Erdrich imagines she'd like to be a confident skunk, but I think a creative rabbit would be a better fit, considering how often Erdrich jumps around the entire essay, which, past the idiosyncrasies, is a well-written and imaginative example of writing.
Not only does she jump writing styles and genres, she jumps from one idea to the next and will move from one event or era of her life to the next without guiding the reader along. This leaves the reader confused as to where Erdrich is in her life, and why she is there. Why is she sleeping in a football field? What led her to teach poetry? It'd be nice to have at least some back story and reasons for the events of the story.
Another confusing element she introduced several times in the essay were her allusions to theories and ideas about dreams and obstacles from other writers and thinkers. I don't really understand why she did this as she mostly just agreed when she could have proposed a different and original idea that would leave audiences more impressed.
This piece of writing, at the worst of times is idiosyncratic and slightly pretentious, but at the best of times is descriptive and imaginative.
While extremely vague, the writing overall is decent. Erdrich's style isn't my favourite, but I can see her talent and how other readers would really It's easy to picture what exactly she is describing. One can image a skunk fast asleep next to Erdrich. The reader can picture the many described wonders of nature.
It's also easy to agree or at least to see her point when she describes such things as how nice it would be to be a skunk and the how "silly" the concept of hunting game is. Erdrich makes her feelings known, and this essay is very much centered around her feelings and discontent with her surroundings.
Overall, I didn't personally enjoy the essay because I did find it so vague. However, I'm sure some readers can see that Erdrich does have writing talent and does choose her words well in many instances. I imagine that for a friend or fan who knows the author's back story and idiosyncrasies, this would be a delightful example of writing. However, the rest of us are left with a scattered array of well-written ideas.
Yes, i would have to agree that she seems to jump around at times, but maybe she chose that particular writing style to shelter time and linear writing, which would only take away from the surreal effect that was created. But yes i do feel like there are many themes that could be clarified and then I wouldd understand the essay a little more deeper.
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