The Salt Path

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.