The Natural World Theme Analysis

After a terrifying plane crash that leaves thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson alone in the wilderness to fend for himself, he becomes acquainted with a rich, complex natural world that was previously foreign to him. Even after he is rescued at the end of the book, Brian’s interactions with that new world continue to shape him in profound ways. At first, the wilderness around Brian appears chaotic to him, just as his life in New York feels after his parents announce their divorce. However, as his experience in the wilderness unfolds, Brian slowly begins to see the rational order and deep value of the natural world—a new worldview that brings him peace and guides his actions even when he returns home. Through Brian’s experiences, Paulsen illustrates that nature provides a model of profound balance that can and should inform human behavior, even for people who live far from the wilderness.

At first, Brian is so used to interpreting the world around him as a chaotic blur that he can barely perceive the beautiful nuances that now surround him. Accustomed to the sensory overload of city life, Brian cannot at first see the natural balance that becomes so clear to him later on. Looking at the lake for the first time, Brian is dazzled by the reflection of the trees in the water, with reality and illusion blending together and everything looking like “a green and blue blur.” Initially, Brian is unable to appreciate the full beauty that he perceives later on. When Brian impulsively yells how hungry he is, he is surprised to find that complete silence follows his voice. He realizes that “in all his life he had never heard silence before,” underscoring how different his city life has been from his time in the wilderness. After that clarifying silence, Brian hears the birds and insects start making noise one by one, hearing them now as individuals rather than a blur of sound. With this moment, Paulsen demonstrates that quiet and peace underlie even the wildest of natural environments, and suggests that cities lack the conditions necessary to truly appreciate the nuances of nature.

Brian’s burgeoning understanding of the careful balance and logic underpinning the seemingly chaotic natural world around him comes from the dangers that he discovers. Initially they seem purely threatening, but many of these dangerous situations turn out to conceal clues that help him survive. The wolf that initially frightens Brian quickly becomes a symbol of his newfound sense of connection with nature. Brian reflects that “he knew the wolf for what it was, another part of the woods, another part of it all.” With this realization, Brian’s fear fades, and he gains further confidence that he has a right to live in harmony with the wilderness. Even the skunk that nearly blinds Brian with its spray demonstrates the crucial fact that food can be quickly and easily be lost. After this experience, Brian resolves to protect his food supply above all else, learning an important key to survival from a painful experience. In this way, the skunk helps Brian even as it harms him, again showing the presence of an essential balance in nature. Later, when a moose attacks Brian, he is stunned that he cannot find any reason for the moose’s “insane” behavior. Although it seems to be at odds with the logic that Brian discovers elsewhere in the woods, its randomness also serves a purpose for Brian: the moose’s attack illustrates the continued possibility of genuinely unexpected events even within a sensible environment. Brian’s ability to make peace with such random misfortune is a crucial part of his successful coping upon returning home to his divorced parents. Over and over, Paulsen demonstrates that each misfortune contains a lesson that Brian will need in order to continue surviving.

As Brian continues to grow more confident living in the wilderness, he learns to fully appreciate the finely balanced order of the natural world around him. Where he once saw chaos, he now sees logic and opportunity everywhere, an understanding that brings him peace even in the face of difficulty. Over time, Brian settles into a routine of maintaining his camp and food stores while repeating variations of the phase: “There were these things to do.” By sorting the complex landscape into rational concrete tasks, Brian gains a sense of stability and staves off his fear that he will never be rescued. This relatively early example of finding order in chaos foreshadows the even greater logic that Brian will come to perceive throughout the wilderness. Shortly before he is rescued, Brian rests after a day of work and reflects on the beauty of a sunset. He notes each part of the sight—the sky, the water, the trees—and thinks that the balance between all of these elements creates “almost unbelievable beauty.” Imagining what might be happening at that moment back in the city, Brian also wonders if the situation will someday be reversed: will he someday find himself sitting at home and imagining the details of the sunset that’s unfolding before him? This moment hints at the growing affinity that Brian feels for the wilderness. Even as he misses his urban home, some part of him understands that the balance of the forest sunset is lacking in the city. Upon returning home, Brian continues to dream of his camp at the lake and the peace that he found there. Paulsen writes that the dreams were “not bad and would never be bad for him,” and also notes that Brian’s increased thoughtfulness and ability to be observant will persist throughout his life. At the end of the book, even Brian’s parents’ divorce appears as a simple fact rather than the painful chaos that it was before Brian’s experience in the wilderness. Furthermore, it seems that the lake remains a truer home for Brian than the homes of either of his parents. The epilogue makes it clear that Brian is permanently changed for the better by his deep understanding of the natural world, even though he cannot continue living there.