Far North

“Raymond Providence was thinking about it, thinking about me. My roommate was wondering if I’d made a mistake.”

Gabe thinks that Raymond believes that Gabe was wrong to move to the Northwest Territories to be with his father. Raymond’s reaction to Gabe’s willing decision to move to the north as a native adds a sense of foreboding to the novel, as Raymond’s disbelief points to the danger of living in the area.

“We were together in this strange place, and the wildness of the place itself was what had bent my rod double, and that wildness was running like electricity through the line and right through my veins. This is why I came, I thought.”

Gabe realizes his love of the wilderness when he goes fishing with his father. The simile of the wildness running like electricity through his veins shows the excitement that Gabe feels when outside. This feeling validates his move to the Northwest Territories from Texas and provides insight into why Gabe is happy to be there.

“I was worried about Raymond. When he looked at things, including me, he didn’t really seem to be seeing them. The sadness in his eyes was unmistakable. This gray school and the gray skies were enough to dampen anyone’s spirits.”

Gabe’s observations about Raymond’s demeanor speak to something deeper happening under the surface and continues to build a sense of mystery in the narrative. Gabe assumes the weather and school atmosphere are the reasons behind Raymond’s depression, and his concern highlights his attempts to empathize and connect with his roommate.

“I wondered if this was such a good idea, to go ahead when we weren’t getting through on the radio. Nobody would know where we were going.”

Gabe is nervous about the radio in the plane not having contact with the ground when Clint decides to take them off course to see Virginia Falls. Gabe’s building doubt foreshadows that they will have problems later and that nobody will know that they flew in a different direction than was expected.

“It was all too beautiful, too immense to be believed, and yet it was real.”

Gabe’s impression of the vastness of the land in the Northwest Territories is one of awe and beauty. This fascination with the land is ironic, as Gabe must face its brutal, harsh reality to survive the winter and reunite with his father. The feeling of beauty juxtaposes the feeling of danger that the Northwest Territories will instill in Gabe later in the story.

“I imagined Clint holding his breath, tucking himself into a ball, somehow pulling himself up onto the beach right below the falls where I couldn’t see. But I knew I was thinking pure fantasy.”

Gabe’s inability to process Clint’s death highlights his lack of experience with harrowing, life-or-death situations. In his denial, he envisions Clint surviving on a beach, invoking a positive picture in place of the true reality. Clint’s death is the first in the story, and it frames the story with dread and suspense.

“I was shivering, more from fear, I think, than from the cold. The adrenaline was still pumping panic through my veins.”

Gabe continues to try to process his emotions and bodily response as he experiences the shock of being stranded in the wild. He recognizes that though the temperature is cold, his body’s response is connected to a sense of emotional self-preservation, as well as physical.

“Working kept us warm. A few minutes of inactivity, and the cold started to seep in, especially through our gloves.”

Gabe quickly learns about how to survive in the intense cold of the Northwest Territories. The reality of surviving the harsh temperatures rises to the surface as Gabe fights the desire to stay stunned and inactive about his circumstances. The continuous need to work supplies the narrative with desperation and a sense of the misery to come.

“We’d quit talking about rescue planes or the big ‘what if’ that we both had on our minds: What if the plane never comes? We were just living day to day.”

The need to survive usurps all fantasy and conversation of the future for Gabe and Raymond. Their self-preservation begins to take precedent over all else, and they stop speculating about whether they will be rescued. Their determination to survive forbids them to entertain thoughts that could make them more depressed, illustrating their understanding of the power of their own minds in their current circumstances.

“I got a fire going with the butane lighter and some shredded birchbark from my daypack, like the old man always used. By this time I’d caught on to always having some handy.”

Johnny Raven’s knowledge of the outdoors and what it can provide has quickly made an impression on Gabe as he learns the keys to survival. He honors the elderly man by following his ways and taking note of what works best in the wild according to Johnny.

“If we had only stayed put…Could our signal fire still be burning, still barely smoking?”

In contrast to his previous honoring of Johnny’s lessons, Gabe goes against the elderly man’s better judgment and urges that they move downriver. Though the group follows his decision, he regrets his choices, and begins to entertain ideas of what could have happened if they stayed where they were like Johnny wanted. This moment in the story increases the sense of helplessness and hopelessness as they leave behind most of the moose meat, dooming their luck in future hunting endeavors according to the Dene tribe beliefs.

“I watched the meat plunge into the river and disappear under the ice. I looked up and saw Raymond’s eyes, and the old man’s, staring where the meat had disappeared.”

Gabe’s insistence in moving along in their journey continues to backfire, bolstering Johnny’s belief that they will struggle with procuring any additional moose while in the wild. Gabe’s loss of the meat only furthers this belief and increases the feeling of desperation in the story. Every moment is incredibly important to Gabe, Raymond, and Johnny’s survival. The meat that Gabe loses to the ice means that they might starve to death in the winter.

“How did he keep going? For such a gentle man he was tough as nails.”

