Antagonist

Character Role Analysis

Nature

Our antagonist is actually not a villain. At first, the men are convinced that nature is their arch nemesis. It must have something against them, the men think, because it keeps on trying to destroy them. As the story goes on, though, one of the biggest realizations comes when the men begin to understand that nature is indifferent to their suffering—it's not out for them or anything of the sort, it's just doing its thing and they're caught in the middle. 

In some ways, this indifference is the worst truth of all. It's like being all torn up over a break up, only to find that your ex is neither upset nor glad that you're gone. They simply don't care.  Once the men are forced to face the disappointing apathy of the universe, they realize they must give life meaning themselves, which the correspondent thinks can be done by loving yourself. So, while nature never did anything to screw these guys over on purpose, the cards it unwittingly dealt the men made it a formidable force to be reckoned with.

As the Weather Girls once said, "God bless Mother Nature, she's a single woman too."