Travel Essays · Chapter
The Desert of Wyoming explained
The narrator describes the desolate landscape of Wyoming and the Rockies, his illness on the train, and reflects on the railroad as a symbol of modern achievement.
What happens
The narrator describes the desolate landscape of Wyoming and the Rockies, his illness on the train, and reflects on the railroad as a symbol of modern achievement. He includes a letter from an eleven-year-old boy detailing a tragic Indian attack on his emigrant family.
Themes in this chapter
Travel and Discovery
The chapter details the physical and emotional hardships of crossing the Wyoming desert and Rockies by train.
Nature and the Sublime
The landscape is depicted as bleak, monotonous, and overwhelming, evoking a sense of the sublime in its desolation.
Mortality and the Passage of Time
The boy's letter recounts the death of his brother Tom and the constant threat of death during the journey.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“To cross such a plain is to grow homesick for the mountains.”
Traveling across the flat plain makes one long for the mountains.
Expresses the narrator's yearning for the familiar landscape.
“The most passive were continually and roughly shaken by the movement of the train; others stirred, turned, or stretched out their arms like children; it was surprising how many groaned and murmured in their sleep.”
The sleeping passengers were constantly jostled by the train's motion, with many groaning and murmuring in their sleep.
Describes the discomfort of sleeping on the train.
“If it be romance, if it be contrast, if it be heroism that we require, what was Troy town to this?”
If we seek romance, contrast, or heroism, how does the story of Troy compare to this?
Highlights the epic scale of the railroad's construction and the human drama it encompasses.