Johnny’s knowledge of the outdoors and ability to survive in the face of setbacks and danger awes Gabe as he follows the elderly Dene tribe member. He struggles to connect the rugged outdoorsman with the soft-spoken, gentle elder and reveals his own internalized thoughts in the process. His surprise at Johnny’s tough but gentle demeanor highlights the popular belief that men cannot be both, and Johnny’s ability to keep going dismantles this stereotype.

“The mercury stayed down around twenty and thirty below at midday. It amazed me that life could go on. Yet as long as we dried our clothes out overnight, and dried our gloves and mitts and the felt liners from our boots, we were okay. Bundled up in as many layers as we were, we’d become accustomed to it.”

Gabe maintains his disbelief at the treacherous outdoor temperatures they face, along with their ability to remain resilient as they follow Johnny’s survival methods. By remaining dry, they are not as bothered by the extreme cold, and the importance of Johnny’s influence is highlighted as they boys become used to their environment.

“At first we could only stare, trying to comprehend what had happened. We knew in an instant what this meant for us, and at the same time could hardly begin to imagine the enormity of our loss.”

Gabe and Raymond’s response to finding Johnny’s dead body in the snow is one of quiet shock, as they know that their likelihood of survival has lowered. The tone of the novel is subdued, making the revelation of Johnny’s passing an abrupt devastation to their survival. Johnny’s death is an emotional loss as well as a loss of useful knowledge, passed down from Dene tribal members before him.

“The land is all around us, the land has the answers, but many of us don’t even go there anymore.”

Johnny highlights the gravity of the loss of Dene tribal culture in his letter that Gabe and Raymond find on his body. The elderly tribe member points to the importance of the land and the lessons it can teach, and how the lessons from the land are no longer seen as valuable in a post-colonized world. Johnny’s concerns about how the Dene tribe is losing its way of life because they are not in tune with the land anymore highlights the loss of cultural heritage that has enveloped Raymond’s generation of tribe members.

“All the while my mind was racing. I had only one thought: escape down the frozen Nahanni while we still had food and strength.”

After Johnny’s death, Gabe and Raymond decide to try going down the Nahanni River again. If they stay in the cabin, they risk running out of food and starving to death in the cold. With their leader now gone, their fight or flight response kicks in and they both wish for flight downriver to save them.

“I ran alongside thinking, Now you’ve done it! Now you’ve done it! I kept stumbling forward encased in my ice-hardened clothes, losing the feeling in my arms and legs. I could see the driftpile now in the dimming twilight. All pumped up with adrenaline, I ran ahead of Raymond.”

When Gabe falls into the frozen Nahanni River, he knows that he is in grave danger of freezing to death. This moment shows the viciousness of the cold as Gabe’s clothes freeze instantly on his body and boosts the tone of urgency and suspense in the story as they try to start a fire to save him before he himself freezes.

“Thinking about what was to come, I felt scared, really scared. The howling kept up, and seemed to strike the same inhuman chord as the subarctic night.”

Raymond and Gabe scramble for wood to create a fire and listen to the howling of woods at night, their misery inspires terror in Gabe and the tone of the novel. With Johnny gone, the feeling of isolation continues to grow as they attempt to forge a path on their own.

“We were traveling through an unworldly dimension, yet it wasn’t dreamed.”

Gabe and Raymond travel under the bright moonlight, and the constant light during the night is a foreign feeling. Gabe experiences a sense of disconnect as he and Raymond can still see even as they are covered by night. The alien world of the wilderness comes to the forefront as Gabe attempts to resist his overwhelming desperation.

“I could keep us warm, but I couldn’t supply what we needed most: hope. No hope now of making it until May.”

The desperation and misery for the boys comes to a head as they begin to lose all sense of hope of surviving. This loss is compounded by their injuries and lack of food. As they tried to survive, they did so with a quiet hope and determination. Now, even that feeling is waning, adding to the novel’s continued sense of hopelessness.

“You’re the best friend I’m ever going to have. That’s what I’m talking about. I’ve just been hearing about what your mother said, how life is the greatest gift. She’s right. That’s why we’ve been trying so hard to stay alive. But friendship, that’s as close to the top of the list as you can get.”

Gabe voices his feelings for his friendship with Raymond in a rare display of emotion when Raymond tells Gabe to leave him behind. Desperate to keep Raymond by his side, Gabe refuses because their friendship means so much to him. Gabe understands that they might not survive, but if he dies, he wants to die with Raymond.

“Can’t do that! I told myself angrily. You wouldn’t do it before; don’t give in to it now. Think about somebody else—think about Raymond.”

On Gabe and Raymond’s journey to Nahanni Butte, Gabe starts thinking negatively about the cold and how he feels. He quickly tells himself to stop, however, because he doesn’t want to lose his last bit of hope. Instead, he chooses to think about his best friend Raymond and how he must be feeling, reflecting his mindset of being motivated by caring for others.