Divesting oneself and its implications for society

Both Estwick Evans and Roderick Nash discuss how the wilderness helps an individual learn more about himself and escape from the negative aspects of civilization. However, when closely analyzing the word choice both authors use, it becomes clear that they are really saying so much more than that. Evans specifically discusses how he wants "to divest [him]self of the factitious habits, prejudices, and imperfections of civilization" (344). The word "divest", meaning undress, has some very interesting implications in the context which he uses it. By expressing his need to divest society, it implies that he feels stifled and constrained by it, similar to someone wearing a bundle of jackets on a hot day. Much more significant though, is the unspoken implication that this metaphorically clothing is not as natural as the raw nakedness Evans would like to achieve. The clothing represents society and Evans' need to divest it to discover the "true nature" of man indicates that the raw essence of who a person is is stifled by the society he or she lives in. Nash too offers a similar interpretation of how some romantic individuals view society. He describes the wilderness as an "ideal stage for the Romantic individual to exercise the cult that he frequently made of his own soul" (344). The idea of a stage implies getting into a character or a new mindset in which one has less creative restrictions. Nash comparing the wilderness to a stage is significant because he is saying that the wilderness brings out a different side in people, in which they feel less restricted by the constraints of society. The stage is where they can not only be their true selves, but more importantly, the people they want to be. This idea seems contradictory, because normally when one is on stage, he or she is in a different role. However, the stage of the person's own soul is a true reflection of how the person in question views himself, as opposed to how society views him. So often people define themselves by how others define them, but in the wilderness, Nash expresses that these romantic individuals can not only escape from social judgment, but truly express themselves. Both authors are indicating that society can be a stifling thing that suppresses an individual's true spirit, and therefore, people escape to the wilderness to rediscover their true selves.