102 Years Old America

“The food began to bother me, my stomach felt upset, and I would not be able to hold the food down very long.”(135) This suggests that, the narrator’s own physical body is refusing to settle with the food possibly serves as a metaphor that like the narrator, the food too doesn’t allow itself to adjust to the environment, and revolve around certain forces controlling their actions. The influence of society made the protagonist endure severe deprivation of food, the fact that living under a society that expects the protagonist to have a job and earn money forces the protagonist to live under a “cycle of life.” This being, the author represents the protagonist as with the irony of life, where the protagonists needs to work to eat, but has no food therefore works harder to eat more but continues until his sense of thoughts and his rational skills have been altered “but my brain sank deeper in chaos” (79).

“It stopped him, the idea of giving thanks. At first his mind just stopped and he thought, for what… Then a small voice, almost a whisper, came into his mind and all it said was: It could have been worse.”(Paulson 95) This quote means so much to the story. Brian at first believes he has nothing to be thankful for but in reality he has so much. Brian probably should’ve and would have gotten killed in the plane crash. Ot by the bear or moose. Brian should be thankful for how lucky he was in finding food and in his encounters. Even when he does get into a bad situation like with the bear he is lucky and survives. This also shows no matter how bad something is it could be worse. This entire encounter with the wilderness shapes him to be a better person and have an increased understanding of nature and the

Brian originally found gut cherries which made him feel sick. So right after he ate that he went searching for some different berries and ends up finding raspberries. Before Brian got ready to find berries Brian was getting firmly like on page 60-61 “Simple keep it simple I am Brian Robeson I have been in a plane crash. I am going to find food. I am going to find berries.” later on Brian developed his skills and caught fish and hunted fool birds and bunnies. Like he called his first hunt on page 141 “first meat”. This is showing how Brian needs to keep his head in the game because if Brian didn’t find food, he would either be really hungry until help comes or he dies of starvation. So Brian was proactive and put his head in the game so he can survive.

Brian faced a turning point in his life when he was stranded in a forest which led to loneliness and hungry.He had to spend nights alone, and hoped “They would probably come today (par 5). Although Brian hoped he would be rescued and his loneliness made him question if and when someone would come to rescue. Brian had no one he didn’t have a mom o a dad with him. All he had with him was a hatchet. Brian had to face another problem which was hungriness. He had to survive two freezing cold nights with no warmth or nothing to eat. Brian was starving and he started thinking about hunger and then the hunger went down and then it came back up again. He was thinking about a burger and he remembered he had nothing no resources to eat and no family and he was all alone.

Brian starts out scared and full of self-pity but as time went by he realized self-pity would not help him. Brian values self-reliance for it helped him survive. Throughout the book, Brian becomes self-reliant in making a shelter, fire, and finding food. Without self-reliance, Brian would not have survived; he would be to dependent to others to find food and make a shelter and a fire to stay warm. Even once the tornado made Brian start from scratch again he did not give up hope and was able to redo many of the things from before.Though Brian’s choices, I learned to be self-reliant in many thing I do; being a dependent child would make life hard as I grow up.

Near the middle of the book, Brian is attacked by a porcupine and he is hurt. In later experiences

In the forest Brian learned that finding food in the wild is not as easy as finding food in the city. At home, he would have just gone to the fridge or taken his bike to the store, but now he had to work for it. Brian appreciates food now because he knows how much work it takes to get it. Through the process of finding food Brian learned how to be patient and how to observe. He also learned never to waste anything. When he caught a grouse instead of throwing the scraps away, he used the feathers to make fletchings for his arrows and the extra meat he used as fish bait. A quote from the author after Brian was rescued, “Food, all food, even food he did not like, never lost its wonder for him.” Page

Have you ever wondered what it is like to survive in the wilderness? If you have read the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen then you would know how to do some of the basics in survival like to get food and shelter. Some things Brian had to do was to gather food and in the next few paragraphs I will get deeper into that topic. He had some “Aha Moments” that helped him get more food options to survive.

Alone on the deserted island with loneliness and hunger ,so Brian decided to use the environment to survive. "Nothing. It kept coming back to that. He had nothing."(pg 6) Brian was ready to just give in... but wait, he just remembered what his old teacher told him,"You are your most valuable asset. Don't forget that. You are the best thing you have." (pg7) "And then there came hunger." (pg5) Brian realized he had no food, so he took out his resources that he had and used it to the best of his abilities. With everything Brian had to survive, he used the environment to solve his problems.

The news is flooded with stories of negative acts of racism, along with arguments regarding sexism and stereotypical gender roles. While major steps have been taken toward a more unified, accepting country, the United States continues to still lack correct knowledge and understanding to one of the most common “isms” in the country: ageism. Ageism is defined in Aging, the Individual, and Society as “the prejudiced behavior of individuals and systems within the culture against older adults, including negative consequences of inaccurate stereotyping of the elderly” (Hillier & Barrow, 2015, p.11). As a result of prejudice, myths tend to form about the stereotyped group of people. Facts and Fiction about an Aging America by The MacArthur Foundation

In the other hand, sometimes not matter how much you give of yourself, things don’t turn out the way it was planned, may be the economy is not strong yet, or it is not their time.

Brian's Winter takes place in the Canadian Wilderness near a small lake. On one side of the lake is a small rocky ledge where Brian has set up camp. The entire area is surrounded by a big forest filled with wildlife. Even though the area is uninhabited and lonely, nature provides many helpful things to Brian’s survival. The lake water provides Brian with necessary drinking water, water to bathe and keep a clean camp. It also is a source to catch fish for food. The rocky ledge area gives Brian a place to build a shelter. The forest’s wood gives Brian materials for a shelter, fire and material to make weapons like bows and arrows. Additionally, the forest is a place that the wildlife can be hunted for food. "Brian took foolbirds or rabbits