Desert Solitaire

by

Edward Abbey

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Desert Solitaire Characters

Edward Abbey

Abbey is the author and protagonist of Desert Solitaire. He’s a 40-year-old American writer looking back on the summer he spent 10 years ago, in 1956, as a park ranger in Arches National Monument… read analysis of Edward Abbey

Ralph Newcomb

Newcomb is a friend of Edward Abbey’s; he’s a former cowboy who now studies Eastern philosophy. Despite being disabled in one leg, Newcomb accompanies Abbey on a life-affirming, week-long boat trip through Glen Canyon—the… read analysis of Ralph Newcomb

Bob Waterman

Waterman is a friend of Edward Abbey’s; he’s a student at the University of Colorado who is avoiding the military draft. Waterman drives down to Moab from Aspen to join Abbey on a weekend… read analysis of Bob Waterman

Roy Scobie

Scobie is a middle-aged cattle rancher who employs Edward Abbey as a cow wrangler from time to time, alongside Scobie’s assistant Viviano Jacquez. Scobie’s main character trait is his obsession with mortality: he’s terrified… read analysis of Roy Scobie

Viviano Jacquez

Jacquez is Edward Abbey’s friend and the assistant to the cattle rancher Roy Scobie; he accompanies Abbey on excursions to wrangle Scobie’s cows. Hailing from the Basque region of Spain, Jacquez’s parents brought… read analysis of Viviano Jacquez
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Billy-Joe Husk

Billy-Joe is an 11-year-old boy who perishes in the Canyonlands after fleeing the murder scene of his father, the amateur uranium hunter Alfred T. Husk. Though probably a myth, the history of Billy-Joe and… read analysis of Billy-Joe Husk

Alfred T. Husk

Husk is a foolhardy amateur uranium hunter from Texas who is rumored to have mortgaged his farm and relocated his family to Moab, Utah, following the World War II uranium craze. Ravenous to make his… read analysis of Alfred T. Husk

Charles Graham

Graham is a smooth-talking and charming businessman in Moab. He meets the overeager Alfred T. Husk, a greedy and foolish recent transplant from Texas, and gains the Husk family’s trust by flashing his impressive… read analysis of Charles Graham

John Wesley Powell

John Wesley Powell was a Union captain in the American Civil War, and later, the first modern explorer to chart the dangerous Colorado River and surrounding Glen Canyon. Abbey greatly admires the fearlessness and aesthetic… read analysis of John Wesley Powell

Moon-Eye

Moon-Eye is a wild horse, formerly owned by the rancher Roy Scobie, whose mysterious 10-year absence in the wilderness prompts Abbey to search for him . After hunting Moon-Eye’s tracks, Abbey confronts the horse… read analysis of Moon-Eye

Merle McRae

McRae is the superintendent of Arches National Monument; he’s a thin, middle-aged family man with a gentle demeanor and a background in cattle ranching. An effective park ranger who dislikes the paperwork aspects of the… read analysis of Merle McRae

Floyd Bence

Bence is the chief ranger of Arches National Monument; he’s Abbey’s age, a geologist by training, who shares Abbey’s hatred of desk jobs and his passionate love of the open West. Like Merle McRaeread analysis of Floyd Bence

Leslie McKee

McKee is a former cattle rancher in Moab who now cobbles together a living with low-paying side jobs. Kind-hearted an entrepreneurial, McKee appears in a few brief mentions to illustrate Abbey’s political argument about… read analysis of Leslie McKee

The Engineers

A jeep full of anonymous engineers with the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads pulls up to Abbey’s trailer one evening. To Abbey’s horror, the engineers describe their assignment to chart out massive, expensive paved… read analysis of The Engineers

The Photographer

The photographer is a 60-year-old man who goes missing at Grandview Point (50 miles from Abbey’s ranger station) and turns up dead after a rescue mission. Although this amateur photographer only appears as a… read analysis of The Photographer

J. Prometheus Birdsong

Birdsong is an anonymous man who appears at Abbey’s campsite one evening and engages Abbey in a debate on several big topics, including humanity’s relationship to nature and the difference between culture and civilization… read analysis of J. Prometheus Birdsong

The Nazi

The Nazi is a German tourist who appears at Abbey’s trailer one night to try to convince him of Hitler’s righteousness. Abbey get so angry that he want to kill the man, but in… read analysis of The Nazi

Mrs. Husk

Mrs. Husk is the young wife of the Texan prospector Albert T. Husk and the mother of Billy-Joe Husk. Mrs. Husk appears in Abbey’s morality tale about greed and the uranium craze. As her… read analysis of Mrs. Husk

Mackie

Mack is one of Roy Scobie’s cowhands who tells Abbey the story of the Scobie’s wild horse Moon-Eye. This leads to Abbey’s obsession with the animal and his determination to find him. Mackie… read analysis of Mackie

Bob Ferris

Ferris is a new ranger at Arches National Monument who drives Abbey to the Denver airport on Abbey’s last day in Moab. When Abbey panics, demanding that they turn around and return to his beloved… read analysis of Bob Ferris

Johnny Abbey

Johnny is Edward Abbey’s brother who is also spending his summer as a park ranger. Though Edward Abbey hardly mentions him, Johnny takes part in the manhunt for the dead photographer. The shock… read analysis of Johnny Abbey