48 pages • 1 hour read
Andrew ClementsA Week in the Woods
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The New Hampshire Wilderness
The New Hampshire Wilderness is a powerful and constant motif throughout A Week in the Woods. It becomes an adversary in and of itself, both in the sense of challenging Mark as he works on Confronting and Overcoming Fears, and also by challenging both him and Mr. Maxwell to survive when they become stranded on the mountainside. The wilderness makes a powerful debut in the story when Mark first pulls up to his new home, for the sweeping property is surrounded by a massive expanse of forests, plains, and hills just begging to be explored. It is not long before Mark feels a deep connection to his new home and to the wilderness itself, and he resolves to become a true outdoors person and learn to survive the harsh New Hampshire winter. As the narrative states, “He felt completely surrounded by nature. […] It was like a big book that had been lying open in front of him all his life, and he’d been ignoring it. Not anymore. Now Mark was determined to read the whole thing” (92).
The more time that Mark spends on his own outdoors, and the more he learns about how to navigate and survive it, the more he comes to appreciate his time on his own, finding it freeing and invigorating. Mark purposely goes out into the wilderness alone day after day, sleeps in the barn by himself, camps out with Leon, and explores the landscape. In doing so, Mark works on Redefining Manhood and realizes The True Definition of Wealth, feeling richer than money alone could ever make him feel. When Mark goes off into the mountains at camp, the wilderness on the mountain overtakes Mark, both with its beauty and its danger, and his ingrained fascination with his surroundings is reflected in the author’s lush and loving descriptions of the wild:
The scrub oak trees on either side of the trail still held some of their dry leaves from the previous fall, and when the gusts swept up the hillside, the rustling sound reminded Mark of waves breaking along a beach. The bare branches of the maple and birch trees swayed and tapped against each other, and high over-head where the wind was strong, the pine trees waved and sighed (150).
Thus, the wilderness becomes far more than a setting; it takes on a sentience and a life of its own and becomes a silent, omnipresent character that stands witness to every action that occurs in the novel.
The Knife
The knife that Mr. Maxwell confiscates stands as a complex and multi-layered symbol. Initially, it symbolizes the two characters’ hostility and conflict, but as they learn from each other, it comes to stand for their growth toward understanding, and for the importance of utilizing outdoor survival skills. On the first day of camp, Mark’s friend Jason brings out a pocketknife-style multitool. Mark has never seen a tool like it before and is unaware that the tool also features a blade. As he studies it in fascination, Mr. Maxwell sees it and confiscates it, assuming it to be yet another example of Mark’s disobedience. Mr. Maxwell’s mistaken judgment of Mark leads Mark to make a dangerous and impulsive decision to climb the mountainside. In doing so, he puts both himself and Mr. Maxwell in serious danger when they are both injured and trapped on the mountainside overnight.
When Mr. Maxwell realizes the knife wasn’t Mark’s, his view of Mark suddenly shifts, and he realizes Mark is a loyal friend. He resolves to find him, and the hours that Mr. Maxwell spends alone on the mountainside allow him to reflect on his wrongdoings. By the time he finds Mark, he has injured his ankle and is exhausted and cold, and Mark helps him recover without question. Mr. Maxwell sees an instinctive decency in Mark in this moment: “He’d seen it so many times, and then he would forget about it. About how if people are given half a chance, they do the right thing” (180). Mr. Maxwell also tells Mark of how he used the pocketknife to saw down a small tree and pry himself free from a rock that pinned him, and the irony in his tone underscores the knife’s value as a survival tool in and of itself—not just as a convenient plot device to intensify the rising action. Mr. Maxwell apologizes to Mark and the two share a new understanding with one another. When the class returns to school a week later, Mr. Maxwell gives Mark the knife, a meaningful gesture that signifies Mr. Maxwell’s trust in Mark and his desire to encourage Mark’s outdoor skills.
The Fawcett Place
The Fawcett Place is the large historical property that Mark’s family buys when they leave Scarsdale, New York. Mark has moved several times in his life, and at first hates the idea of moving again. The first thing to draw him in to his new life in New Hampshire is the Fawcett Place, as it is both symbolic of and contains a great deal of unique history, opportunities for exploration and self-discovery, and provides Mark with a sense of connection to the past. When Mark first moves to New Hampshire, he refuses to connect to others, and therefore despises his time at school. When he comes home, the Fawcett Place makes Mark feel more like a carefree child even as its inviting spaces inspire him to develop his own independence and maturity. The Fawcett Place possesses a captivating contrast between old and new, between modern and traditional. The farmhouse, the oldest portion of which was built in the 1700s, contains a stone fireplace, a secret stairwell, and room used to house formerly enslaved people during their road to freedom on the Underground Railroad. He also discovers an old barn full of secrets and the Fawcett family cemetery, along with an old, beautifully carved walking stick which he adopts as his own. As the narrative states, “Still, even in the thin cold air of February, Mark caught wisps of all that past life and activity. And looking down, leaning on the old walking stick, he had felt a deep, satisfying connection to the place” (62). Mark even decides to sleep in the barn alone one night, becoming more connected to his new home than ever and embracing it as his own. In the novel’s conclusion, Mark decides that he has fallen too much in love with the new home and the wilderness to ever want to leave it again.
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By Andrew Clements
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