I Am Still Alive

Content Warning: This section contains descriptions of violence.

Perseverance is the most important aspect of Jess’s character and the trait that allows her to survive the elements against all odds. Jess arrives on the lake with a disability, and one wrong move results in excruciating pain. The pain that she experiences only worsens when she is alone and is forced to do everything herself. Carrying wood, walking from the shore to the shelter, and other basic tasks are extremely difficult and torturous, but Jess pushes through her challenges, knowing that she has only herself to rely on if she is to survive. Jess has suffered the loss of both parents as well, and she pushes past her grief to focus on the task of staying alive.

Jess makes plans and creates goals, and then does what is necessary to work toward and achieve them. She has two ultimate motives: “to survive, and to get rescued” (71). Jess feels like her life is now defined by death and its presence, as she has lost both parents and now faces the possibility of her own death every single day. She is filled with regret over the way she wasted her time with her father, but she turns that regret into a new