49 pages • 1 hour read
The Salt Path
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Symbols & Motifs
Sages and Prophets
Along the path, Moth and Raynor come across many people whom they regard as prophets or sage figures. It happens frequently enough to be a motif. In general, they approach these figures half-seriously, but there are certainly some figures whom they take more seriously than others. Early on they cross paths with a blind man who foresees that Moth in particular will face obstacles and persevere. Given the losses that they have recently suffered, it is a message of hope that they need. Strangely, he also says that they will “walk with a tortoise” (45). This is a message open to figurative interpretation, as Winn has already described the pair as turtle-like several times because of their slow pace. At the end of the book, however, when they complete the path from the other direction, they are delighted and amused to run across a man out walking his tortoise, which he has put on a leash. The literalness is comedic, but it also highlights the truth of what the man said when they first set out. They have indeed overcome a lot and persevered.
In another interaction, at the end of Part 4, they run across a woman who declares that the path has transformed them: “[Y]ou’ve felt the hand of nature. It won’t leave you now; you’re salted” (160). This interaction comes at a pivotal moment. They are near their goal on the trail (Land’s End), but the future after is looming and uncertain. Their time with their friend Polly will present many challenges that are in some ways more difficult than the physical demands of hiking the path. However, the ways in which their experience on the path has transformed them will allow them to confront these difficulties. Ultimately, this motif points to the acquisition of wisdom through difficult experiences and interaction with nature, speaking to The Struggle to Overcome Adversity and The Impact of Nature on Healing and Well-Being. By the end of the book, Raynor and Moth have been transformed into sages in their own right. At one point, Moth jokes that Raynor has turned into another Cornish sage after she tells a young woman, “[i]f you feel you have a question, you must answer it” (262). This motif therefore highlights Raynor and Moth’s development throughout the text.
Unstable and Shifting Ground
Given the varying terrain of the South West Coast Path, this is an important motif. In this broad category, there are many features, including natural and manmade holes, cliffs, and landslides. They serve various symbolic purposes, often, though not always, emphasizing a negative experience or danger. After Raynor and Moth lose their court case, they dig a grave for their beloved family ewe, “refusing to acknowledge the hole as it grew” (18). This represents their troubles. In another instance early in their hike, they unwittingly camp close to the edge of a cliff, a symbol of how precarious their situation is.
This motif doesn’t always point toward the negative. Even the hole they dig and the cliff they camp near emphasize the couple’s perseverance in The Struggle to Overcome Adversity. In another instance, they camp on a golf course. After being urged to leave, for fear of disrupting the grass, they see that there was an earth slip nearby during the night—a much bigger threat to the carefully maintained grass. This points to the tension between the carefully maintained artifice and the messy destructiveness of nature. At the other extreme, in which human activity upends the landscape, they pass through an area in which clay production created huge mounds of waste, locally referred to as “the Cornish Alps” (196), and deep holes. These holes are repurposed by locals to attract tourists.
Salt
Salt has many symbolic associations within the book, given its title. The sage woman they meet refers to them as “salted.” Elsewhere, in direct reference to the title, Winn refers to the “salt path” they followed. Raynor and Moth also learn to love lightly-salted blackberries that have been perfectly ripened by the coastal air and are on the verge of rotting. Salt symbolizes transformation, transcendence, and becoming. The pair are salted by the path, which suggests that they become more unified with the world around them. Through the image of the perfectly ripened berries, salt also points to peaks and inevitable declines. Throughout the book, Winn struggles to come to terms with her age, often feeling slighted when those around her characterize her as old. Thinking of herself as salted is one way of reconceptualizing this as coming into her own.
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