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Isolation and its effects
Isolation and its effect on society
Negative impact of solitude
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In Gary Paulsen’s novel Hatchet, thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson attempts to survive in the Canadian wilderness. On a trip to Brian’s father’s Canadian home, the pilot flying the plane suffers from a sudden heart attack, forcing Brian to take control of the aircraft before it crashes. After landing the plane in a lake in the Canadian wilderness, Brian learns how to survive in the forests until someone comes to rescue him. The wilderness makes up a majority of the novel’s setting. While a reader can view the wilderness’ effects on Brian as positively contributing towards his character, the forest ultimately harms Brian through numerous negative regards. The Canadian wilderness directly causes numerous problems and harmful events that …show more content…
Once Brian goes through the process of learning how to start a fire, he thinks, “I have a friend - I have a friend now. A hungry friend, but a good one. I have a friend named fire” (Paulsen 93). This thought process of Brian to the inanimate fire as a friend can lead to negative consequences. One should consider anthropomorphic thinking like in this instance as a sign of the loneliness damaging Brian’s psyche and mental health. Another instance of the isolation brought on by the setting negatively affecting Brian’s thought process occurs when “he realized as he thought it that he had forgotten that they might come. The searchers” (Paulsen 102). Brian’s complacency with his surroundings only several days after being stranded in the forest is worrying. By forgetting about going home and accepting surviving in the wilderness as his life, Brian risks losing part of his humanity, societal manners, and forgetting customs from everyday life, and he could potentially become so attached to living in the woods that he might want to never return to his normal life and family. Several signs of the beginning of mental problems present themselves as a direct result of Brian’s isolation in the …show more content…
An example of where one could extrapolate this notion from occurs after he begins to hunt wild game for food, Brian attempts to hunt what he calls “foolbirds.” Brian repeatedly tries to find and shoot several foolbirds with his handmade bow and arrows, but can never seem to spot them before they fly away. Eventually, he begins to reassess the situation and realizes, “I am looking wrong. More, more than that I am being wrong somehow - I am doing it the wrong way … He had been looking for feathers, for the color of the bird, for a bird sitting there. He had to look for the outline instead, had to see the shape instead of the feathers or color, had to train his eyes to see the shape” (Paulsen 141). After several more attempts and learning to analyze the entire situation, Brian shoots and kills a bird. Someone could read this section and believe that the skills Brian has acquired as a result of his time in the woods have made him develop as a character, yielding positive growth. However, Brian simply adapts to his surrounding to survive, and by becoming more proficient in living in the wilderness, he inversely loses his skills for existing in regular society. As displayed when, “propping the hatchet in the crack of the rock wall, he had pulled the head of the spear against it, carving a thin piece off each
The central idea of “Guts is Gary Paulsen’s life before becoming a famous writer. Gary Paulsen used to live in a small farming town, where he volunteered to emergency calls. One emergency call was in Colorado Springs. It was for a man who was having a heart attack. Before passing away the man looked directly into Paulsen’s eyes. That is something Paulsen says he will never forget.
A lighthouse’s piercing beam of light shines over the murky land, providing respite—albeit brief—from the harsh battering of the neighboring terrain. Trouble, by Gary D. Schmidt, wraps this picture eloquently in the form of a compelling and captivating contemporary fiction book. Trouble primarily centers around a boy named Henry Smith, who never really understood the formidable potential of the omnipotent entity Trouble in his safe and idyllic life. Henry had always fallen into the dark shadow of his brother, Franklin, as a result of Franklin’s physical prowess. “…especially since he could never hope to match the records that Franklin—Franklin Smith, O Franklin Smith, the great lord of us all, Franklin Smith—had put up on the wooden Athletic Records panels for his rugby play.” (7). Henry’s brother, however, was extremely arrogant, and put his brother down at every chance he got, which causes Trouble to appear. “‘You do that climb, you have guts…you don't have any guts.’ Franklin punched his arm. Too hard. Then he laughed and walked away.” (38). Although the word “Trouble” usually brings to mind pictures of kids attempting to pull their parents’ hair out, it strikes the Smith family in a very different way: with the death of their Franklin due to being run over by Chay Chouan, a Cambodian immigrant. The family is utterly devastated with Trouble’s unforeseen arrival. “And his father hadn't shaved—which was, Henry thought, the first time that had ever happened.” (11). Having been promised to be taken to Mount Katahdin, the tallest mountain in Maine, right before Franklin had died, Henry takes the news the worst. His thoughts completely revolve around Katahdin, and how he would hike it at any cost, if just to...
