“Perhaps I gave myself far too much credit for summoning the strength to throw my terrycloth slippers under the bed and walk out the door, but I didn’t care. We all have our mountains.”(p.77) (p.55 in course packet)
Lopez describes her road trip as a “mountain” that she has to conquer. Everyone has their goals that they wish to fulfill, and hers is to show the world that she can travel the country on a motorcycle. Several times throughout the story, Lopez refers to trying to claim the title of “alpha dog” and fails in doing so when C-cup is around stealing her thunder. When her companion starts showing some incompetence on the road, Lopez quickly dismisses her taking on the road alone. Here she’s finally able to show her independence by making it to her destination in one piece proving that women can travel on the road and survive just as well.
From the first sentence in the reading to the end, as an audience, we get the feeling that the author is a very strong & independent woman who shrouds her perspective of the world, both at home and on the road, in cynicism. This quote seems to humanize her larger than life opinions on the world. This point in the story struck me because there is a definite shift in tone regarding the journey Lopez in undertaking. First, she sees the journey as a challenge, something that she could do as well as men or anyone else who would challenge her "alpha dog status." This is clearly a shift from other "road trip authors" and their approaches to road trips. While here we see she comments on her "mountain" to be this great journey that has become less and less appealing as she loses and eventually recovers her beloved mess kit and then compels her companion to leave after tell her she was truly the one who killed her cat. She begins to doubt whether or not she can actually complete this journey she started to show the world and herself that she is truly the” alpha-dog." Here we see a crack in the cynical armor Lopez uses to protect herself from the outside world.
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