Hart has degrees in English literature and creative writing and focuses her writing on literary themes. In this essay, Hart looks at Herbert's hiker-murder scene to uncover hidden connections between the hiker and the protagonist.

Frank Herbert's Soul Catcher was published in 1972, during the heyday of the hippie movement. Although his book is not dated by the inclusion of a hippie-type young man hiking through the woods, the significance of the character of Vince Debay might have carried more weight in the 1970s, when young hippie-types were prevalent on college campuses. Today, Vince's character might represent a young environmentalist or a pot-smoking follower of the Grateful Dead. In the 1970s, however, reader might have seen something more complex in Vince's character and thus something more significant happening between him and the protagonist Charles Hobuhet-Katsuk. They might have understood that this scene represented more than a chance encounter...