81 pages • 2 hours read
Jean Craighead GeorgeMy Side of the Mountain
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1959A 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.
Character Analysis
Sam Gribley
My Side of the Mountain revolves around Sam Gribley, a 12-year-old boy who runs away from his crowded New York apartment in search of independence and solitude. Sam is adventurous, determined, intelligent, and resourceful. Sam is also the main character, protagonist, and narrator. The story is narrated from Sam’s first-person point of view. In general, Sam narrates his adventure by speaking in the past tense and relying upon journal entries that he wrote throughout his adventure. It is clear that Sam has spent lots of time researching nature and how to live off the land, and he often references books he’s read, but he comes to find out that experience matters when it comes to survival.
Sam is easily the most dynamic character, and pretty much the entire story focuses on Sam’s survivalist adventure and how it causes him to change. At the beginning, Sam only knows as much about surviving in the wild as reading library books will allow him to know. He’s never made his own fire or cooked his own meal. These are things Sam masters over the course of his journey to becoming self-sufficient, and by the end, Sam is skilled enough to teach others how to hunt, fish, and make fire.
At the start Sam is motivated by a desire for solitude. While avoiding other humans, Sam develops friendships with animals, as highlighted in his relationship with the Baron Weasel and with Frightful, both of which Sam learns to communicate with. Over time, though, Sam’s views change, as he comes to recognize the value of community for a well-functioning society. Sam first allows Bando into his life, and this interaction proves to be an enjoyable experience because Sam gets to share his outdoor adventure with someone else. After meeting Bando, Sam finds himself going into town and wanting to strike up conversations with other humans more often.
In the Author’s Preface, Jean Craighead George reveals that Sam’s adventure was inspired by her own childhood desire to run away from home. George writes: “‘There is no real Sam, except inside me.’ His adventures are the fulfillment of that day long ago when I told my mother I was going to run away, got as far as the edge of the woods, and came back” (xii). This is not an uncommon experience for kids, and from this anecdote we come to understand that Sam is an important character because we as readers get to live vicariously through his experiences.
Frightful
Frightful is a peregrine falcon that becomes a great friend and companion for Sam during his adventure. Sam’s relationship with Frightful is important to the story because it pulls him closer to nature. We see this effect from the moment Sam meets Frightful: “I liked that bird. Oh, how I liked that bird from that smelly minute. It was so pleasant to feel the beating life and see the funny little awkward movements of a young thing” (46). Sam risks his life to steal Frightful from the mother falcon in a terrifying scene that inspires Sam to give her this name. In turn, Sam comes to fill a parental sort of role in Frightful’s life.
At first Sam captures Frightful with the sole intention of making Frightful into a hunting bird. She’s a quick learner, becoming a very skilled huntress early on in the story. Over time, though, Sam and Frightful’s relationship becomes much deeper and more valuable. They learn to communicate well with each other, and there are times when Frightful senses danger nearby and is able to claw into Sam to let him know.
One of Frightful’s greatest character traits is loyalty. In a few scenes Sam becomes nervous when Frightful flies away from him, but time and time again, Frightful proves her loyalty and returns to Sam. Later on in the story, Sam tells the reader how he did not absolutely need Frightful for hunting purposes as he could hunt for his own food. Sam understands that he’s instead come to rely on Frightful for her companionship, to avoid feeling scared or alone.
Mr. Gribley
Mr. Gribley is seemingly a hard-working man and a supportive father. We don’t learn much about Mr. Gribley’s background, other than Sam mentioning that his father used to be a sailor but started working on the docks in New York once Sam was born. Sam’s strongest tie to his family is with his dad, who comes to visit and stay with Sam at Christmas time.
At the beginning of the story, Mr. Gribley warns Sam about the land being no place for a Gribley, seemingly as a way to scare Sam into coming back home after a day in the mountains. However, once Sam’s dad sees how well Sam can survive on his own, he encourages him to continue on with his adventure. As Mr. Gribley is about to leave Sam’s camp after his winter visit, he tells Sam: “I’ve decided to leave by another route. Somebody might backtrack me and find you. And that would be too bad […] You’ve done very well, Sam” (131). Mr. Gribley does this to protect Sam from newspaper folk who may be trying to find him and expose him.
At the end of the story, Mr. Gribley takes the entire family into the mountains to come live with Sam, proving that his adventurous side still exists. For a long time, Sam thought his dad liked the sea more than the land, but Mr. Gribley changes his tune in the end to support his son. Contrary to what he told Sam at the start, at the end of the story Mr. Gribley claims: “The Gribleys have had land for three generations. We pioneer, we open the land” (174).
Bando
Bando is a college English teacher whom Sam initially mistakes to be a bandit running from police. Once Sam finds out that Bando is a safe, adventurous person like himself, they are able to enjoy spending time together interacting with nature. Bando refers to Sam as “Thoreau,” which is a reference to the 19th-century writer and naturalist. Much like Sam’s experience, Henry David Thoreau left home in pursuit of a solitary life at Walden Pond.
Bando admires all that Sam has accomplished by living on his own in the Catskills. He also helps Sam by not taking him back to his home in New York. Ultimately Bando proves himself a great friend who visits as often as he can, checking on Sam to make sure he’s well fed and in good spirits.
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