35 pages • 1 hour read
Gary PaulsenThe River
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1991A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 8-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 8 Summary
Derek obeys Brian’s warning about staying close to the lake and within sight of each other. Brian is ready for the dangers that come with surviving in the woods, knowing they may see a bear. He relies on information he has read to know what to do if they see one. As he walks along a hillside edge, the ground gives way and Brian falls hard. His body hurts, but he remains uninjured, and as he moves to stand, he notices stones on the beach that look like the fire stone he used in the woods during The Time. He strikes the flint with his knife, and sparks appear. The bad luck of Brian’s fall has led to the good luck of finding a fire stone.
As they continue walking around the lake, Derek and Brian find some hazelnuts and spend an hour extracting meat from the nuts for food. They have more good luck when they find a fallen tree that created a hole in a shelf of rocks. It is a perfect shelter for them, and Brian calls it “home” (46). Brian works to start a fire and describes to Derek the importance of always having wood for the fire. Brian reflects on the importance of fire for man’s survival throughout history. They gather wood for an hour, and Derek cuts pine boughs to create beds to sleep on. After all their work, they are ready for sleep.
Chapter 9 Summary
After being at the lake only three days, everything is going well. Brian and Derek have made soft beds, have firewood for a month, have extra food saved and several food sources nearby, and have even caught fish and clams and eaten until they felt full. For Brian, it feels wrong that they are doing so well, so quickly. He tells Derek that in real life, survival would not be so easy. When he was in the woods before, he was injured, didn’t have survival knowledge, and was close to death. Brian feels that a person can talk about surviving but can’t teach someone to survive. Learning from someone else will never be the same as living through a real-life emergency. Derek writes in his notebook, “You need the tension created by the emergency” (54), and the narrator foreshadows that Brian will wish that he had never had these thoughts at all.
Chapter 10 Summary
Brian wakes up in the middle of the night and hears thunder. He doesn’t worry because a summer rainstorm doesn’t seem dangerous. When he goes back to sleep, he dreams but awakens at an explosion of thunder. Lightning and thunder feel impossibly close to the shelter, and in the flashes of lightning, Brian sees Derek move in the shelter and reach for the briefcase and radio. Lightning strikes the pine tree next to the shelter, and the electricity runs through the tree and jumps to the radio, into Derek’s hand. Derek is struck by the lightning, and Brian blacks out.
Chapter 11 Summary
As Brian awakes, he smells burned hair and remembers the thunder and lightning. It’s morning, and the storm has passed. He sees Derek facedown, but his eyes can’t focus—everything blurs. One step at a time, Brian pieces together Derek’s position, and the storm, and realizes Derek may be dead. With difficulty, he accepts that he must check Derek’s body to see if he is dead or alive. Derek’s eyes are partially open, staring without seeing. However, Derek is alive; his skin feels warm and he is breathing. Brian concludes that Derek got “knocked out” (61). He immediately thinks of the radio and uses it to try and get help. However, the radio has been burned beyond repair from the lightning. Brian searches his mind for information he might have read or heard that could help Derek. Rather than panicking, he keeps his wits. He checks Derek’s heart; even though it is beating regularly, he knows deep down that Derek’s state is worse than just unconsciousness. Brian wants so badly for Derek to come to, but he decides he will wait and hope for Derek to regain consciousness.
Chapter 12 Summary
For the rest of the day and through the night, Brian waits by Derek’s side hoping that he will wake up but understands Derek’s precarious situation. They had just used the radio to check in the day before, so no one will expect to hear from them for at least a week. Brian suddenly realizes that Derek is in a coma. He doesn’t know much about comas but accepts the truth that Derek will probably not wake up. Brian doesn’t know whether Derek can survive for a week or more until help comes. Brian knows that Derek will need to eat and drink to stay alive for that long but isn’t sure if he can put anything down his throat without choking him. He can smell that Derek has gone to the bathroom and realizes his responsibility for taking care of Derek in every way, even cleaning him. He cleans Derek’s soiled pants as best as he can. He looks out at the natural beauty all around him and simultaneously faces the truth that Derek is in a coma.
Chapters 8-12 Analysis
Paulsen demonstrates the contrast between the comfortable life that the reader is accustomed to and the life of survival in the woods. Derek and Brian experience good luck the second day in the woods when they find a firestone, shelter, and hazelnuts. Brian highlights the importance of fire for survival and notes that many people take it for granted. Paulsen further highlights fire with a detailed description of how Brian starts the fire and shows the work required to prepare for nightfall, such as making beds from pine boughs and gathering firewood. Descriptions of the tasks Brian and Derek must complete show how even simple things, such as staying warm, dry, and fed, take considerable good luck, time, and effort in the woods.
Paulsen uses detailed imagery to describe the power of nature when the thunder and lightning hit. For example, the thunder is “exploding around them, the lightning cracking around the shelter” (56). This description shows the reader the intensity and danger of the storm. Later, sensory imagery shows Brian’s experience as he wakes up after the storm. The sun shines brightly outside, and the shelter smells like burned hair. These and other uses of imagery make the details of the story come alive for the reader and makes Brian’s situation feel real.
Repetition and short sentences show Brian’s thought process as he takes in the situation one element at a time. For example, the repetition of “blurred” shows Brian’s struggle to process his situation (60). Brian’s thoughts are revealed as he comes to grips with Derek’s state: “He knew Derek wasn’t sleeping. He knew” (60). These and other uses of repetition give the reader an understanding of Brian’s thoughts as they come in waves. He eventually accepts that Derek might be dead. His thoughts are worded in short sentences to show how one thought follows another as Brian addresses one thing at a time. The repetition of “waiting” (65) shows that Brian cannot think of anything else to do at this point.
Paulsen continues to highlight Brian’s mental acuity in these chapters. When Brian wakes up and finds Derek unconscious, he doesn’t panic. Instead, he tries to remember information he has learned in order to know what to do. As words and ideas come to him one at a time, he remembers to check Derek’s heart, realizes Derek is knocked out, and then eventually understands Derek’s comatose state. Brian accepts the reality of Derek’s condition and knows that he needs to take action.
Each chapter continues to end with powerful last sentences. For example, Paulsen foreshadows danger at the end of Chapter 9: “[L]ater Brian would remember what they had said—how it needed tension—and wish he had not thought it at all” (54). This compels the reader to continue in order to find out what will happen next. Also, the final statements of Chapter 12 highlight the contrast between the peacefulness of the morning and the turmoil of Brian and Derek’s situation. Although it’s a “warm summer morning with birds singing” (69), Derek is in a coma.
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By Gary Paulsen
