The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

Authors, poets, and painters have long heralded the natural world as a place of escape, a source of spirituality, and an opportunity to return to childhood innocence. Harold has not spent much time outdoors in the last 20 years, preferring the comfort of his favorite chair to the fresh air outside. He mows his grass regularly but otherwise does not interact with the natural world. After receiving Queenie’s letter and deciding to walk the length of England on foot, Harold plunges himself back into nature, which immediately becomes a source of comfort and inspiration for him as he travels. From the moment he steps outside his door, the beauty of the natural world he ignored for so long overwhelms him: “[…] it was as if everywhere he looked, the fields, gardens, trees, and hedgerows had exploded with growth” (39). Significantly, Harold begins his journey in the spring, a time of physical rebirth when flowers burst into bloom and many animals are born, as well as a season of spiritual rebirth when Christians celebrate Easter in remembering the resurrection of Christ. Harold is not religious, but as his journey progresses, nature becomes the backdrop for his spiritual rebirth and renewal. In The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce explores the idea of nature as both a redemptive force and a reminder of the circle of life.