43 pages • 1 hour read
Katherine RundellThe Explorer
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Character Analysis
Fred
Fred is the protagonist of The Explorer and the character with the most influence over how the plot unfolds. The story is written from a third-person limited perspective, drawing on Fred’s experiences and point of view to narrate events. Like the other children, Fred is aboard the small plane when it crashes in the Amazon, leaving them stranded. The moment that Fred regains consciousness, he goes in search of other people, feeling panicked inside but acting with courage and surprising rationality for his age. Fred immediately attempts to adopt a leadership position in the group, but he soon realizes that he is an equal member of a four-person team. Fred was on his way to live with a cousin in Peru after he became ill and his father determined that he no longer had the time to take care of him. Fred struggles with this feeling of abandonment and is deeply motivated by a desire to impress his father. This need within Fred changes upon meeting the explorer, who helps Fred see that he can find his own reasons to achieve greatness. At school, Fred is known as the sensible one, and he desperately wants to prove that he can take risks and be brave. He feels inspired by the boundless expanse of the rainforest:
There was a quality in this place that worked like flint on his insides: It was the light, and the vastness of it, and the sun, and the green. He could see why other people might feel it was too green, too loud, too endless, too much; but for him, it felt like a trumpet call to a part of him he had not known existed (224-25).
Fred learned about exploring the Amazon from books he read while he was ill. The men within those books inspired him to want to explore the world for himself, though he never imagined he actually would. Being stranded in the Amazon turns out to be more than just an exercise in survival for Fred; it becomes a full-fledged adventure and a chance to prove himself. Fred is resourceful and acts quickly, diving into unknown waters to test them before the group and being willing to try new foods before anyone else. Fred saves Max from drowning and carries him up a cliff, acts that cement the bonds between him and the other children, illustrating the importance of Hardship as a Catalyst for Friendship. Fred’s bravado can occasionally cause him trouble, like when he sneaks into the explorer’s private space without permission or when he decides that he is going to give away the secret of the ruined city. Fred’s bravery is most evident when he flies the plane to safety after having learned to fly only the day before, but he regularly demonstrates Perseverance and the Drive to Survive. By bonding with the explorer, Fred eventually realizes the importance of keeping the ruined city a secret for the sake of preserving nature and history. He grows into “a new kind of explorer” (322)—one who learns from the places he discovers, rather than destroying them.
The Explorer
The explorer is an archetypal character who imparts wisdom to the children while gaining insight into his own life. The children first discover the possibility of another person living in the jungle when they find the explorer’s sardine tin and later, his map that leads back to the ruined city. The children do not expect to find a man living alone in the middle of the jungle, despite the clues that suggest his existence, and the man does not expect to find them, either. Their initial meeting is mistrustful, as the explorer views as intruders who may uncover his closely-guarded secret. The explorer’s shoes “were made from what looked like alligator skin, with very thin vines for shoelaces. A jacket, sewn neatly from black furs, hung over his shoulders. The buttons were caiman teeth” (153). He has all the markings of a stereotypical explorer, complete with scars, a pet vulture, and an overall rugged appearance. Ironically, the explorer claims not to be an explorer at all, but a pilot who crashed in the jungle. He frowns upon men from Europe who come to the Amazon expecting to convert its land and culture to their own, and he lives his life to protect the ruined city that would surely attract anthropological interest. The explorer believes that nature is far more honest than civilization, and he prefers to live in the wilderness.
The children see the explorer as someone who can help them survive and possibly even get them home. The explorer slowly warms up to the children and begins teaching them how to survive so they can find their way to Manaus. He teaches them how to trap animals, hunt tarantulas, fish using spears, gut and cook raw meat, and more. The explorer becomes more than a guide and a teacher, as by the time the children leave, he is more like a close friend whose bond with the children is sealed. During their time together, the explorer not only teaches the children how to survive but also how to value the natural world and honor their own innate talents. He motivates and encourages them, telling Fred he is capable of flying a plane and helping Con see that she has a lion’s heart. When the explorer and the children part ways, it is with the understanding that they will keep his home in the forest a secret. With the explorer’s help, the children leave with a newfound love for the Amazon. In the children, the explorer sees his own son, and this connection is what propels him to ensure their survival, doing for them what he could not do for his son. In letting the children fly his plane out of the jungle, the explorer forfeits his chances of ever leaving, but by then he has realized that the Amazon is his true home.
