How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
He could do nothing, think nothing. His tongue, stained with berry juice, stuck to the roof of his mouth and he stared at the bear. It was black, with a cinnamon-colored nose, not twenty feet from him and big. No, huge. It was all black fur and huge. He had seen one in the zoo in the city once, a black bear, but it had been from India or somewhere. This one was wild, and much bigger than the one in the zoo and it was right there.
Right there. (7.38-39)
Brian encounters a large wild animal for the first time and is (understandably) overwhelmed and frightened. Not to mention disappointed—he was hoping for Bigfoot. Like so many of his other experiences in the woods, this one is totally different from anything he's known in his past life.
Quote #5
Brian looked back and for a moment felt afraid because the wolf was so…so right. He knew Brian, knew him and owned him and chose not to do anything to him. But the fear moved then, moved away, and Brian knew the wolf for what it was—another part of the woods, another part of all of it. Brian relaxed the tension on the spear in his hand, settled the bow in his other hand from where it had started to come up. He knew the wolf now, as the wolf knew him, and he nodded to it, nodded and smiled. (13.8)
Now that he's been living in the forest for a longer time and he's basically given up hope of being rescued, Brian's whole relationship with the natural world has changed. There seems to be almost a spiritual understanding between Brian and the wolf—rather than being an intruder, Brian sees himself as part of the natural world around him. This ain't no fairy tale, that's for sure.
Quote #6
Early in the new time he had learned the most important thing, the truly vital knowledge that drives all creatures in the forest—food is all. Food was simply everything. All things in the woods, from insects to fish to bears, were always, always looking for food—it was the great, single driving influence in nature. To eat. All must eat. (14.5)
One of the first lessons Brian learns when he's begun to see himself as part of the natural world, rather than as something outside it, is that food is all-important. Here at Shmoop, of course, we already knew that chocolate is all-important, but this whole food insight is a new thing for Brian. Like all the other animals in the forest, Brian is driven by his need to survive.