Bad Decisions In The Wild, By Owen Laukkane

Everyone has made bad decisions at least once in their lives. Whether it was a small mistake or a big mistake, whether we had good intentions or bad intentions, but what happens after we make this mistake? The fact is that these bad decisions will put us in a situation that we never intended to be in. In Owen Laukkanen’s The Wild, the characters prove through their mistakes that their fate depends on their decisions. As they make more choices, it is clear that every time they choose the wrong decision, they end up in situations where some are minor while others are life threatening. Owen Laukkanen’s The Wild shows that bad decisions can lead to even worse situations, as shown by Dawn’s decision to do drugs, Dawn’s parents’ decision to send

“She’s not going to fall for Warden’s charm, either, or wish things were different or even feel dumb about possibly falling for him. She’s not that girl anymore. Those days are over” (Laukkanen 296). When Warden shows his true intentions of killing anyone who gets in his way of escape, Dawn realizes that he is not a good person and she is “not going to fall for Warden’s charm, either, or wish things were different or even feel dumb about possibly falling for him”. This part of the quote also shows that Dawn had trusted Warden and even started developing romantic feelings toward him, which led to her not suspecting him of being a bad person. Although because of this, Dawn is put in yet another unfortunate situation. “She knows the innocent bystander is good and dead, and as soon as Warden is sure of it, he’ll come back up the slope to where she’s lying here fully spent, and then he’ll finish her off” (Laukkanen 330.) The fact that Warden has killed an innocent bystander and is coming to “finish her off” further proves the point that Dawn should not have trusted Warden. Also, the quote specifically states that the person killed by Warden is an “innocent bystander” which means that they did nothing wrong. That means that if Dawn had not killed Warden, he absolutely would have come back to murder her. Dawn unknowingly puts herself in a bad situation, yet Dawn’s

As Dawn arrives at the camp, she is greeted by a female named Tanya, “”Welcome to Out of the Wild,” Tanya says. “We’re America’s number one wilderness therapy program for troubled youth. Your parents signed you up because they think we can help you”” (Laukkanen 14/15). “”Your parents signed you up because they think we can help you”” shows that although her parents took Dawn here without much of her consent, they certainly had good intentions. However, even though her parents had good intentions, what they did not know was that this camp was going to put Dawn in extreme danger to the point where she almost gets killed. “She knows that in a minute or so, Warden is going to tell Brandon and Evan to push her and Brielle over the edge of this cliff. And she’ll fall, and Brielle will fall, and they’ll collide into those jagged rocks and be impaled by trees and by the time they hit bottom, they’ll be barely recognizable” (Laukkanen 300). This situation is probably not what Dawn’s parents had planned for or would have even expected to happen. Dawn is in an extremely harsh situation right now and she will probably either die or be disabled for the rest of their life as shown through the quote: “by the time they hit bottom they’ll be barely recognizable”. This is the bad situation that Dawn’s parents have put her into and it also shows that even if you