The Monkey Wrench Gang

“I can take out a bridge for you,” Hayduke said, “if you get me enough dynamite. But I don’t know about Glen Canyon Dam. We’d need an atom bomb for that one.”
“I been thinking about that dam for a long time,” Smith said. ”And I got a plan. We get three jumbo-size houseboats and some dolphins- ”
“Hold it!” Doc said, holding up a big paw. A moment of silence. He looked around, into the darkness beyond the firelight. “Who knows what ears those shadows have.” (“The Monkey Wrench Gang”, Edward Abbey pg,67)

I chose to share this quote because when I read it I couldn’t stop laughing. Here they are planning on how to blow up a dam and Hayduke, for the most part, is being realistic about it and saying “im not sure if I could take out a dam”. Then, this is the part that got me; Smith begins to go into this crazy plan involving houseboats and dolphins. Now unless the term dolphin has a different meaning in this context, I’m picturing actual dolphins. So I’m laughing and thinking to myself, what possible way could a person use dolphins to blow up a dam; how would you go about getting them in the first place. Then Doc interrupts Smith for fear that the state bugged the canyons and may hear this elaborate plan involving houseboats and dolphins. But in actuality this quote pretty much sums up the essence of Abbey’s book by showing how silly it is and how much fun it is to read as well.