76 pages • 2 hours read
Gary PaulsenBrian's Winter
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1996A 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.
Part 2, Chapters 11-13Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 2: “Winter”
Part 2, Chapter 11 Summary
The next day, rain falls softly and Brian collects firewood. The rain continues steadily for eight full days, and even when it finally stops, the weather turns colder. A blizzard comes, with powerful wind and snow howling in the trees.
Brian uses his time inside the shelter to work the moose hide and make a warm parka and mittens. He struggles to soften the hide once it hardens, and the finished parka is mostly stiff, but still wearable. When the storm ends, Brian ventures out in his clothes, which keep him, “as warm as if he’d been in the shelter” (90). He leaves the moose meat stacked beneath the snow to keep it frozen and safe from predators. After another day of gathering wood, on day 94 of being in the woods, Brian wonders if winter will bring any other variation to his days other than eating, working the hide, gathering wood, and waiting.
Part 2, Chapter 12 Summary
As winter brings regular, soft snow, Brian struggles to occupy his time. Calculating that it’s about the last week of November, he decides to have a Thanksgiving meal. He gathers red berries to use for a sauce. While he’s outside, Brian notices that while his feet sink into the deep snow with every step, rabbits run on top of the snow because of their large feet. He tucks this knowledge away, and continues preparations for his meal.
Even though he wishes for a traditional Thanksgiving back home with turkey, football, and television, he doesn’t waste too much time dreaming. He lays down pine branches as a carpet in his shelter, and prepares moose meat and a sauce from the berries. He gives thanks for the good luck he has had since the plane crash, and especially for the hatchet, “The key to it all” (95). Just as he’s going to sleep after his Thanksgiving meal, he hears a gunshot.
Part 2, Chapter 13 Summary
Brian continues to hear the popping, cracking sound of gunfire, and calls out. No one answers, and the cracks cease. In the morning, he goes out in the extreme cold, but stays relatively warm in the deer and moose hide clothing. He walks in the direction the sound came from, but sees only animal tracks. He stops by a tree, and all of a sudden, hears the gunshot again, this time near his head. Then, he sees it: a shattered poplar tree. He realizes that the inside of the tree froze after the outside froze, and did not have any room to expand. Therefore, the pressure built up on the inside and eventually caused the tree to explode—the noise of these explosions sounded like gunfire to him. Brian notes that the winter woods are completely different from the summer woods, and wisely reminds himself he must “study and know” the winter woods to stay alive (103).
Part 2, Chapters 11-13 Analysis
As the weather takes a more drastic turn for the worse in these chapters, Paulsen highlights the contrast between summer and winter. Nature’s power over Brian is complete as rain falls for eight consecutive days, then turns into a blizzard that traps Brian inside his shelter. At first, Brian rues the boredom and monotony of winter to the constant activity of summer, but as soon as he observes the winter woods, he realizes he will need to “study and know” his environment all over again (103). There are changes in the animals, such as the rabbits’ new white fur and larger feet, and there are new phenomena, such as the trees exploding. Finally, tracks are visible everywhere in the snow, evidence of the many animals living nearby. Brian must learn and adapt if he is to survive the winter. His perceptiveness serves him well as he resolves to be a student of nature.
Brian’s decision to have a Thanksgiving meal is one of the ways he keeps himself psychologically safe alongside assuring his physical safety. He takes time to express gratitude for his survival rather than dwelling on the dangers that beset him, and fosters an emotional connection to home, his mother, and the comforts of his old life. All of this keeps up his spirits and preserves the hope that he will eventually leave the wilderness—a belief necessary to fuel his unceasing struggle to stay alive. During his Thanksgiving, Brian thanks the good luck that has brought much of his success, the animals that have died to keep him alive, and the tools that have made survival possible, such as the knife and the hatchet. His little Thanksgiving celebration helps him cling to his humanity, gives him something to focus on while stuck inside, and shows the reader his humility—Brian has come so far, yet he shares credit for his survival.
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By Gary Paulsen
