Book report post #4 Themes/Lessons

One of the major themes in Jason’s Gold is that family and friends are much more important than any amount of money. Jason learns this over his long trip, because the reason he left was to get more gold and money for himself, but then he realizes that he can’t go without friends or family forever, and that he couldn’t bear to lose them.

I can relate to that theme because without my family I wouldn’t be able to do much. They pay for me to eat, go to school, and do everything that helps me in my life. Even with all the money in the world, I believe a person wouldn’t be truly happy without a family or friends. If I lost all the money I have, and my family did too, we would still be okay because we would be together.

The main character got to this point after he had to spend the winter in freezing conditions. Luckily, he had Charlie to keep him company. Through the winter, Jason realized that he didn’t want the gold and money anymore; he wanted to see his family and help his friends. That is a complete change from the beginning, when he wanted to get rich so he could start his own business, and live up to his father. In the end, he got to be with his only family, and own a business with his brothers. So, in a way, he got what he wanted from the beginning, and got to be with his loving family.

Another theme in Jason’s Gold is that things don’t always work out the way you want them to. Jason learns this many times in his journey. First, his brothers took the money his father left him to join the rush. Jason was going to use that money to go on the rush himself. Second, he was kicked off the ship he was going to take to Skagway. Third, he had to start over from nothing several times. He had to stay the winter in a cabin when a moose trampled him, no one ever let him join their group, he had to give half his food to Charlie, and a bear killed his dog.

I can relate to this because many times, things happen that I never wanted to happen. All I can do is change plans, and hope that things will still turn out right. That happens to many people, and no one can control it. We just need to accept what happened, and work through it.