Walk Well My Brother Charlie Quotes

Words: 1096
Pages: 5

“When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves.” (Viktor E. Frankl). “Walk Well, My Brother” by Farley Mowat is about a former war pilot [whose name is] Charlie Lavery who is flying in the Arctic with a passenger he is bribed to bring. In the beginning of the story, Charlie’s plane crashes leaving Charlie and his Inuit passenger Konala stranded. However, Charlie is not fond of Konala. As charlie and Konala travel back toward civilization, Charlie undergoes several changes to his character. Charlie’s personality changes throughout “Walk Well, My Brother” because he develops more care for Konala, he becomes less dependent on technology , and Charlie develops a greater respect for nature.
To begin,
…show more content…
At the beginning of the story, Charlie does not respect or care for nature and prefers the skies: “But though his familiarity with arctic skies and his ability to drive trackless line across them [are] considerable, he [remains] a stranger to the land below” (Mowat 170). It is evident that Charlie much rather prefers the skies over the Arctic land as“he remains a stranger to the land below”. This also shows that he does not care for nature as he has no desire to walk in nature. Also, because Charlie is very familiar with the skies, yet a stranger to the ground proves that Charlie does not care for nature and the Arctic tundra for a long time. After Charlie’s plane crashes and he is no longer in the comfort of the sky, Charlie then discovers the ground beneath him: “He [discovers] it [is] full of birds ranging from tiny longspurs whose muted colouring made them almost invisible to great saffron-breasted hawks circling high above the bogs and lakes” (Mowat 177). Charlie for the first time in this story is looking closely at the diversity of life in the tundra as it says “he discovers”. Furthermore, in the Arctic Charlie realizes the immense diversity and how beautiful it is as he observes the “tiny longspurs and saffron-breathed Hawks circling above”. Charlie is also discovering that the tundra is different then what he had previously thought as a plain deserted land when he observes the diverse ecosystem. This then causes Charlie to treat nature with respect for the rest of the story. To recap, after Charlie’s plane crashes and he walks on the tundra, he realizes that is is so much more diverse and beautiful than he thought, earning his respect. In conclusion, the three ways Charlie changes in Walk Well, My Brother is that Charlie develops more care for Konala, that Charlie depends on technology less, and that Charlie develops more respect for