Lost in the Barrens is a children's

Children's literature

Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 by Farley Mowat

Farley Mowat

Farley McGill Mowat, , born May 12, 1921 is a conservationist and one of Canada's most widely-read authors.His works have been translated into 52 languages and he has sold more than 14 million books. He achieved fame with the publication of his books on the Canadian North, such as People of the...

, first published in 1956. Some editions used the title Two Against the North.

It won a Governor General's Award

Governor General's Award

The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...

 in 1956 and the Canada Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award

Canada Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award

The Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award was established 1947. A medal presented annually to the author of the best children's book published in Canada. The author must be a citizen or resident of Canada...

 in 1958.

Plot introduction

The book tells of boys in their late teens: one white boy who has recently lost his parents, and one Indian boy from the Cree

Cree

The Cree are one of the largest groups of First Nations / Native Americans in North America, with 200,000 members living in Canada. In Canada, the major proportion of Cree live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories, although...

 tribe of the same age. The boys embark on a mission to relieve the starvation of a neighbouring Indian village, the Chipewyan

Chipewyan

The Chipewyan are a Dene Aboriginal people in Canada, whose ancestors were the Taltheilei...

s, but due to a series of unfortunate events become trapped above the tree line in Canada's Barren Lands (Arctic tundra, a vast level treeless region with a mostly marshy surface and underlying permafrost) during winter. The characters emerge again in Mowat's The Curse of the Viking Grave.

Plot summary

The parents of Jamie (the white boy) died in a car crash, thus he was under the care of his trapper uncle, Angus. Angus had supported Jamie's boarding-school fees for a long time, until the fur trade had declined. Angus could no longer support Jamie's school. Thus, Jamie left the boarding school to live with his uncle. Jamie made friends with the Cree Tribe's Chief's son, Awasin. Then the Chief thought a trader was cheating him, so he asked Angus and Jamie to go with him. Then, it was decided that Jamie would stay with Awasin for Angus' canoe could not hold three people and other things. Unfortunately, Jamie's dream was partly crushed for they had too much work to be exploring. Then, when Jamie's dreams were about to perish, Chipewyans come to the Crees for help. The Chipewyans were starving because the deer did not come at its usual time in the year. Awasin's mother was suspicious that the Chipewyans may just be looking for a free handout, and so the boys agreed to go with them back to the Chipewyan's camp to prove they needed the supplies. Jamie decides he wants to go too, so the two and the Chipewyans who came (including Denikazi, their leader), canoes back to the Chipewyan camp. There, Denikazi misunderstood for he thought Jamie and Awasin were going with them on the hunt for the deer. This is how Jamie and Awasin start their journey for the deer hunt out in the barrens. Soon, they go up to the North farther, but they do not find any 'deer' (in the book, deer means barrenland caribou). So, Denikazi orders Jamie and Awasin to stay with two young Chipewyans at a certain point until they come back. He includes that they should run, and forget about the camp should they encounter Eskimos.

In this book, the Chipewyans and the Crees are deathly afraid of the Eskimos. The Chipewyan Chief Denikazi described it this way: his people went and hunted as far north as they wanted to for deer, for they had guns and the Eskimos did not. Then, the Eskimos got guns and fought back. (Nowadays Eskimos are called 'Inuit' or 'Thule', but this was not the case when Mowat wrote his novel, or for decades afterward). Anyway, while staying with the two young Chipewyan hunters, Jamie decides he wants to take the chance and explore. He tricks Awasin into it, and later Awasin gives in. They go up to see the 'stone house' that one of the two Chipewyans had told them about. There, they try to find it but unexpectedly meet a whirlpool and barely survive. Gathering what they can salvage from the water and their broken canoe, they have barely enough to survive. They cannot use the canoe anymore, they are stranded in the barrens. When the two young Chipewyans found out that Awasin and Jamie were gone they went on searching for them. Their search is abruptly stopped when they catch a glance of an Eskimo kayak. As for Jamie and Awasin, they decide to go the way that Denikazi and the other hunters went, so they can join with them on the journey back. A problem occurs, for one of Denikazi's men sees what he believes is an Eskimo and they all flee quietly back. They unknowingly pass by Jamie and Awasin's camp during the night.

Soon Jamie and Awasin find some Eskimos and they get into a firefight. Jamie makes friends with a Eskimo child and Awasin is hit. Jamie convinces The Eskimo to help them and they both travel back to the Cree camp. This story is about how Cree's and Eskimos can be friends so quickly.

Themes

Man vs. Nature: The true antagonist of this novel is Nature itself. The boys struggle to survive in a very harsh, difficult environment. The boys demonstrate true courage in hunting and even surviving an encounter with a grizzly bear. They also show great ingenuity in doing so. Awasin already has skill in hunting and fishing and also learns how to make warm clothes. He is very clever as proven by how he is able to make a fire in chapter 9. Meanwhile, Jamie is a very creative person. He is the one who designs and builds first their stone igloo and later their wood cabin. He is a 'think-outside-of-the-box problem solver. Working together they are successful. This brings us to the next big theme:

Intercultural Friendships: How do you overcome fear, ignorance and distrust between people from different cultures and backgrounds? You work together and learn to trust one another. That's how it is for Jamie and Awasin and then later between the two boys and Peetyuk. Jamie is a white English speaking city boy from Toronto. Awasin is from the Cree camp in the wilderness. He learns English while at boarding school. The two very different boys become excellent friends. Jamie helps Awasin to trust Peetyuk, even though the Cree have always been suspicious, fearful of them.

Coming of age: The novel is also a 'Coming of Age' story. The two boys journey in the barrenlands is also their journey from boyhood towards manhood. They are becoming men through their adventures and experiences, they are growing up. For example, risk-taker Jamie learns some lessons about survival in the north through it all. Also, Peetyuk, a secondary character, has reached an age where it is time to learn about his father's people after being raised by his mother and grandparents.

Adaptations

There is a 1990 television movie version of this novel. It was made for a family/general audience so the hunting scenes are tame. There are also quite a few differences between the movie and the novel. Some of them are:

• Awasin is called Awasis, Uncle Angus's last name is different
• Jamie and Awasin meet on a train instead of at Angus' cabin
• Alphonse is called Mewasin
• The boys go hunting with Awasin's father Alphonse instead of Denikazi and the Chipewyans
• The movie is from Jamie's perspective (1st person) instead of the all-knowing 3rd person in the novel

It was shot in Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

, Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

.