Timothy learns, like Thoreau before him, that living in the wilderness has its own satisfactions and rewards.

There the parallel might end, for Thoreau chose his existence at Walden Pond and Timothy has his experience thrust upon him. However, after returning to civilization, Timothy, like Thoreau, wishes he were back in a simpler existence.

Timothy's half-remembered knowledge from his vast reading helps him to live in the wilderness. Ironically, he finds a paperback copy of The Lord of the Flies in his coat pocket, and he applies some survival techniques he finds in its pages. Other literary allusions abound. Timothy follows a path until it forks, then pauses to decide which to take and is reminded of a poem by Robert Frost. When trying to make a fire, he recalls how the young boy manages it in The Jungle Book, although that method proves useless.

Blackwood...