Along the way of his third journey, he meets with several other travelers as well as people who give him food and shelter when needed. The people he meets all have stories to tell and their own versions of life they want to share: He said that most men were in their lives like the carpenter whose work went so slowly for the dullness of his tools that he had not time to sharpen them. Ambientato negli stessi territori del precedente, il confine col Messico: anche se questa volta la parte americana è un po’ più a ovest, il New Mexico, invece del Texas (anche se poi la copertina direi che mostra Zabriskie Point – ma magari all’Einaudi pensano che tutti i deserti sono uguali). Grounded in reality, it's like a Western elevated to allegory. An ode to lost ways, lost lives, and the perpetual grind of history. The characters resonate with an abundance of depth by way of a few short lines breathing life through facial expression, postures, terse dialogue. Along the way, Billy encounters many other travelers and inhabitants of the land who relate in a sophisticated dialogue their deepest philosophies. Take, for example, a Mormon who converts to Catholicism and describes his vision of reality in this way: What role do animals play in this book? Why, for example, does Billy endure such great danger and hardship for the sake of a wolf? Do any of the characters he meets in Mexico share his feelings about animals?

Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When their meaning has become lost to us they no longer have even a name. The story on the other hand can never be lost from its place in the world for it is that place. And that is what was to be found here. The corrido. The tale. And like all corridos it ultimately told one story only, for there is only one to tell.Sono qui a causa di una certa persona. Sono venuto a ricostruirne i passi. Forse a vedere se per caso vi fosse un percorso alternativo. Ma qui non si trova niente. Le cose separate dalle loro storie non hanno senso. Sono semplici forme. Di una certa dimensione e di un certo colore. Di un certo peso. Quando ne abbiamo perso il significato, non hanno più neppure un nome. La storia, d'altro canto, non può mai venir separata dal luogo al quale appartiene, perché essa è quel luogo. Ecco che cosa si poteva trovare qui. Il corrido. La storia. E come tutti i corridos, in fin dei conti raccontava soltanto una storia, perché ce n'è solo una da raccontare. Uno nunca sabe que cosas pone en marcha, dijo. Nadie puede saberlo. No hay profeta capaz de predecirlo. Las consecuencias de una acción son a menudo bastante distintas de lo que uno pensaba. Asegúrese de que lo que le mueve en el fondo del corazón es lo bastante grande como para contener todos los virajes equivocados, todas las decepciones." Voglio solamente dire a chi è arrivato fino in fondo, che questi libri vi distruggono. Non vi cambiano la vita, non vi salvano. Vi distruggono. La bellezza ha quest'effetto.

Most of the protagonists are people of few words; thus the dialogues are few and concise. Additionally, since much of the interaction is with Mexican people, many parts of dialogues are written in untranslated Spanish. Please read below my thoughts as I progressed through the book. They illustrate without giving spoilers how the reading influences both one’s emotions and thoughts. The process involved using base maps of Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico from 1922 as well as a Texaco Road Map of Arizona and New Mexico from 1935. The road map was surprisingly inclusive of geological features. These maps, especially the Mexican maps, were supplemented with detailed searches of Google Maps for villages of the mentioned names. I was surprised to see that the Mexican Maps mentioned places such as El Tigre in Sonora, Mexico and San Diego in Chihuahua, Mexico. This spiritual aspect to the novel creates a sense of depth. The instinctive behaviors of wolves, the unexplainable cruelty of man, and the peaceful nature of people unencumbered by modernity are periodically explored. It’s this exploration, however, that is drawn out a bit more than necessary at various points throughout the novel. Critics disagree about the greater significance of Billy's encounters with the wolf. Wallis Sanborn argues that “[a]lthough noble, Parham’s mission to return the captured she-wolf to Mexico is abjectly flawed . . . [it is] nothing more than a man violently controlling a wild animal through the guise of pseudo-nobility” (143). [4] Raymond Malewitz argues that the wolf's "literary agency" becomes visible when Billy's way of thinking about the wolf conflicts with the way the narrator describes the creature. [5]

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In what ways does The Crossing resemble classic myths and fairy tales? How do Billy and Boyd Parham compare to the figures that Joseph Campbell describes in The Hero with a Thousand Faces? About this Author