“Cell phones must be turned off or they will be confiscated during class.” What a joke, do teachers and employers really think that a person, let alone an immature teenager, will follow their rules? I think not. With apps for facebook, twitter and the internet now all on phones it is impossible to go a day without being connected to the world through technology. You see it everywhere in classrooms, the dinner table, movie theaters, work people try to limit the hours teens spend on their phones. But you take away a phone from a teen and it’s the end of their life. They don’t know what to do, they feel isolated from everyone. Now imagine a person being completely disconnected from all of civilization and escaping through the wild? It’s not going to happen; life now is all about social networking.
In Edward Abbey’s book, Desert Solitaire, the chapter “The Moon Eyed Horse”, is not merely about Abbey’s encounter with a horse but Abbeys desire to escape society for good. As the chapter begins Abbey is helping his friend Roy roundup cattle in the desert. When they stop to get their horses some water Abbey notices foot prints of an unshod horse, “a wild horse” (Abbey 171). Abbey comes to find out that the horse was Roy’s “Old Moon-Eye is what you might call an independent horse. He don’t belong to anybody. But he ain’t wild. He’s a gelding and he’s got Roy Scobie’s brand on his hide” (Abbey 172). The horse left the ranch ten years ago and never returned back after he received a beating from Viviano for throwing a woman off his back. They called this horse Old Moon-Eyed because of moonblindness: an inflamed condition in one of his eyes. Abbey decides that he wants this horse and questions how the horse could be alone because he is “a herd animal, like the cow, like the human. It’s not natural for a horse to live alone” (Abbey 174). Abbey goes back to find the horse a month later and begins to walk up the canyon. When approaching the horse he goes slowly and at a distance to make the Moon-Eyed horse feel more comfortable. Abbeys description of the horse is not one that a reader might anticipate; he describes the Moon-Eyed horse’s life as tragic, an undesirable one: ““Are you crazy, maybe? You don’t want to die out here, do you, all alone like a hermit? In this awful place...” (Abbey 184). He tells Moon Eyed is a fool and that it is time to take him home. Abbey gives up as the sun goes down on the canyon leaving behind the Moon-Eyed horse.
When reading this chapter of the book it can be viewed two ways: non-fiction or fiction. One can simply take the story as a true encounter with a crazy wild horse that refuses to leave the desert and go back to the ranch. Or in this story Abbeys interest with old Moon-Eyed is based on something more than the horse itself, a symbol of the commitment to freedom and his dream to one day have the freedom that the horse possesses. Abbey, years after the book was published hints to his friend Bob Greenspan that his incident with the Moon-Eyed Horse never actually happened when he said “"Did that really happen or did I make that up?" This book is similar to Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Anne Dillard where the reader does not know if the accounts they write about are true or if they are using these concepts to convey a stronger message to the readers. Although they might not seem credible at times the deeper message of their lyrical writing shows the inner desires of the author’s to reach back to the “Garden of Eden”.
When analyzing this chapter in a symbolic light it is apparent that the horse is a symbol of independence, solitude and rebellion against society. Jerry Herndon, explains that “fact that the worthless old renegade [Moon-Eyed Horse] has achieved a union with the natural world and a total solitude and freedom which Abbey, at least a part of Abbey, would like to achieve for himself’” (Pozza 20). The Moon-Eyed horse choses to live alone in nature, unbothered and separated from society. This is the life that Abbey also wants, as he also desires to seek solitarily throughout the book (Pozza 20). The Moon-Eyed Horse is the ultimate goal that Abbey desires for himself, absolute freedom and solitude from society. Through his language you can see that Abbey is secretly jealous of the horse and his ability to be alone. Abbey can only take on a certain level of solitude in every chapter of the book until he has to come back to society (Bigell 178). Abbey is never truly alone. He explains that the Moon-Eyed Horse is “like a cow, like a human” because he was so cultivated in the farm. Abbey does not understand how he can just remove all that he is known and never come back. Dillard explains that to experience this “Garden of Eden” we must turn off what we have learned, which is impossible: “only the simplest animals perceive the universe as it is” (Dillard 21) and the rest are all influenced by group think. The Moon-Eyed Horse is what Abbey wishes he could be, it’s a symbol of this separation that many transcendentalists try to portray.
