13, 14 and 15

While Brian searches for foolbirds, as he calls the chicken-like birds he has discovered, his instincts tell him that some dangerous animal is nearby. At that moment he spots a big beautiful wolf, which then walks up the hill and away from Brian, followed by three others. They left him alone... can you believe it!? Amazing how they didn't attack him. They probably didn't find any fear in him. After the plane flies by him without spotting him, Brian feels incredibly deflated. He even tries commiting suicide by cutting himself with his hatchet, but it didnt turn out quite the he wanted it to. When he survives, he determines never to let death tempt him again, and in that moment Brian transforms himself into the "New Brian." He finally figures out how to catch the many fish in the lake when he realizes he must look at them for the refraction of light underwater and readjust his aim. On that first day that he catches fish, he feasts on them and, is satisfied with his accomplishment and the wealth of food it produced, feels hopeful. This hope, however, differs from his earlier hope that he will be rescued. He now believes the chances of his being rescued are slim tto maybe none. Instead, he believes in "tough hope" that he can survive on his own with his new knowledge of the wilderness. I agree wit Brian, he should stop relying on when people will come for you, but instead on when should he go hunting for his next meal. A skunk comes to search for the spot in the sand where the turtle has laid its eggs. Brian yells at the skunk, which reacts by spraying him. He gets blinded for nearly two hours as a result of the spray. Brian runs into the lake to wash himself. Ha, only if he had tomato juice with him, then the scent would come off for sure. The skunk has also eaten the eggs he had stored on the shore. Oh what will he eat now? Brian learned two lessons from this incident: make a sturdy shelter and put food in a protected place. Amazing how this book has to do with survival but the key point to survival must be food. Spending days strengthening his shelter with additional wood, and finding a high tree for a food shelf that bears would be unable to reach, Brian still faces the problem of a lack of food. After thinking about this problem, he resolves to construct a small pond in which he may store the fish he has caught, attracted by the remains of the fish he had already eaten. Brian shows his ideas of survival but not only finding food for the moment, but also developing some system of storage for the future. While still in the woods he finds the time by events he experiences rather than by societal measures of time, although he does mark the passing days on the stone next to his shelter. His real sense of time, however, revolves around events such as the day of First Meat. Living off berries and fish, Brian still had still craved more substantial food, meat in particular. He has thought of trying to catch the foolbirds that abound in the woods,but despite their stupidity has a difficult time catching them. They tend to fly away at the last second, and they are difficult to spot. Training his eyes to see the outline of a foolbird, Brian decides to employ his spear rather than his bow and arrow, which makes him able to lunge at the birds instead. Moving sideways rather than straight at the bird and lunging at it at the last second, he catches his first meat. I noticed how much Brian has changed, he has turned into a hunter! Cleaning the chicken proves harder than he had expected, and he remembers once more that in the past, and in a world where his mother had cooked for him, such a duty would never have occurred to him. Brian makes up a system to rotate the chicken over a flame and sits back to watch it cook. Anxious to have his first bite, Brian pulls off a piece that has not quite cooked fully yet. He reminded himself of the importance of patience, and when the meat has finally cooked through, Brian enjoys his feast more than anything he has ever eaten. I think that it's good that Brian is being patient, after all they say patience is key in life.