Synthesized answer
John Murphy's character and dialogue suggest a nuanced relationship between guides, tourists, and the accessibility of natural wonders. Murphy expresses a pragmatic skepticism about tourists returning ("folks never does come back when they say they will") [1], yet he is also confident in his ability to improve access by building an "easy" trail [1]. This indicates a guide who understands the transient nature of visitors but is also invested in enhancing their experience and the perceived accessibility of the landscape.
His dialogue about building a trail to the base of an upper fall and his comparison to a new trail in Indian Canyon [1] points to an ongoing process of "taming" or making natural wonders more approachable for tourists. Murphy's quiet confidence in creating an "easy" trail suggests a desire to cater to less experienced visitors, while his knowledge of various routes, like the old Mono Trail, implies a deeper understanding of the wilderness that might not be immediately apparent to tourists [4]. The passage doesn't explicitly detail the evolving relationship between tourists, guides, and the accessibility of natural wonders, but it portrays Murphy as a guide who…
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From the book
wam to-day. "John Murphy, guide," as with quaint dignity he writes his name, stood near me, also looking up at the Fall. "When you come back next year, 's ye say you're comin', but then folks never does come back when they sav they will," said Murphy, "I'll hev a trail built right to the base o' thet upper fall." "Why, Mr. Murphy, where will you put it?" I said, looking along the sheer gray wall three thousand feet high. "There's plenty of places. I'll make it as broad 'n' easy a trail 's there is in this valley," said Murphy quietly; "'tain't half so steep as 'tis up Indian Canyon, where…
wn into the Valley! and I said: "Tell them I am not one whit tired, Mr. Murphy." "Well, I'm reely glad," replied Murphy. "I was reely a'most afraid to ask ye." When we bade Murphy good-bye the next day, we found it hard to make him take the small gift we meant as token of our friendship, and our appreciation of his kindness and faithfulness as guide. At last he consented, saying: "I've refused a great many times to take anythin' this way. But I'll tell ye what I shall do. When I get a place of my own, I shall jest put this money into some books, and write you folks' names in 'em to remember…
s had to stop for breath every two or three minutes. But to all my propositions to walk Murphy replied with firm denial. "You'll be tired enough, come night, anyhow," he said, with a droll mixture of compassion and approbation in his voice: "you stay while ye be; that horse can do it well enough." But he led his own more than half the way. New flowers, and new ferns, that I had not found before in all Ahwahne, hung thick on the rocky wall, which, facing south, has sun all day, and can make the most of Ahwahne's short summers. Every cleft was full of color or of nodding green. High in the very…
t short time the usual amount of conflicting testimony had been gathered as to the trail and the condition of the river. "The trail was finished;" "the trail was only half done;" "the river was much too high to be forded;" "a man had come across yesterday, without trouble." "I expect ye'd kind o' hate to give up, an' come down into the valley agin?" said Murphy, inquiringly, as we rode out into the meadows. "Mr. Murphy," I replied, "I shall not give up, and come down into the valley again. There must be some other way of getting across, higher up. Is there not?" If Mr. Murphy perceived the…
ealed the speakers. I hurried around it, and found myself facing four men working with pickaxes and spades on the trail. A small fire was burning on the rocks, and a big iron pot of coffee boiled and bubbled above it, exhaling delicious fragrance. The men leaned on their tools and looked at me. I looked at Murphy. Nobody spoke. This was the end of the new trail! "I s'pose ye can get through well enough: the bushes are cut down," said one. Murphy said something in a tone so low I could not hear; I fear it was not complimentary to my riding. "Mr. Murphy," said I, "I would rather ride all day…
More questions about this book
- How does the author's vivid description of Yosemite's formidable landscape (e.g., "granite wall, so straight," "sheer gray wall," "daunting Indian Canyon") amplify the meaning of Reuben's escape and the author's interpretation of it as "the spell of Ahwahne"?
- Analyze the contrasting perspectives presented in the text—the biographer's view of Reuben's escape versus the author's, and John Murphy's pragmatic approach to trail-building versus the narrator's desire for a challenging route. What do these differences reveal about conflicting values regarding nature and human intervention in 19th-century America?
- The narrator states, "If it had been my birthday of my eightieth year in Ahwahne, I could not have clung to the valley more fondly." How does this personal longing connect with or diverge from the narrative of Reuben's deep attachment and ultimate flight from the valley, particularly concerning the idea of belonging or ownership in the wilderness?
- The text opens by distinguishing between Eleanor Roosevelt's "My Day" and Helen Hunt Jackson's "My Day in the Wilderness." Although the excerpt is clearly Jackson's, how might the *idea* of these two distinct "My Day" columns—one personal and reflective, the other syndicated and public—inform our understanding of the author's purpose in recounting her "day in the wilderness"?