49 pages • 1 hour read
Raynor WinnThe Salt Path
Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2018A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Prologue-Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1: “Into the Light”
Prologue Summary
Raynor Winn wakes up in the tent in which she and Moth camped on the beach. She quickly realizes that the tide is coming in higher than they anticipated. She wakes up Moth, who lifts the tent above his head as they scramble to get to dry ground. Winn is impressed, as Moth has been ill. They are 36 days into their hike and almost halfway through it.
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “Dust of Life”
Raynor and Moth are crouched under the stairs of their home while people outside are trying to evict them. Winn proposes that they walk the South West Coast Path after spotting a copy of Five Hundred Mile Walkies. They have been together since Winn was 18 (she is now 50), rebuilt the farm they currently occupy, and raised two children together. They recently lost a court case.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “Losing”
The narrative flashes back to when Raynor and Moth lose a court case after a three-year legal battle. Their troubles began when Moth agreed to a business proposition with Cooper, a close friend. When the business venture failed, Cooper claimed that they owed money on the debt. Their savings were eaten up in legal fees. They struggled to find legal representation because of the complexity of their case. The judge refused to accept new evidence and turned over possession of the home, denying a request to appeal.
Raynor feeds an old ewe on the farm and reminisces about her relationship with the ewe and its connection to her now-grown children, Tom and Rowan, and a time they traveled together. Raynor and Moth visit a specialist for Moth’s medical issues, which involve chronic pain. The specialist believes that Moth has a rare degenerative disorder that will likely lead to dementia and his choking to death in his sleep. At the farm, Raynor finds that the old ewe has passed away. She and Moth bury the ewe.
Part 1, Chapter 3 Summary: “Seismic Shift”
Because their credit is poor, Moth and Raynor can’t rent. They don’t have access to decent housing through government options, and Moth feels that he can’t stay nearby because of the emotional pain. They decide to hike the South West Coast Path. They experiment with packing their old rucksacks but discover that Moth can’t carry as heavy a bag as he once could. They have little money to buy new equipment.
Raynor realizes that it would be best to hike the path from South to North, because the hike will be progressively more challenging that way, giving them a chance to acclimate. She cannot find a guidebook that follows the path in that manner. Moth tells her that they will just have to go the conventional route and go slowly. They settle on a guidebook by Paddy Dillon and discover that the path is over 100 miles longer than they thought.
The two replace their old rucksacks with newer and cheaper versions and practice filling them and hiking around the living room. They also get a lighter tent through eBay. Raynor calls her children, who are in college, to inform them of their plans. Their daughter, Rowan, is concerned and sends them a phone. Their son, Tom, seems to approve. Raynor also feels confused about her role as a mother in these circumstances.
When their tent arrives, they set it up in the living room. Moth struggles to get out and wonders if their daughter is right to be worried. The two packs for the last time. Moth carries a copy of Beowulf translated by Seamus Heaney. They have to help each other put their packs on. They get in their van and head south.
Prologue-Part 1 Analysis
In general, The Salt Path is structured as a linear narrative. The prologue and the initial chapters of Part 1 are unique departures. The prologue is an example of a flashforward, in that it depicts events well before they unfold in the linear narrative. It is common for memoirs to contain prologues that do this. They often provide cliffhangers to help pique the reader’s interest, imploring the reader to wonder how this scene will be resolved and how the characters get there from where they are now. Furthermore, this prologue shows Moth and Raynor in a better state than they are depicted in Part 1, where they will be degraded by the onslaught of events over which they have no control, including losing their home and learning of Moth’s terminal condition. The prologue shows them taking pleasure in The Struggle to Overcome Adversity, and it shows Moth in particular in a much better physical condition than in Part 1. It offers the reader a glimmer of hope in contrast to the bleak inciting incidents of Part 1.
Part 1 is relatively short compared to other sections of the book, with the exception of Part 5. It establishes the various obstacles with which the pair are faced. After the prologue, Chapter 1 also provides a slight departure from the linear narrative structure of the rest of the story, though the contrast is not as sharp. There, they make the one decision over which they seem to have control: to hike the coastal path. Chapter 2 flashes back to the judgment against them in which they lose their home and the diagnosis of Moth’s degenerative and ultimately terminal condition. Chapter 3 shifts to their practical preparations for the trip, including getting packs and learning how to deal with their physical limitations. The brief chapter uses flashbacks to provide exposition before the central narrative of the hike begins.
Simmering in the background of these preparations are some important questions that the two are not yet ready to confront, including whether they are merely running from their problems, or whether such a hike is irresponsible given their age and Moth’s condition. Moth, for example, can barely put on a pack without experiencing a great deal of pain, let alone actually wear it for an extended period. Their preparations therefore establish the main conflicts in the memoir, setting the narrative in motion and building suspense surrounding how it will unfold.
As will be true throughout the memoir, chapter titles are often deceptively simple. Some point to the simple narrative focus of the book, as is the case of “Losing” for Chapter 2, in which Moth and Raynor lose their home and learn of Moth’s illness. Others point symbolically to a deeper meaning of the chapter. This is true of “Seismic Shift” for Chapter 3. In this chapter, they realize that the path they plan to hike is about 100 miles longer than their guidebook indicated. Symbolically, the title points to the enormous shift they are undergoing in their life in trying to reimagine their goals and dreams given their new circumstances.