Hatchet by Gary Paulson is a fiction novel about a thirteen-year-old boy named Brian that survives a plane crash after the pilot dies of a heart attack and Brian is forced to land the plane himself, and in doing so, lands in a lake around the setting of a Canadian forest. Throughout the duration of the novel, Brian is to survive this dangerous situation with nothing except for a literal hatchet that was gifted to him by his mother prior to getting on the plane to go visit his father in the Canadian North Woods as his parents are newly separated after a recent divorce. Gary Paulsen was inspired to write Hatchet from his own life and personal experiences as both of his parents gave him a hard time growing up through their rocky marriage and unstable parenting as well as the fact that he grew up in the country and had to provide for himself. Hatchet also received a 1988 Newbery Honor award for its excellency. The fiction book is a piece of his life and it’s struggles as he wrote it to convey the following opinions: positivity can get you far no matter what the situation at hand may be, man can
Overcoming obstacles in one’s life can lead someone along the path of ultimately taking pride in themselves. This is apparent in William Bell’s novel Crabbe, in the case of young Franklin Crabbe. Firstly, Crabbe’s ordeal in nature teaches him to put others before himself. At the beginning of his journey, he is self-centred whilst making decisions, whereas at the end of his journey, he is able to consider others first. Secondly, during Crabbe’s time in the wilderness, he gains self-satisfaction from hard work. Crabbe learns about how good it feels to accomplish something in his waking hours, and continues to realize this after his encounter with nature. Lastly, throughout Crabbe’s time in the wilderness, he learns to take responsibility for his own unhappiness. In his bounty of moments for reflection, Crabbe realizes his parents are not to blame for his every moment of depression. During Crabbe’s journey in the bush, he overcomes frequent obstacles which send him back to civilization as someone he can be proud of.
Booklist. 15 Apr. 2007: Biography in Context Web 4. May 2014 Paulsen, Gary. Guts: The True Stories behind Hatchet and the Brian Books.
Into the Wild, written by John Krakauer tells of a young man named Chris McCandless who 1deserted his college degree and all his worldly possessions in favor of a primitive transient life in the wilderness. Krakauer first told the story of Chris in an article in Outside Magazine, but went on to write a thorough book, which encompasses his life in the hopes to explain what caused him to venture off alone into the wild. McCandless’ story soon became a national phenomenon, and had many people questioning why a “young man from a well-to-do East Coast family [would] hitchhike to Alaska” (Krakauer i). Chris comes from an affluent household and has parents that strived to create a desirable life for him and his sister. As Chris grows up, he becomes more and more disturbed by society’s ideals and the control they have on everyday life. He made a point of spiting his parents and the lifestyle they lived. This sense of unhappiness continues to build until after Chris has graduated college and decided to leave everything behind for the Alaskan wilderness. Knowing very little about how to survive in the wild, Chris ventures off on his adventure in a state of naïveté. It is obvious that he possessed monumental potential that was wasted on romanticized ideals and a lack of wisdom. Christopher McCandless is a unique and talented young man, but his selfish and ultimately complacent attitude towards life and his successes led to his demise.
Jon Krakauer, fascinated by a young man in April 1992 who hitchhiked to Alaska and lived alone in the wild for four months before his decomposed body was discovered, writes the story of Christopher McCandless, in his national bestseller: Into the Wild. McCandless was always a unique and intelligent boy who saw the world differently. Into the Wild explores all aspects of McCandless’s life in order to better understand the reason why a smart, social boy, from an upper class family would put himself in extraordinary peril by living off the land in the Alaskan Bush. McCandless represents the true tragic hero that Aristotle defined. Krakauer depicts McCandless as a tragic hero by detailing his unique and perhaps flawed views on society, his final demise in the Alaskan Bush, and his recognition of the truth, to reveal that pure happiness requires sharing it with others.
