So Far Gone

The Atlas of Wisdom is a prominent symbol for the impact Rhys hopes to make on the world. The Atlas is a book project that re-envisions all of Western philosophy through the lens of environmentalism and naturalism. Since Rhys is an environmentalist, the project essentially functions as a culmination of his worldview and moral code. The state of the project, however, exposes the emptiness of Rhys’s time in the woods.

Because it is so broad and ambitious, Rhys can never hope to finish working on the book, collecting thousands of pages of notes that summarize his thoughts instead. The all-encompassing scope of this project links Rhys’s character to that of Edward Casaubon in George Eliot’s 19th-century novel Middlemarch: Casaubon is perpetually at work on a Key to All Mythologies—another project so self-defeatingly ambitious that it can never be completed. In So Far Gone, the futility of Rhys’s project symbolizes the futility of his efforts to resist the system of global capitalism, suggesting that he can be a more effective force for good by focusing on those close to him. 

When Asher and Leah arrive at his house, they reveal that Rhys’s first book was discarded from their family home because it wasn’t included in their church’s list of recommended reading.