I am not too sure of the answer here, can you help with what the following quote means "Candido followed his father's advice and made himself like a wall."
Candito was stranded in Oregon with nothing but a strip of beef jerky. He remembered his father's advice to not show any emotion if he got in trouble: he needed to be a wall.
He had a strip of jerky in his pocket to chew on, and as he tore into the leathery flavorless meat with quivering jaws and aching teeth, he remembered a bit of advice his father had once given him. In times of extremity, his father said, when you're lost or hungry or in danger, ponte pared, make like a wall. That is, you present a solid unbreachable surface, you show nothing, neither fear nor despair, and you protect the inner fortress of yourself from all comers. That night, cold, wet, hungry and afraid, Candido followed his father's advice and made himself like a wall.