Chris McCandless was still just a young man when he decided to drastically alter his life through the form of a child’s foolishness. However, Chris had not known at the time just how powerful his testimony against his father’s authority, society, or maybe even his own lifestyle was going to be revolutionary throughout not only Alaska,not even the lower 48, but the world. The story of Chris McCandless is a much talked about debate on topics of safety and preparedness in the wild, these things forever associated with the boy who was a little too eager for a death wish. Today, Chris is remember as a fool or a hero. The fool, a boy who allowed himself to be drowned in a fictional world inspired by his readings,dying because he ignored he was just a normal human being or the hero who set out to become something more.
Chris McCandless, the main character of “Into the wild” was angered by his father’s infidelity and bigamy. As a result, Chris McCandless wanted to separate himself from his family and he begins a spiritual adventure to search for his identity. Chris McCandless isolates himself physically and emotionally to find freedom and peace by adventuring into the wild. Therefore, McCandless escapes from Emory University and immediately flees his dull and predictable life, heading west without a word to his family. Although, McCandless journey ends in a tragic ending, he fulfilled his ambition by pursuing his ambition and inner peace. In conclusion, McCandless journey was both a search for inner peace and transition to maturity.
Main Theme: The story Hatchet’s theme is determination, perseverance and survival. Brian Robeson, whose parents are divorced, flies to visit his father in Canadian wilderness. His pilot has a heart attack and dies. Brian managed to land the plane in a lake, and escape unharmed. Now comes the hard part, surviving in the wilderness until rescued. He does have one tool to help him, a hatchet that his mother had given him as a gift. He will have to use it, his own determination, imagination, perseverance and common sense to survive.
“Into The Wild” by John Krakauer is a non-fiction biographical novel which is based on the life of a young man, Christopher McCandless. Many readers view Christopher’s journey as an escape from his family and his old life. The setting of a book often has a significant impact on the story itself. The various settings in the book contribute to the main characters’ actions and to the theme as a whole. This can be proven by examining the impact the setting has on the theme of young manhood, the theme of survival and the theme of independent happiness.
Byatt, A.S. “The Thing in the Forest.” The Norton Introduction to Literature. Ed. Kelly J. Mays. 11th ed. New York: Norton, 2013. 352-67.
Hatchet is about a young boy 13 years old by the name of Brian Robeson. Brian is the protagonists of the novel. Brian is from the states and is going through a life transition. The transition has to do with his parents going through a divorce and he is carrying a secret that his mother is having an affair. Brian keeps this secret about his mother throughout the whole book. He is on a plane going to visit his dad in a part of Canada when the pilot suffers a heart attack. In mid-flight the pilot dies. So Brian is forced to try to land the plane on his own. Brian eventually crashes the plane in the North Canadian woods, and is now stranded all alone in the middle of the woods. This is all set into setting the major themes of the novel by ...
In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer explores the human fascination with the purpose of life and nature. Krakauer documents the life and death of Chris McCandless, a young man that embarked on an Odyssey in the Alaskan wilderness. Like many people, McCandless believed that he could give his life meaning by pursuing a relationship with nature. He also believed that rejecting human relationships, abandoning his materialistic ways, and purchasing a book about wildlife would strengthen his relationship with nature. However, after spending several months enduring the extreme conditions of the Alaskan wilderness, McCandless’ beliefs begin to work against him. He then accepts that he needs humans, cannot escape materialism, and can never fully understand how nature functions. Most importantly, he realizes that human relationships are more valuable than infinite solitude. McCandless’ gradual change of heart demonstrates that exploring the wilderness is a transformative experience. Krakauer uses the life and death of Chris McCandless to convey that humans need to explore nature in order to discover the meaning of life.
Candy, an aging swamper and former ranch worker, is a character that experiences the heartbreak of becoming lonely. Many can attest to having an extremely good friend that they lose whether it be because of work, personal reasons, and in Candy’s case death. When occurrences like Candy’s incident transpire one can feel as if the world is crumbling all around them. A gaping hole is left in Candy’s heart after his dog was shot, and regret is present because he did not do it himself. Candy loses the only friend he has, and his disability and age hinders his chances of gaining new friends. Loneliness can envelope an individual and make their logic warped and more susceptible to the idea of utopia and serenity. This can be seen in people today especially in teenagers who are willing to please others in exchange for friendship and similar concepts which mostly ends in bullying and broken hearts. In this circumstance Candy is willing to believe i...