Wild Animals

Wild animals are used to symbolize fear, danger, or failure in All the Winters After. Alaska is known for its wild animal population. We are told about the bears, wolves, moose, etc. but these play a largely symbolic function in the novel. Vladimir is compared indirectly to a bear or wolf – he has “lupine” eyes, he tells Kache that his parents were killed in a bear attack, and when Snag and Gilly run into him on the hiking trail, they mistake him for a bear at first. In Kache's story about being unable to kill a moose while hunting with his father, this failure is symbolic of all of the many ways he feels like he failed to live up to his father's expectations.

The Alaskan Terrain

The Alaskan Terrain is used throughout the novel as a metaphor for the character's feelings and relationships.

Alaska...