West with Giraffes

Walking With Giraffes is essentially an adventure story. The adventure itself is almost absurd: A young man finds himself driving two giraffes across the United States through a plethora of fights, cataclysmic weather events, and conflicts. Rutledge emphasizes that through adventure, people can truly discover themselves.

Woodrow’s bildungsroman occurs because of his adventure. He learns how to be resilient, how to hope for a better future, and the importance of loyalty. Woodrow was brought up in a very particular community (rural, white, and religious). Through his adventure across the country, Woodrow is exposed to people and places that revise his understandings of the world around him. For example, his experiences with the Jackson family teach him to recognize the humanity in Black people. In 1938, violent Jim Crow laws and formal segregation kept white people and Black people apart. Before his adventure, Woodrow had never met a Black person. Thus, his adventure exposes him to new people, which forces him to reflect on his internalized and taught racism. Another example of adventure as crucial to development is Woodrow’s drive through the Blue Ridge Mountains. He never saw a mountain before, and he must navigate steep, windy, perilous mountain roads with the lives of Riley and