When Nelson Mandela said, "The greatest glory in living is not failing, but rising every time we fall," he was speaking about the power of persistence. More specifically, the power to get up day after day and fight all over again. That's what brings the greatest glory.
it means that failure isn't the best thing but getting us and learning from that failure is truly the glory, therfore if we don't learn from our mistakes there was no point in making them. we give significance to our mistakes and that significance is only good if we get up and learn from it
The story ends with Jonas discovering a village in Elsewhere during a snowy night and sledding down a hill towards a warm cabin with Gabe, which happens to be the first memory he experienced. The reader is left with a sense of hope that Jonas and Gabe will start a new life in the unknown village in Elsewhere.
