Destruction of the Landscape

As in many novels by Edward Abbey, the destruction of the landscape, and in particular, the Southwestern United States, is a primary theme throughout the novel. Abbey uses nature in this and other novels as almost a character, allowing the landscape to speak to the reader through the author's own descriptions. Abbey's descriptions of nature are often vast, and detailed to the point of becoming alive. In The Fool's Progress, the landscape directs the story. As Henry Lightcap moves across the country, each location reminds him of another time and place in his life and allows him to reminisce to the reader. This, in turn, allows the reader a deeper insight into Henry's past and into how that past is reflected in his present.

Clearly the landscape Henry sees now as he drives across the US is not the landscape of his youth, but has...