Skunk Dreams

At the start of this article I honestly thought it would be thought provoking and interesting; however, I soon became very confused and began to wonder what in the world the skunk had to do with anything the writer was talking about. Her thoughts about dreams in general really got me thinking about dreaming, and even though I know that dreaming is really just the random firing of neural impulses, I still find it intriguing. Its like The Matrix. We don't really know what the reality of it is until we push its boundaries. To humans, our dreams will always seem like science fiction: unreal yet not unrealistic.

Once Erdrich began describing her dream about the elk walking along the fence, things started making more sense. Its almost eerie that she had that dream before she even moved into the area that was "protected hunting land." I completely agree with the comment she made towards the end of the article, "There is something in me that resists the notion of fair use of this land if the only alternative is to have it cut up, sold off in lots, condominiumized. Yet the dumb fervor of the place depresses me -- the wilderness locked up and managed but not for its sake; the animals imported and cultivated to give pleasure through their deaths." It really is a shame that the animals were being hunted, but then again, it is becoming more and more important for us to preserve wildlife areas and prevent the cutting down of trees. It was this point in the article where the whole skunk thing began to make more sense to me.

The skunks lived on this protected land in absolutely no danger of being hunted. While Erdrich was contemplating how she felt about this fenced in area, the skunks came and when as they pleased, eating the free food that was provided and living without fear of being hunted. Erdrich envied the skunk and I would have to agree. Life must be real easy if you can eat whatever you want and you have nothing to fear because no one can stand the smell of you.