47 pages • 1-hour read
Alive
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Symbols & Motifs
The Red Shoes
Nando Parrado is one of the men chosen to make the expedition down the mountain to find civilization. He is desperate to return to society and is among the most enthusiastic of all the survivors with regards to actively seeking rescue. He understands the value of hope, and he uses a pair of red shoes as a symbol for those who remain at the crash site. The shoes were purchased before the crash as a present for a young relative. Parrado separates the shoes each time he sets off on an expedition, and he tells the other survivors that he will return to unite the pair. The separation of the shoes symbolizes Parrado’s separation from the rest of the group. The pair of shoes are naturally intended to be together so they must be reunited. In the same way, he has formed an innate bond with the rest of the crash survivors and is destined to be reunited with them. The splitting apart of the shoes also symbolizes the understanding among the men. Parrado performs the separation because he wants the others to understand their shared bond and to join him in a demonstration of hope.
The red shoes are purchased as a gift for a young family member. They are recovered from a suitcase after the crash, and Parrado clings to them to remind him of the people he has lost. He has lost his sister Susana and his mother Eugenia during the crash. The loss spurns him on and forces him to take responsibility for his fate. Though Parrado has lost the family members closest to him, the shoes are a reminder of the wider family that exists back in Uruguay. Parrado separates the shoes just as he has been separated from his family. He is separated from his mother and sister by death and from the rest of his family—including the intended recipient of the shoes—by distance. Parrado cannot reunite with his mother and sister, but he can make the journey back to civilization and reunite with his family. He takes the shoe as a symbol of his commitment to his family. The separation and the reunion of the shoes symbolize how Parrado becomes detached from his loved ones and the way in which he forces himself to return to them through sheer willpower.
The Dead Bodies
The dead bodies are a potent symbol which signify different things throughout the story. In the immediate aftermath of the crash, the bodies scattered around the crash site are a constant reminder of the severity of the situation and the fortune enjoyed by the survivors. Although they are lucky to be alive, death is a constant, looming presence. The dead bodies which lay all around the crash site remind them of the perilous nature of the situation and how close they are to dying themselves. The bodies act as physical reminders of the fine line between life and death. The dead are not strangers; they are the same people who were sat next to the survivors just before the crash. By a stroke of fortune, some survived and some did not. The survivors see the dead bodies and understand the chaotic nature of survival. The random chance to sit in a particular seat or to be in a certain place at any given time can be the difference between life and death. The presence of the dead bodies is a symbol of why the survivors should take nothing for granted.
As the situation becomes more bleak, the dead bodies alter their symbolic meaning. The men begin to view the dead as a potential source of food. Gradually the group accepts that they must eat the meat from the dead bodies if they are going to survive. They have no other choice unless they wish to die. The bodies symbolize the lines which must be crossed in the name of remaining alive. Each body has to be butchered and harvested. The processing of the meat turns into a difficult chore. Some men cannot do it at first, but their hunger and desperation helps them overcome their natural disgust. The consumption of the dead bodies symbolizes the lengths people will go to in order to stay alive. The meat is taken from the dead and consumed, as life is symbolically transferred from the dead to the living via the flesh.
The survivors of the flight are ultimately rescued. By the time the helicopters touch down on the mountainside, the area is covered in the bones of the dead. The dead bodies are almost all gone. The bones have been broken apart for their marrow, the brains have been eaten, and even the skin has been put to use. The rescue team notices the absence of the bodies and understands what the survivors have done. The scattered bones symbolize the absence of the dead bodies. This becomes a symbol of the extreme situation and the taboos which have been broken.
The Condors
In December the weather begins to clear and life returns to the mountainside. In the Southern Hemisphere, December marks the arrival of summer. The men who have been stuck on the side of a mountain for almost three months begin to notice the changes in the world around them. At the same time, they begin to hope again that they might be able to survive. They do not see planes or helicopters circling above them, but they do see a pair of condors flying high in the sky. The condors are a complicated symbol in the book. The birds are typically scavengers who feast on carrion that they find in their territory. A condor can be considered a similar symbol to a vulture. They loom high in the sky over dead or dying animals and then swoop down to eat the flesh. The men are in danger of dying when the condors begin to fly above them.
However, the condors do not symbolize their imminent demise. The men have become something like condors themselves. They have already stripped all of the flesh from the bones of the dead bodies. The survivors have become scavengers in their own right. Like the condors, they have done what they must do to survive. Thus, the appearance of the condors functions as a symbol of this return to their natural impulses. The men become joined with nature in this moment and form a natural bond with the condors that circle above them. Both the men and the birds eat, scavenge, and do what they must to stay alive.
The birds also represent life. The mountainside is cold and dead for most of the story. The cold weather eliminates any kind of life except the men. The sun returns and brings life back to the valley. At the same time, the sun brings back hope. The bleak chill of October and November vanishes with the return of the sun, and the men begin to think that they might be able to be rescued after all. The appearance of the condors is a symbol that life can survive high on the mountain. The condors are not harbingers of doom but fleeting reminders of the capacity to survive. The men see the birds and realize that they are no longer in an entirely inhospitable environment. Life may find a way, and the birds symbolize the men’s capacity for survival.
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