“Splitting” Metaphor - extended metaphor. The title of this chapter relates to the physical, mental and emotional splitting that occurs in the aftermath of Cheryl’s mother’s dead. She is literally split from her mother in the sense that she can never see her again. She is split from her family as they continue to separate away from each other in the wake of Bobbi’s death. She is emotionally split between wanting to grieve for her mother and her refusal to believe her mother is gone, thus delaying her grief. Cheryl is also facing further physical splitting through her divorce from Paul, who she still loves but can no longer be with.

“The map would be a confusion of lines in all directions, like a cracking Fourth of July sparkler with Minnesota at its inevitable center.” Simile - the ‘firework’ is a further extension on the extended metaphor that is held within the title of the chapter. The crafting here is implying, just like a firework that splits and explodes in all directions, Cheryl’s life is beginning to do the same.

“We pulled into town in the early evening, the sun dipping into the Tehachapi Mountains a dozen miles behind us to the west.” Personification - describing the day coming to an end prior to Cheryl beginning her hike on the PCT Trail. Also can be seen as metaphoric in the sense that Cheryl is moving into the ending or, close of day, on one portion of her life and is beginning to progress forward night and, following, a new day/beginning. 

“I was ravenous for love.” - Vivid or graphic language. Cheryl’s description here is so vivid/graphic that it forces the reader to consider the graphic depiction of ravenous love. The connotations for ravenous being; greedy, starved, devouring. All of which associate with and describe an intense hunger and lust for love.

“Nothing did. Nothing would. Nothing could ever bring my mother back or make it okay that she was gone.” Repetition. Emphasises the true depth of loss, grief, pain, hurt, frustration, heartache that Cheryl experienced with the passing of her mum. The repetition of ‘nothing’ reinforces the sense of loss and nothingness that Cheryl is feeling. It creates a picture of her emptiness for readers and builds on the ‘ravenous’ emptiness, desperation and starvation that is predisposed one page prior in the text.

“I would suffer. I would suffer.” Repetition - again reinforcing the same ideas as above. Connects to ‘ravenous’ in the sense that Cheryl is prepared to starve herself and inflict suffering on herself in her grief and torment.

 

“I was ravenous for love.” - Vivid or graphic language. Extremely significant idea in the text. This quote is the first clear example the reader can absorb of Cheryl’s deep sense of longing for love and healthy, safe, human interaction. Moving into extended abstract thinking, this extract of the text here sets up all other actions of Cheryl. Everything Cheryl does is driven by her deep sense of longing and desire for love and genuine human interaction as it is clear Cheryl believes that fulfilling this deep sense of longing with false love and fleeting human interaction with be enough to fill the void that she feels in the wake of her mother’s death. “Ravenous” in this regard connects to her “wild” actions that she engages with prior to her walking the PCT and during moments on the PCT. (Examples can be found to further evidence this with her heroin addiction and unhealthy, frequent relationships with strangers. On the trail, her desire “ravenous” love reveals itself less frequently as the trail is slowly allowing Cheryl to understand and heal her need for such a type of love. However, there are moments that can be identified. Her ‘pleasant time’ on the beach and the times where her stream of consciousness let’s us in to see her thinking ‘wild’ and ravenous’ thoughts). 

“My brother driving our mother’s car too fast while U2’s Joshua Tree blasted out the speakers.”

When you combine each of these significant ideas and portions of writing, what the reader can ascertain is that Cheryl was ravenous for love upon the death of her mother. She was completely lost to herself and the world around her, despite her belief that she was searching and filling her void with fake notions of love. In other words, she ‘still hadn’t found what she was looking for’. Upon the moment of her mother’s cancer diagnosis, Cheryl prays “to God, any god” two distinctive prayers. The first being; “fuck them”, the second being “a year”. This holds ties to her symbolic Joshua tree reference as she follows Joshua’s actions in looking to the heavens in prayer.

All of these things put together, with Cheryl’s added repetition; “I would suffer, I would suffer.” further emphasise her desire and desperate search for something deeper both in herself and in the world. In the final lines of this opening chapter, Cheryl states; “The wanting was a wilderness and I had to find my own way out of the woods. It took me four years, seven months, and three days to do it. I didn’t know where I was going until I got there. It was a place called the Bridge of the Gods.” This concluding quote, shows Cheryl’s acknowledgement of the ravenous desires she had in herself to find something deeper in her being and in the world. The stating of the time it took for Cheryl to finally and wholly fulfill these desires is written in a reflective tone and has metaphoric connection to the title of this chapter; the ten thousand things. The combination of the chapter title and Cheryl’s reflective tone ensure that a connection is established between Cheryl, her journey prior to, on, and after the PCT as symbolic of her found unconditional love and understanding. All of which is brought to fruition upon Cheryl’s reaching her end journey of her trail; the Bridge of the Gods, linking back to the Joshua tree and the symbolic promise it holds as an answer to prayer, as well as, an answer to U2’s song. Cheryl, in the opening Chapter of Wild, foreshadows her ending through these symbolic and metaphoric connections, implying that upon her reaching the Bridge of the Gods, her desire for love and human connection was fulfilled because Cheryl was finally fulfilled herself. She found what she had been looking for.