The Moon-Eyed Horse escaped society and went into the desert with nothing. He left a home where he was fed, given plenty of water and a place to sleep at night. The question is when did the horse decided that enough was enough and to leave? How did he separate himself from what society tells us we need and go out into the wild? In the comic “We’re Out”. The cartoon is of two fish who have escaped their fish bowl. This cartoon relates to the themes seen in Desert Solitaire. This cartoon depicts the struggle for individuals to have freedom from society. Just like the ranch, the fish bowl is a symbol of society; it has what the fish need: water, algae, food and a castle. Once the fish escape their bowl, “society”, they don’t know what to do without the structure and order that has been provided for them their whole lives and say “ok we are out, now what?” The fish are not the ideal like the horse; they find it hard to live outside the structure of life that is given to them, the life they have always known. Just as the two fish, if we as individuals went to leave society entirely, we would also suffocate and die. And even if we die is the freedom of isolation worth the risk?
Abbey and Dillard describe leaving society as an ideal life that has no cultural brainwashing. Many question if this is the only way that we as an individual can be completely “free”. Everyone has their own definition of freedom that is based upon their culture, religion, and family. Is that really freedom for individual thought if everything that we believe is a product of someone else’s’ opinion? Can we ever have original thoughts? In America we believe we are free, because it says so in the Constitution. However Stalin, one of the most murderous dictators of all time said that the Russians were free to do what they wanted as well. All we believe in is a part group think. In the article “The Burka and the Bikini” by Joan Jacobs Brumberg she talks about the controversial wear of the Burka among Afghani women. In America we believe that these women are forced to cover their faces and hidden behind their masks like second hand citizens. However the women in Afghanistan look down upon American main stream media and the use of women’s bodies as a piece of meat “American girls and women have been stripped bare by a sexually expressive culture whose beauty dictates have exerted a major toll on their physical and emotional health”. Afghani state in “Saudi Women Rise in Defense of the Veil” by Faiza Ambah that “’this [wearing a burka] is a choice. We choose to be ruled by Islam.’” Both sides blame the others’ societal outlook and think that their culture is taking away their freedom. This is why controversy starts in the first place, between countries, people and societies they all believe that they are right. But in reality all societies are taking away individual freedoms just in different ways. We are all subconsciously under ruling of society. This is why no one leaves and finds themselves in the wild like the Moon-Eyed Horse. As much as we say we can separate ourselves and have original thoughts it is not true. As technology increases: iphones, twitter, facebook, the internet etc, we become more and more disconnected with our own original thoughts and more dependent on other people and society. Abbey and Dillard wrote both of their books when they were on a quest to seek the “Garden of Eden” the moment when they had only original thoughts and the ultimate freedom to do what they wanted. Both however came to the conclusion that this is impossible. To reach this state one would have to separate themselves from every thought about civilization, it would have to be just man and nature. Abbey describes the Moon-Eyed Horse and uses him as a symbol of what he wishes he could do: just stay out in the desert and be content with being alone. The horse is what we all should be an ideal figure like god-we hope it is attainable but we will never know until we are finished with the journey.

Works Cited:
Abbey, Edward (2011-08-21). Desert Solitaire (Kindle Location 2275-2514). RosettaBooks. Kindle Edition.
Ambah, Faiza S. "Saudi Women Rise in Defense of the Vail." Washington Post 1 June 2006. Web.
Bigell, Warrner. "Distinction but Not Seperation." Web. .
Dillard, Anne. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. New York: Quality Paperback Book Club, 1990. Print.
Jackson, Joan J. "The Burka and the Bikini." Boston Globe. Print.
Pozza, David. Bedrock and Paradox: The Literary Landscape of Edward Abbey. Google Books. Web.