Tourism is part of the commodity logic of a market system; it has a clear and circumscribed place in that scheme of things, but travel the way Davidson does it is a kind of existentialist, degree zero activity, from which, however, you can actually learn something, because she is a good, vivid writer with neither false pride nor phony self-deprecation, willing to strip away layer after layer of her own illusions to try to get at whatever truth the experience has.

But you also learn something about how extreme cultural and economic difference have stretched human solidarity almost to the breaking point of a completely insane each against all, and exhausted the natural world, and yet both continue to hold, so tenuously, the possibility of repair and renewal. And, in clear and compelling detail, the very particular way this unfolds in a tiny slice of the vast, complex societies of India.

You should read Robyn Davidson if you want to take a trip to somewhere very real. Nov 27, Christine Busuttil rated it liked it. I bought this book straight after I had read Tracks as I had so enjoyed being with Robyn on her arduous yet adventurous and uplifting journey through part of the Australian outback. I had also spent eighteen months in India ,a month or so of that in Rajasthan when I was in my early twenties. I was particularly interested in her impression of India and more details of Rajasthan.

However before I started reading I had ,like Robyn ,not taken into account the fact that taking camels across a desert ar I bought this book straight after I had read Tracks as I had so enjoyed being with Robyn on her arduous yet adventurous and uplifting journey through part of the Australian outback.

However before I started reading I had ,like Robyn ,not taken into account the fact that taking camels across a desert area in a country you had grown up in does not mean you are equipped to do this in another cultural area. I had always said that having travelled overland very slowly gave me time to adapt to the different ways and environments of various areas,she went straight there and was shocked ,worn down ,and confused. India is a very male dominated society particularly in rural areas. Almost three quarters of the book is about her coming to terms with how this part of the world functions battling daily against people and circumstances ,not helped by the fact that the person chosen to assist her was greedy, bigoted, egoistical ,full of himself ,and totally ignored everything she asked him to do.

When finally circumstances allow her to take on two other men towards the end of the book I started to feel her confusion and frustration slip away and the old Robyn return in her writing.

Seamus Heaney: On "Desert Places"

It was a sin how long it took me to read this. I have no idea why I had such a block it turning the pages but I suspect it was due to her winging on and on about her hardships. Isn't that the whole point of this sort of travel? It's going to be difficult, Thesiger she is not. But something bigger is going on here and she says it several times- she was under a contract to produce material for a magazine and had it not been for that she more than likely would have quit and saved all of us the time.

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There remains an important issue captured here and that is the safety of women in India, at least in the northern parts of the country where we hear of rapes taking place against both nationals and tourists alike. Having visited there myself and numerous other impoverished countries it always makes me feel uneasy as these half wits roam the nights menacing innocent people.

Take the author's account of waking up to find twenty men at the foot of her bed with heavy clubs and the smell of cheap booze on their breath. The speaker ranted that they didn't want any Christians in their country. She certainly was no Christian first off but where was the Hindu love and peace we all come to hear so much about? It's not so easy to find in India as it is in Boulder, Colorado! Jul 10, Tara rated it it was ok. I first read Davidson's "Tracks" book and loved it, so decided to try this one out, since I am also interested in India. This book quickly becomes confusing and often you can't tell what the plot is.

I struggled to r I first read Davidson's "Tracks" book and loved it, so decided to try this one out, since I am also interested in India. I struggled to read this book and had to force myself to stay with it, reading just a chapter a day. Her "Tracks" book was a quicker read and I didn't have to push myself at all to finish it. I dunno, the first part of the book was interesting, I enjoyed the middle section of the book in Gujarat, but the third part I found difficult to stick with. Written with a lot of honesty and emotion, it certainly shared the authors thoughts, balanced or not balanced - for me a case of sharing too much of the impulsive thoughts that were reversed the following day.

It ends up at 3 stars, because, as I said i did enjoy the Gujarat section of the book, and that on its own would have been 4 stars. I love this book for its honesty. Robyn Davidson battled illness, ugliness, incredible tiredness and a sense of absolute futility in the journey she undertook. At the end she is tired and spiritually downcast and the reader absolutely understands what brought her to this spiritual desert, but the book is full of hard wisdom about the struggle to survive, to make the journey through life with as much grace as one can muster.

Oct 03, Moira Eberle rated it really liked it.

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