Essay Questions

What elements serve to make Kurt a complex symbol of masculinity?

The torturer who takes on Davidson as an apprentice as a means of instructing her in the ways of camel training speaks in dialogue written to replicate his thick Germanic accent: “…you vill come to verk for me here for eight months und zen you vill buy vone of my camelts.” This precise decision to write dialogue for a character in dialect is unique to Kurt and as such might very well immediately stimulate visions of Nazis in the average reader’s mind. This is part of what makes him such a complicated symbolic figure in the story and it is essential. Before the reader gets to know Kurt, she gives a description of the reality behind the stereotyped image of the “Aussie male. The modern version of this figure is “biased, bigoted, boring…brutal. His enjoyments in life are limited to fighting, shooting and drinking.” He is “Crocodile” Dundee minus the charm, humor and engaging accent. Though Kurt speaks in a “German” accent, he is actually an immigrant from Austria. Thus, he is twice over an “Aussie" of sorts and becomes the embodiment of the reality of this romanticized icon of patriarchy precisely because he manifests none of the romantic fictional characteristics.

Can this book be fairly and accurately termed a feminist text?

Although intended as a journey of self-discovery based upon the crazy idea of walking across the center desert of Australia, the original idea underwent a drastic change as a result of making the deal with National Geographic. Overnight, that private odyssey transformed into a public spectacle of sorts and part of the spectacle was a distinct shift in the thematic foundation. Much to her surprise, the story of her trek across the outback had changed her every bit as much as the journey itself. When it was over she was shocked to learn that she “was now public property. I was now a feminist symbol.” What is essential to understand about Davidson’s account of her fulfillment of what she right from the beginning terms an insane idea is the full extent that turning it from private to public had upon all aspects of the telling. Without the accompaniment of the photographer snapping images to be published in National Geographic magazine, the trek would have remained private and the public likely would not have turned her into a feminist symbol. That there is a definite feminist theme running throughout the text may therefore possibly be attributed either somewhat or entirely as a reaction to the public’s shaping of the journey.

What is the underlying, unspoken significance of the anthropomorphism exhibited in the story?

The author writes of her camels and dog as if they were human beings throughout, attributing emotional awareness and psychological motivations usually reserved for the human mind. For instance, the inhumane treatment of one her camels inspires this assertion: “She remembered humans and hated them.” Although this alignment of animals as equal to people in terms of loving and being loved is normal enough to be a daily occurrence for millions of pet owners, the attribution of humanity in this case penetrates to a deeper level. This is a story, after all, about a woman who quite literally spends much of the narrative isolated and alienated from all human contact and who is left with nothing but animals for companionship. This is not a case of a person choosing to remove herself from human society as throughout the narrative it is made quite clear that Davidson can make friends and enjoy the company of other people. The anthropomorphic tendencies are thereby best understood not a realization of a desire to break away from human contact, but as a substitute for the lack. In this way, the story becomes an examination of the psychological effects upon a person who is deprived of close human contact in situations involving completely isolation.