The Other #3

In this part of the book the time period switches to when Neil is a teacher, probably into his fifties. After describing the trails and adventures he still enjoys in his older age as in high school, he again reminisces about his adolescent adventures with John William. We see how his relationship with John has impacted his current desires in life because of the extremely strong bond the two boys had. While on a long hiking excursion, the two made a blood pact to secure a certain campsite as their own secret, as well as securing each other as blood brothers. The two young men cut their palms and, "thumbs clamped, arms crooked, the weight of each brother in a fleeting, felt balance, we mingled our blood that way" (42). The original rivalry that the two shared has completely disintegrated at this point into a shared love of nature, and even each other. This relationship seems to be one of the reasons Neil continued his nature adventures. The two high school students seemed to revel in every experience that forced them to survive by the skin of their teeth and "rough it" for weeks on end. Their joint struggle to start a fire on one of their trips seems to represent a greater struggle of theirs to hold onto the simple things in life while others take the easy road. A piece of their struggle is evident when Neil narrates, "once, I put my cheek to the ground in order to blow softly on an ember, which went out. At that moment, I thought I was responsible for our failure" (41). This fear of failure transcends his outdoor adventures and into his relationships, as we can see as the book continues.

Earlier in the book the dysfunction in John William's family was made evident. A similar declaration of familial imperfection also happens on Neil's side of the story. While John William's mother suffered from severe OCD and such social and mental complications arising from that, Neil's mother suffered from "Grade 4 astocytoma- an aggressive brain tumor-that didn't take long to blind and kill her" (43). It is even more evident now how the two young men got along, what with their similar loss and probably fears because of it. The boys also seem to share a similar outward indifference to the death or loss they experienced. For Neil, during his mother's wake, there is no mention of him crying. He simply stated about his mother's face, "My mother in death had a mischievous regard" (44). This also shows Neil's detached method of observance that he uses later in his life to prepare for being a writer. It is assumed that when someone loses a parent, they will feel incredible grief over the matter. I do believe that Neil felt this grief, but for some reason was not able to express it in a way that would make his pain visible to those around him. I think that one of the ways he escapes pain such as what he felt at his mother's death is losing himself in the wildlands that he loves so much.