writing an essay of 600 words about Kevin Fedarko’s The Emerald Mile book

Connections Assignment

The common literature assignment is designed to introduce you to college-level writing by having you respond to

an essay question. You will also discuss the book with your Connections class.

Before you read the book:

Read the essay questions first. This will help you think more broadly and critically about the themes in the

book and mark quotations that will help you when writing your response. Finish the whole book before

answering the question.

Take notes in your book. Highlight, annotate, and mark passages as you read. This will help you not only

as you respond to the essay question, but also as you participate in class discussions.

Follow directions and use the template. Many college students miss points simply because they don’t

read and follow directions. For formatting purposes we’ve provided an MLA-format template for you to

use for this assignment, and hopefully you will find it useful for future college writing assignments. Find

the template at www.usu.edu/connections.

Respond to your chosen question thoroughly using examples from the text (both directly quoted and

referred to) in support of your answers. You may include your own personal experiences, connections,

and reactions to the text. We’re interested in your perspective defended with examples from the text.

Instructions

Choose one of the three following prompts and write a 500-750 word essay in response.

Prompt One

One of the most basic goals of a university education is to teach students to think critically about complex

problems. That means being able to analyze a situation with all its nuance, consider various perspectives on it,

and then critically think about that information and those perspectives until you come to a greater understanding

of your own position. The Emerald Mile considers some controversial and complicated issues around land and

water use in the west.

 Find an issue in the book that has two competing (or at least apparently competing) perspectives

represented.

 Explain the issue and the differing perspectives on it, using specific examples with citation from the book.

 Explain your own position on the issue and discuss how and why your opinion either did or did not

change after considering the different perspectives.

 Whether your opinion changed or not, explain what you see as the value of encountering different

perspectives and thinking through them in a serious way.

Prompt Two

The Emerald Mile contains several excellent metaphors for learning. Here are two examples:

1. In a 2014 interview with Adventure Journal, Kevin Fedarko made the following statement:

[T]he story of the Emerald Mile sort of touches on these two different subcultures: We are people

who define ourselves in terms of technology and science and our ability to control nature. We are

also people who are shaped and honed by an extended 250-year-long encounter with raw

wilderness. Those are two different aspects of who we are, and we have not reconciled those two

things. And stories help illuminate that disconnect in a way that is provocative and revealing

(Leonard, 2014).

2. In The Emerald Mile, Fedarko discusses Kenton Grua’s opportunity to “build the sort of life whose arc

would probably have taken him far from Vernal and its rivers…” However, Grua’s path was altered

through a series of failures, first at not being accepted to The US Naval Academy, and then his dropping

out of University of Utah.

Using at least one of the above metaphors, and citing specific examples with citation from the book, compare the

book with your path to successful completion of university education. As part of your paper, make sure to include

the following:

 Discuss your future experience in the context of having or not having control.

 Discuss how you expect to be shaped and honed by your exposure to higher education.

 Explain how the Big Ideas of Connections (http://www.usu.edu/connections/about/objectives.cfm) relate

to the voyage of The Emerald Mile and how will you leverage this knowledge moving forward in your

pursuit of education.