Farley Mowat: Lost in the Barrens

9 Pages 2222 Words

Lost in the Barrens
By: Farley Mowat



The Sahara Desert, the Rain Forest, the Arctic, and of course, the Barrens…all places of isolation that drive man to the breakpoint. Each particular place has the ability to capture a mans dreams and turn them into a nightmare. Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowat is a prime example of how a person goes through a true transition from soul searching to self-actualization. Mr. Mowat brings the reader full circle emotionally with the feelings of pain, anguish, happiness, compassion and fear with the boys. This gives the reader a true sense of the compressing forces inflicted upon the boys. In addition to the characters, Farley uses the plot which realistically encounters many problems in which Jamie and Awasin must overcome. Finally, the background which gives the reader a descriptive mental picture of the barrenland encompassing the long stretches of a seemingly endless abyss to the raging rapids that dominates the boys. These three tools drive the reader to pursue on!
to the next page and understand clearly the effects of isolation on man and why if not accepted in its purest state will result in futility of the mind, spirit and body.

The book picks up in June in the subarctic forests of northern Canada. The feature character, Jamie had left Toronto a year earlier to come live with his Uncle Angus since his Uncle could no longer afford to pay Jamie’s boarding school. Jamie soon befriended a young native man by the name of Awasin, whose father Alphonse was very good friends of Angus’. Jamie under instruction of his close friend Awasin learned many new things in the north and began to adapt to his new lifestyle. Soon though, something urgent had come up on the fur trading front and Alphonse along with Angus were forced to leave for six to eight weeks. The parents mutually felt it be right that Jamie stay with the Cree people back at Awasin’s house. Three weeks passe...