Common Theme in Turtle Island
In Gary Snyder's Turtle Island you begin to get a picture of the man who is writing these poems. When reading Snyder's poems, one starts to realize how distant from modern American society he is. In "I Went into the Maverick Bar" Snyder mentions he "left the earring in the car" and thus making him fit in more in the bar. He is an alien to this social setting and probably feels uncomfortable. It is not just his looks, but the perspective he views things that set him apart. In "Steak", he describes how he sees a sign with a "smiling Disney cow" and dissects the artificiality of it. While this sign was intended to attract people and make them crave the meat, it does quite the opposite to Snyder. He is in a different realm with opposing values, beliefs, and desires than most Americans. When in a conversation with two men in "Two Immortals", he seems to be more introverted than the men. The way the conversation goes seems to make them loom over Snyder as some sort of example of what American men should be while he is a foreigner. This is why Snyder started to identify himself more with Eastern mentalities than the Western ones he was born into.
Sam has a very interesting viewpoint of Gary Snyder's poems. After reading Sam's analysis and then going back to reading the poems discussed, I began to see a description of a man, who I would also assume to be Gary Snyder. I think it is intriguing that Snyder is putting himself in his poetry, which may make it more personal and relatable but I see a subliminal meaning to this person that is described through poetry. Gary Snyder clearly distinguishes the faults of humans on the world and yet he also see that the only way for change to occur is for humans to initiate the change. Snyder creates an outline of a person throughout several poems but is he describing himself or is he trying to get the reader to visualize themselves being the person in the poem?
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