The Monkey Wrench Gang The Law breaking Heroes Essays

The Monkey Wrench Gang: The Law breaking Heroes nbsp; Everyone knows that breaking the law is bad and anybody who does is a criminal, but Edward Abbey author of The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), puts a twist on those thoughts. The Monkey Wrench Gang is an adventurous novel about a gang of environmentalists who set out to destroy bulldozers, bridges, cars, trains, signs or anything that is destroying their beautiful country, the American southwest. Through characterization and description Edward Abbey glorifies the art of law breaking and leaves his readers rooting for his heroic criminals. nbsp; In the Monkey Wrench Gang there are four main characters: Bonnie Abbzug, Doc Sarvis, Seldom Seen Smith and George Hayduke. As†¦show more content†¦Seldom is a Mormon with three wives that he seldom sees, hence his name. Seldom is a professional guide, wilderness outfitter, boatman and packer whos business went down hill when the freely flowing Colorado River was stopped by a dam, the dam which had plugged up Glen Canyon, the heart of his river, the river of his heart (63). Every time Seldom passes over the Glen Canyon dam he prays for a little old pre-cision-type earthquake to free his trapped river (33). nbsp; In The Monkey Wrench Gang, Abbey is able to tap into the readers thoughts by presenting the characters persuasive opinions. All of Abbeys characters are very strong believers in the survival of the desert and its inhabitants and they risk their lives several times just to keep it alive. All this fantastic effort- giant machines, road networks, strip mines, . . .high-voltage power lines; the devastation of the landscape, the destruction of Indian homes . . . Indian burial grounds; the poisoning of the last big clean-air reservoir in the forty-eight contiguous United States, the exhaustion of precious water supplies-all that ball-breaking labor and all that back-breaking expense and all that heartbreaking insult to land and sky and human heart, for what? All for what? Doc- (160). nbsp; Down below the metal monsters roared, bouncing on rubber through the cut in the ridge, dumping their loads and thundering up the hill for more. The green beasts of Bucyrus,Show MoreRelatedExploring Corporate Strategy - Case164366 Words   |  658 PagesPhoto: S.I.N./Corbis ECS8C_C01.qxd 22/10/2007 11:54 Page 606 606 MINISTRY OF SOUND with no links to the local drugs gangs. He even hired a psychoanalyst to cope with the gangland threats that followed his drugs crack-down: If they say ‘we’re going to kill you’, you know what you’re up against. But the threats [from London’s East End drugs gangs] are much more sinister. The word is fed back that if the business is cut off, they will follow you home, go for your family, stab you