Con
Con is a dynamic character whose initial attitude changes during her time in the Amazon, and who experiences a slow revealing of the person she is beneath the surface. When the group first meets Con, she is brash, angry, and accusatory. She trusts no one and has no desire to make friends; all she wants to do is get out of the jungle. Con’s physical appearance is one of her most defining traits: “Her face was all geometry: sharp chin, sharp cheekbones, sharp eyes” (13). These physical features reflect her challenging, intelligent, and at times difficult personality.
Con's disposition begins to change as she is unconditionally included in the group and begins to feel the same urge as Fred to prove that she is more than what people want or expect her to be. Con’s first major defining moment comes when she volunteers to start the fire on the first night. She scratches flint until she bleeds, demonstrating Perseverance and the Drive to Survive. Con’s strong personality transforms into her greatest asset.
Con gradually reveals the reasons for her attitude and the motivation behind her behavior. Con’s parents are both dead, and she now lives with her great-aunt, who sends her away to convent schools in an attempt to mold her into a “proper lady.” On the inside, Con just wants to be free and wild and to enjoy her childhood. She does not have friends back home, and the lifelong friendships she makes with Fred, Lila, and Max help her realize that she can trust others rather than rely solely on herself. By the time the group is getting ready to fly to Manaus, Con’s attitude toward the rainforest has changed dramatically: Initially, she rejects everything around her and wants only to return to England. Now, she wishes to stay in the jungle with the explorer forever. He rejects her request but tells her she is built for adventure and nicknames her “Con the Lion Heart” (310).
Lila
Lila is Max’s older sister and is characterized primarily by her fiercely protective nature and innate ability to interact with nature. Lila is the most level-headed and logical of the four children, but she is not immune to emotional outbursts or panic. She initially butts heads with Con, who is much more emotional and abrasive than Lila, but they soon become close allies. Lila and her brother are from Peru, and their mother grew up in the jungle, so Lila has a whole catalog of knowledge about surviving there. Lila and her brother were on their way to see their grandma when the plane crashed, and Lila’s focus remains on getting back to her family while she and the others attempt to survive. Lila’s knowledge of nature is essential to the group’s survival, as she knows what plants to eat and understands the behavior of various predators that live in the Amazon. Most of her time is dedicated to keeping Max safe or scolding him for failing to listen to her. Lila also adopts the baby sloth and names it Abacaxi, and the sloth becomes her companion and comfort for years after the children leave the jungle. Lila is a naturally caring person who takes on a motherly role within the group. She is also the most willing to make sacrifices for the sake of her family and friends.
Max
Max is the youngest person to survive the crash and Lila’s younger brother. Max experiences personal growth during his time in the Amazon, while also serving as a foil for the rest of the children, who must each demonstrate their patience and willingness to make sacrifices to keep Max alive. Max is five years old—much younger than the others, who are preteens, and his attitude in the early days is one of total vulnerability and helplessness. He is belligerent and mistrustful of Fred in particular, and constantly disobeys Lila, even though she is trying to keep him alive. However, Max’s curious and observant nature soon makes him a valuable member of the group: He makes the important discovery of finding the baby sloth and notices the way the monkeys take honey out of the beehive. He acts independently at moments like this, while at other times needs complete assistance, like when the children climb the cliff to the ruined city. The explorer describes Max as a “young cacophony” because he often cries or yells. Max demonstrates maturity in his willingness to keep the ruined city a secret and in his loyalty to his friends. His reckless nature almost kills him when he explores on his own and gets attacked by bullet ants. The risk to Max’s life is what inspires the story’s climax, as the explorer gives the children his plane so they can fly to Manaus and save Max’s life.
