Farley Mowat's Walk Well, My Brother

In the short story Walk Well, My Brother the author, Farley Mowat, develops the idea that a significant experience can lead to a change in how one individual views another individual. The story shows us how a person can learn from another person that is very different from them and be moved by their selflessness into becoming a better person. It also shows us how important it is for people not to judge others for superficial reasons.

An individual can learn a lot from people that are very different from them. I feel that this story was written to illustrate that point. The story tells us about a man named Charlie Lavery who was twenty six years old and believed that he was capable of taking care of himself no matter what the situation. The story gives us evidence of this when the author says, “he was very much of the new elite that believed that any challenge…could be dealt with by good machines in the hands of skilled men.” Charles also had no knowledge of the arctic or of the people that lived there because he felt that he did not need this knowledge as long as he had his machines. It was this ignorance that led him to feel so disgusted with the natives that lived there because he did not understand their way of life. When the machines that he so greatly relied on were no longer of use, he had no knowledge to fall back on. He was completely dependent on a native girl, Konola, whom he despised when he first met. His inability to take care of himself forced him to co-opera...