Why does Gilbert believe Eustace is the last American man?
Gilbert believes Eustace to be the last American man because he is living off the wilderness and is like a modern-day Daniel Boone. He left his home when he was 17 and moved into the Appalachian Mountains. He made fire with sticks, wore skins from the animals he killed with his own bare hands, and just lived in the wild. Eustace even calls himself a “Man of Destiny”. He knows modern Americans don’t share his same outlook on life and wants to convince them to give up on what they believe in – which is to say a materialistic lifestyle – and join him.
To Gilbert, Eustace is a symbol for what men should be like; Eustace is this man who is rugged and outdoorsy. He is the last American man that lives in a tepee, tracks 30-40 miles through the woods per day, and eats animals right off the branch he might of found them on (e.g. him tying a noose around a birds neck). Eustace is the last American man because he knows how to live in the wild; he is a self-created rustic mountain man.
A man like Eustace is pretty much a memory of the books we were told when we were little. We heard stories of men chasing a frontier, and Eustace represents all of that. He is the only recent one - the last American man.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Eustace is the Last American Man
Posted by Lauren at 4:23 PM
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2 comments:
Hey Lauren,
I agree with you and the reasons you have presented about why Gilbert believes Eustace is the last American man. He hiked the Appalachian Mountains as a teenager, which is something that you don't hear about anyone attempting to do now-a-days. The only time that we have actually heard about an accomplishment similar to that is like tales from when we were younger. He also learned to create for himself, such as food, clothing, and housing, which I personally believe is like outstanding to be able to do this stuff by yourself. However, I do not think that I am a fan of how he does it, i.e. how he gets his food (buck incident).
But nice blog girl!
-Ieysha
Lauren-
Gilbert definitely did have her reasons for naming Eustace Conway as the last American man, and I agree with you what had to say about that. There are getting to be fewer and fewer people who still live in the woods and the wilderness because they don’t see that lifestyle as fun. I’m one of those people. I just have no desire to live in the woods for the rest of my life. I don’t think I would go so far as to see that he is the absolute final person to do that, as I’m sure there are one or two other people doing the same thing. Also, it depends on how you define “American man”. As I said in class, the lifestyles of people in the wilderness for the first 100 years after the founding of our country changed dramatically. Each generation living in the wilderness changed a little bit so it’s hard to say that Eustace Conway is the last American man.
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