Brian’s Winter gives the reader a realistic idea of what nature, and surviving in it, is truly like. He shows both the incomparable beauty and unrelenting severity of nature through Brian’s eyes.

Paulsen highlights nature’s beauty with imagery and simile, and by describing Brian’s reactions to the woods he begins to think of as home. Similes compare natural phenomena to more mundane objects—for example, daybreak brings a “new sun shining like gold” (7). Descriptions use clear, precise language to convey mood—the first snow that transforms the woods is “Clear and still and quiet, full of tracks” (99), a series of one-syllable words arranged in a sing-song meter that evoke animals making those tracks. Brian’s thoughts and perspective also highlight the beauty of the natural world. Brian constantly observes and appreciates his environment, tuning his senses to an awareness of his surroundings for safety and for aesthetic experience. After snowfall, Brian marvels at the beauty around him, knowing that no photo of a snowy forest compares to experiencing it firsthand. By the end of the novel, Brian develops a fondness for winter, and finds it hard to leave the woods.