The Prius (Stepfather's Car) as a Symbol in America the Beautiful?

Overview of the Prius as a Recurring Symbol

In Blythe Roberson's travel memoir America the Beautiful?, the borrowed Prius—owned by her stepfather TB (Tom Brandes)—is far more than a vehicle. It appears across multiple chapters as a physical object that embodies the central tensions of the road trip: the gap between environmental ideals and the carbon-intensive reality of cross-country driving, the forced growth that comes from dependence, and the uneasy freedom of solo female travel. The Prius is, at various moments, a home, a source of frustration, a site of learning, and a tangible link to the narrator's support system.

Literal Object and Recurrence

The Prius is a 2015 Toyota hybrid that Roberson borrows from her stepfather for a two-month journey through America's national parks. She refers to it as “Tom Brandes’ 2015 Toyota Prius,” highlighting its borrowed nature and the family connection. It first appears in Chapter 1 (“Hermergency”), where she decides to use it despite safety concerns, and it becomes her primary shelter when her tent proves unusable on Isle Royale. The car reappears in nearly every chapter, often as a backdrop for key events:

In Chapter 2, she sits in the Prius at Voyageurs Visitor Center completing Junior Ranger activities and reflects on the whiteness of national parks.
Chapter 11 details a flat tire in Forks, Washington, where she must learn to use a tire gauge and check the oil with TB's phone coaching.
Later in that chapter, she bottoms out on a dirt road while heading to Twin Rocks, fearing she has damaged the car.
Chapter 14 has her speeding aggressively to reach Yosemite's visitor center before closing, treating the Prius like a race car.
The final chapter (18) shows her sleeping in the Prius one last time in Shawnee National Forest and forcing it up a tricky dirt road to end the trip.

These recurrences show the Prius evolving from a handy loaner into a constant companion that shapes the journey's rhythm and the narrator's self-reliance.

Changing Meanings Across the Journey

The Prius's meaning shifts in three key phases:

1. Practical necessity and environmental unease. Initially, the hybrid car appeals to Roberson's environmental consciousness. Yet she is acutely aware of the irony: driving thousands of miles in a Prius still consumes fossil fuels and emits carbon. In Chapter 2, she calls it “an individual solution to a systemic problem,” recognizing that her ability to access national parks depends on a car—a luxury many BIPOC Americans lack due to geographic and economic barriers. The car thus becomes a symbol of privilege and the limits of personal virtue.

2. Forced learning and vulnerability. Car trouble forces Roberson to develop mechanical skills she never wanted. The flat tire incident in Forks (Chapter 11) is a turning point: she calls TB in a panic, buys a tire gauge, and eventually inflates the tire herself. She writes that she was “furious to have a new skill” but admits it felt like “the most tangible personal growth” the trip gave her. The Prius, in this phase, represents the humbling process of becoming competent in areas she had avoided.

3. Home and freedom. By the end of the trip, the Prius is a familiar, cramped sanctuary. She sleeps in it regularly, stores gear in it, and relies on it for navigation. In the final chapter, she expresses relief at reaching her dad's driveway, but also a sense of loss—the car carried her through both beauty and fear. Its physical limits (small size, no shower) mirror the discipline of minimalist travel, while its reliability (despite breakdowns) allows her to complete the journey.

Character Connections

Blythe Roberson – The narrator's relationship with the Prius is that of a grudging caretaker. She depends on TB for advice, talks to him on the phone during maintenance crises, and feels both gratitude and resentment. The car forces her to confront her own helplessness and eventual growth.
TB (Tom Brandes) – The stepfather is a offstage presence who provides the car, guidance, and even tries to buy her a gun (mentioned in Chapter 18). Their phone calls about the Prius become a metaphor for the support system that enables her independence.
Buddy (from Young Catholics) – While the Prius is never the site of intimacy, Roberson uses it to fetch condoms for her encounter with Buddy in his parents' SUV (Chapter 11). The Prius here plays a supporting role in her exploration of sexuality on the road.
Other characters – The Prius also attracts attention from strangers, such as the man in Forks who warns her about the flat tire, and the gorgeous ranger at Nehalem Bay who recognizes her Junior Ranger pin from the car. These interactions underscore how the vehicle marks her as a certain type of traveler: solo, female, earnest.

Themes Explored

Gender and Travel – The Prius amplifies gendered fears. Roberson is warned she will be murdered; the tiny car offers little security. She rejects pepper spray and stun guns but relies on the car as a locked refuge. Her lack of car knowledge is portrayed as a deliberate form of resistance to traditional femininity, yet the trip forces her to learn anyway.
Environmental Critique – The hybrid car is an imperfect solution to the environmental impact of road tripping. Roberson acknowledges that her journey contributes to the very problems (climate change, habitat loss) she laments. This tension is a core thread of the memoir.
Whiteness of National Parks – The Prius is directly linked to the observation that distance and lack of transportation are primary barriers for BIPOC visitors. The car becomes a symbol of the privilege that allows her to access parks that statistically exclude communities of color.
Freedom vs. Collective Responsibility – The Prius embodies the American myth of solo road-trip freedom. Yet Roberson concludes that the deeper freedom is collective. The car, as an individual tool, cannot solve systemic issues; it can only enable temporary escape.

Study Questions

1. How does Roberson's relationship with the Prius illustrate her personal growth over the course of the trip?
Answer: Initially, she lacks mechanical knowledge and panics over a flat tire, relying on TB for step-by-step instruction. By the end, she can check tire pressure, add air, and handle basic issues like bottoming out. The car forces her to develop skills she actively resisted, making her more self-sufficient. This growth mirrors her broader journey from fearful novice to confident solo traveler.

2. In what ways does the Prius serve as a vehicle for exploring environmental hypocrisy?
Answer: Roberson uses a hybrid to reduce her carbon footprint, yet she drives thousands of miles, speeds recklessly (Chapter 14), and admits that her road trip consumes fossil fuels. The Prius is not a solution but a compromise. She directly calls it “an individual solution to a systemic problem,” highlighting how personal eco-choices cannot fix structural environmental issues like park accessibility or climate change.

3. How does the borrowed nature of the Prius connect to themes of dependence and privilege?
Answer: Roberson relies on her stepfather for the car, for phone support, and for financial security (she quit her job). The Prius is not independently owned, which underscores her privilege: she has a family safety net. At the same time, dependence ties her to home, forcing her to confront that solo travel is never truly solitary. The car also gives her access to parks that many Americans cannot reach, linking her privilege to systemic inequities in park visitorship.

4. Identify one moment where the Prius is more than just transportation—what does it become?
Answer: In Chapter 1, her tent is unusable, so she sleeps in the Prius. It becomes her shelter. That pattern recurs throughout: the car functions as bedroom, storage unit, and fortress against perceived threats. Even the act of sleeping in the driver's seat transforms the vehicle into a home, blurring the line between travel and domesticity. This reflects the memoir's theme that public and private spaces blend on the road.