William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying (1930) is a Southern Gothic novel that Cheryl reads on the PCT. The book resonates with Cheryl because it addresses the death of a matriarch and the quest of her poor, rural family to bury her in her hometown.

A corvid is a passerine bird, such as a crow, raven, or magpie, that belongs to the Corvidae family. According to a woman Cheryl meets in Reno, the corvid feather Doug gave her symbolizes the void, specifically, the place where things are born. Thus, the feather is not just a good luck charm but also an allusion to Cheryl’s rebirth on the PCT as the person she was before her mother’s death.

The Dream of a Common Language (1978) is a collection of poems by Adrienne Rich, a feminist and award-winning American poet. The book is divided into three sections: “Power,” “Twenty-One Love Poems,” and “Not Somewhere Else, But Here.” Cheryl reads “Power” on the PCT, drawing inspiration from the Rich’s descriptions of accomplished women.