78 pages • 2 hours read
Gary PaulsenA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
“Home became, finally, something of an impossibility for me and I would go to stay with relatives for extended periods of time.”
At the opening of the novel, the protagonist is displaced and has no true home. The protagonist’s journey through the novel centers around his inner conflict with feeling at home and belonging, and the process of being accepted as one of the family. His initial disposition of nervousness and hesitation towards the thought of staying with the Larsons is a stark contrast from how he feels by the novel’s conclusion.
“They lived on a farm forty miles north of the town I lived in, yet it might as well have been on a different planet. The ride took about an hour and a half, but it went through such varied terrain that before we had gone five miles I was in despair. For two or three of those miles the car moved past farm country that still seemed rather settled. Frequently there were tractors working in the fields and people who waved cheerfully, walking down the sides of the road. But soon the trees closed in, closer and thicker until they were a wall on either side and the road and car were enveloped in a curtain of green darkness. And there were no more open fields or driveways, just dirt tracks that disappeared into the forest and brush. It was like going off the edge of the earth on those old maps used by early explorers, into places where it said: There Be Monsters Here.”
Paulsen describes scenes in the novel with detail and vivid visual imagery. As the protagonist is approaching the Larson’s farm for the first time, he observes the ever-thickening forest around him. This luscious language is consistent throughout the work, as the protagonist seems to have a very visual memory, and much of the scenery he paints for the reader is reflective of this. Recalling memories in this fashion brings the reader right into the moment, making it more real and personal. The protagonist’s description concerning monsters suggests his apprehension at leaving the more populated town and entering the isolated country.
By Gary Paulsen
Brian's Hunt
Brian's Hunt (Brian's Saga, #5)
Gary Paulsen
Brian's Return
Brian's Return (Brian's Saga, #4)
Gary Paulsen
Brian's Winter
Brian's Winter (Brian's Saga, #3)
Gary Paulsen
Canyons
Canyons
Gary Paulsen
Dogsong
Dogsong
Gary Paulsen
Guts
Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books
Gary Paulsen
Hatchet
Hatchet (Brian's Saga, #1)
Gary Paulsen
How Angel Peterson Got His Name: And Other Outrageous Tales about Extreme Sports
How Angel Peterson Got His Name: And Other Outrageous Tales about Extreme Sports
Gary Paulsen
Lawn Boy
Lawn Boy
Gary Paulsen
Liar, Liar: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Deception
Liar, Liar: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Deception (Liar, Liar, #1)
Gary Paulsen
Masters of Disaster
Masters of Disaster
Gary Paulsen
My Life in Dog Years
My Life in Dog Years
Gary Paulsen
Nightjohn
Nightjohn (Sarny)
Gary Paulsen
Northwind
Northwind
Gary Paulsen
Soldier's Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers
Soldier's Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers
Gary Paulsen
The Crossing
The Crossing
Gary Paulsen
The Monument
The Monument
Gary Paulsen
The River
The River (Brian's Saga, #2)
Gary Paulsen
The Transall Saga
The Transall Saga
Gary Paulsen
The Voyage of the Frog
The Voyage of the Frog
Gary Paulsen