If Life Weren't Unsatisfactory, Who Would Wander the World?

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Fern left the town of Empire and started a road trip in her van.

When she relieved herself in the open wilderness, it foreshadowed the hardships of the journey; hunger, cold, and vehicle breakdowns were commonplace.

Working short-term jobs, picking up trash, cleaning toilets, and harvesting beets to earn a meager income occupied most of this traveler’s time.

The occasional naps during the day were also used to exchange daily necessities with nomads and learn wilderness survival skills.

The most pleasant moment every day was carrying a lamp at night, sitting with nomads in the wilderness, and sharing each other’s stories.

No one shared happy stories, as if happy stories had never happened to them.

There was not a single nomad who hadn’t struggled before setting off on the journey, not a single nomad without a sad story, and not a single nomad without regrets.

Some tried to return to society, some tried to return to family, and some returned to silence with nature.

Regardless of the choice, everyone is effectively homeless.

Long-term wandering, financial hardship, and tight living made them sensitive, irritable, and indifferent, unable to communicate with people anymore, except for nomads.

Although friends, sisters, and lovers were willing to provide a room for Fern, she felt like she was living under someone else’s roof.

Only that home, which was originally desolate and now even more barren, is her own home.

But the wilderness outside that door is her true home.

If life weren’t unsatisfactory, who would wander the world?

This is what I saw in “Nomadland”.

Published at: Feb 13, 2021 · Modified at: Dec 2, 2025

DiMi

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