So I was watching Kung Fu Panda the other night, and I noticed that the ancient turtle master Oogway wore his shell as if it were a cloak, a man-made armor, connected with braided rope instead of flesh. The next day, I visited my sister and met her pet turtle Mack, whom she had saved from a treacherous suburban throughway. She named him after the tiny turtle whose belch destroyed Yertle’s reign of oppression, and then she stuck him in a tank.

Care of John Steinbeck, I have this image that connects automobile travel with turtles. It’s an imperfect system, this clunky armor protecting the naked flesh of the vulnerable creature inside. If we were a jack-rabbit with no armor at all, we’d be lithe and fluid and fast like a man on a motorcycle. We’d be connected to the world around us, breathing with it, but also living a bit more dangerously. Our automotive shell protects us but also limits us.

In The Grapes of Wrath, the automobile is not just a symbol of armor, but that of home, like a turtle’s shell is his house that he carries with him wherever he goes. These turtle people piled up their cars with all their earthly belongings and traveled west along Route 66.

Before the road trip starts, there’s a scene back home in Oklahoma, two men watching this determined little turtle, trying to head west. He’s climbing over obstacles, falling down hills, only to right himself again and slowly head his way back in his chosen direction. One fellow even picks him up and turns him around, planting him somewhere far from his original starting point, but when we look back, we see he’s back up and running, tenacious in finding his way.

My sister saved this tiny baby turtle she found in the street. She took him home and fed and nurtered him. But despite his protective shell, she only sees a vulnerable creature. She brought him outside, and he got into some fire ants, so they had to save him again. They are also cautious about setting him free. They look to the sky, afraid of birds of prey, that their little Mack would make a tasty snack for one of them. But he’ll never reach his destination in a glass tank.

After all, he could be destined to become a master turtle like Oogway, who shares his wisdom and flies with the cherry blossoms to the sky.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 10th, 2009 at 2:20 pm and is filed under road tripping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.