46 pages • 1 hour read
William Least Heat-MoonBlue Highways: A Journey into America
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 1982A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 6Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 6 Summary: “West by Northwest”
On the heels of the discussion with Fritz, Heat-Moon opens a further discussion that probes the nature of harmony. This is another example of how the book is at times both a travel journal and philosophical inquiry.
Heat-Moon begins the chapter driving through the southern end of the Cascade Mountain range, and after he enters Oregon, he stops in at a local restaurant. While there, he notices a Land Cruiser pulling an Airstream trailer with a boat affixed to it. While Heat-Moon stairs at the monstrosity, “amazed at this achievement of transport called a vacation” (217), the owner of this paraphernalia engages him in a curt discussion. Heat-Moon senses the man’s condescension, and it spoils his mood—as does the whole experience at the rest stop, the restaurant and the service included. The shift comes at the wrong time for Heat-Moon, as his solitude turns to weary loneliness. The narrative tone becomes much more agitated and cynical.
Heat-Moon continues on his way until he reaches Oregon State University, where he calls it quits for the night. His mood has not improved, and now he is fully in the doldrums, road weary, and frustrated. To make matters worse, as he falls asleep, he remembers that he captured a slug earlier that day—and when he goes to look at it, he realizes the slug has escaped its confines and is somewhere in the van. This agitates Heat-Moon some more (the knowledge of the slug roaming somewhere in the van), and he falls asleep perturbed at himself and the whole endeavor.
The next day is no better. The rain is relentless, and he feels a growing doubt about continuing the journey. However, as soon as he recognizes the wavering, he stamps it out by stubbornly refusing to give these thoughts any air.
Heat-Moon travels to the Oregon coast, where he converses with a sailor who tells him of the sea otters that used to be so plentiful but are now long gone. He continues north toward Washington and the US-Canadian border, passing Mount St. Helens on the way (his notes here reflect a time just before the famous 1980 eruption of that volcano). Near Pitt, Washington, Heat-Moon spends time with a few men who soar as a hobby. From there, Heat-Moon roughly travels the route of Lewis and Clark, passing through towns of their namesakes, and ends the chapter in Idaho.
Chapter 6 Analysis
The theme of materialism—in this case, the accumulation of possessions—is prominent at the outset of this chapter. Heat-Moon notices a vehicle with an Airstream trailer in tow and a boat somehow tied to the whole rig, and he marvels at what he calls “this achievement of transport called a vacation” (217). His tone is somewhat tongue-and-cheek, but like so many occasions during his trip, Heat-Moon digs deeper into the sights along the way. As he attempts to engage the rig owner in some good-natured chit-chat, the man is standoffish and condescending toward Heat-Moon, who, by contrast, drives a 1975 Ford Econoline whose interior is fashioned willy-nilly into a mock camper.
The contrast between Ghost Dancing and the vacation rig is stark, and the man who looks down his nose at Heat-Moon reaps some less-than-sparkling treatment in the book. Heat-Moon declares, “I got reviled by people who could afford life at six-miles-per-gallon” (217). Importantly, while the author initially passes judgment on the man and his partner, he is not immediately explicitly critical of them. His manner is good-willed and affable throughout the trip, and most of the strangers he encounters reciprocate. However, this vacationing couple treat Heat-Moon as inferior, and this is among the only occasions where Heat-Moon is openly critical, connecting the couple’s arrogance to their apparent materialism.
As Heat-Moon traverses the Pacific Northwest, his mood changes. His spirits are low, his motivation begins to wane, and this worsens with the weather and the degradation of the natural environment. An Oregon local says, “This coast is a story of one thing after another disappearing. Except people. We don’t have sea otters much now, but you used to see them floating on their backs with a flat rock on their stomachs, cracking open shellfish on it” (223). Environmental degradation is a recurring theme in the book, and the otters’ disappearance is but one example of American industrialism and commercialism imposing on the natural world. The plight also recalls the story of the Mississippi Choctaw, a once flourishing tribe driven to extinction and replaced by something less dignified. Heat-Moon will witness more of this environmental decay as he travels across the country to the Atlantic coast, and in every instance, he disdains industrialism’s reckless environmental defilement.
