The Monkey Wrench Gang: The Impact of the Views of Native Americans on Abbey’s Stance on Ecosabotage

Abstract

This research analyzes racism in The Monkey Wrench Gang according to the characters in the novel and Abbey’s viewpoint. The characters in the novel express racist remarks about the Native Americans frequently, whereas Abbey often writes in favor of Native Americans and their struggle. This apparent contradiction exposes how Abbey writes about the Native Americans in the text as a victim of learned helplessness. In doing this, he exposes a fault of ecosabotage by providing an example of how it has failed in the past when the Native Americans fought against the government and the forces of industrialism. Through this argument, Abbey recognizes a fault of the Monkey Wrenchers’ philosophy: direct action against a stronger enemy is not effective. Through other writings of Abbey’s, he brings about the idea of working with the government and the forces of industrialism in order to bring about compromises with the stronger enemy that are favorable for the environmentalists. By following this method, the future Monkey Wrenchers will avoid falling into a state of learned helplessness like the Native Americans did and will hopefully achieve greater success in their pursuits.