50 pages • 1-hour read
Tracks: A Woman's Solo Trek Across 1700 Miles of Australian Outback
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Symbols & Motifs
Camels
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes depictions of gender discrimination, emotional abuse, animal illness, and death.
The camels Davidson travels with through the desert symbolize strength and beauty. When Davidson first arrives in Alice Springs, she knows next to nothing about camels. However, the more time she spends with the animals, the more acquainted with and attached to them she becomes. Her description of her camels in Chapter 1 provides insight into her deep affection for them:
I will now, once and for all, destroy some myths concerning these animals. They are the most intelligent creatures I know except for dogs and I would give them an I.Q. rating roughly equivalent to eight-year-old children. They are affectionate, cheeky, playful, witty, yes witty, self-possessed, patient, hard-working and endlessly interesting and charming (14).
This passage functions as an ode to Davidson’s camels—Dookie, Dub, Zelly (and later the calf Goliath)—her companions across the desert. Her challenging attempts to train them (as camels are “of an essentially undomestic turn of mind”) reinforce her evolving perspective on her expectations rooted in the prescribed values and biases ingrained in her by society (14). As her connection to them grows, she comes to rely on her four camels throughout her journey, emphasizing the memoir’s thematic examination of the Relationship Between Humans and Nature. From the camels, she learns to let go of arbitrary notions of human structure and order, to follow her survival instincts, and even to play.
Diggity
Davidson’s dog Diggity exemplifies the Transformative Effects of Intimate Relationships and the importance of companionship. Diggity stays by Davidson’s side throughout her fraught experiences in Alice Springs and later accompanies her through the Australian interior. Diggity is the one presence Davidson consistently lets in physically and emotionally and the only part of Davidson’s previous life she brings with her on her journey. Davidson’s reflections on their relationship before Diggity’s death underscore the transformative power of their connection:
I am quite sure Diggity was more than dog, or rather other than dog. In fact, I have often thought her father was a vet perhaps. She combined all the best qualities of dog and human and was a great listener. […] The trip, of necessity, had brought me much closer to all the animals, but my relationship with Diggity was something special. There are very few humans with whom I could associate the word love as easily as I did with that wonderful little dog (212-13).
Through Diggity, Davidson learns to give and receive love. Diggity acts as a balm for Davidson’s loneliness on her journey and a comforting physical presence throughout her self-imposed isolation. Ending Diggity’s suffering and saying goodbye leaves Davidson overcome by guilt, sorrow, and despair. Diggity’s death provides Davidson with a test at the end of her journey—forcing her to confront whether she will allow her grief to pull her back into old patterns or embrace the things she learned on her journey and move forward with gratitude. Davidson’s ability to grieve Diggity and honor her memory reflects her growth across the memoir.
Alice Springs
Davidson positions the town of Alice Springs as a symbol of hardship. When Davidson first arrives in Alice, she only expects to be there for a brief interlude. As she explains in Chapter 1, “The lunatic idea was, basically, to get [herself] the requisite number of wild camels from the bush and train them to carry [her] gear, then walk into and about the central desert area” (4). This plan quickly proves more challenging than Davidson anticipates—her first notable obstacle on her journey. She describes Alice as an inherently hostile place where the land is unforgiving and the people are unwelcoming. Alice presents her with innumerable physical, emotional, and psychological challenges that nearly derail Davidson’s journey before it begins. However, once she resolves inside herself to make the trip happen no matter what, she finds the resilience to take from Alice what she can and to move on, highlighting the memoir’s thematic interest in Finding Empowerment Via Independence and Courage. Alice represents a liminal space for Davidson—she’s trapped in an interstice between her past life at home (a realm defined by despair, boredom, and failure) and her future out in the desert alone (a realm defined by possibility, adventure, and discovery).
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