Paulsen,
G. (1987). Hatchet. New York:
Scholastic.
I
absolutely LOVED Hatchet. I was blown away by how well written it was
and it kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I could not stop turning the page and reading
on and on to find out what happened next.
This is a book I will definitely be reading with my 5th grade
students.
Hatchet is a realistic fiction novel by
Gary Paulsen. It tells the story of
Brian, a 13-year-old boy who is traveling by small plane to visit his father in
the Canadian wilderness. When the pilot
suffers from a heart attack and dies, Brian attempts to fly the plane, but it
inevitably crashes into a lake in the middle of nowhere. Brian manages to make it out alive, with
nothing but the clothes on his back and the hatchet attached to his belt that
his mother had given him as a parting gift.
Brian knows a little bit about surviving in the wild, mostly from
watching television shows. While reading
this novel, I used the post-it note strategy to mark important events, record
my thoughts, and ask questions. It is
because of those post-it notes that I can include all the details of the
following plot.
When Brian gets out of the
lake, he first finds a shelter in a rock cliff, knowing he’ll need a somewhat
safe place to sleep. Brian searches for
food and finds what he calls “gut cherries”, since they end up making him
violently ill. If you’ve ever wondered
how to describe someone getting sick, contact Paulsen, because he is very
descriptive in this novel. Later Brian
is able to find raspberries, and those don’t make him sick. The next night, Brian is stung by a porcupine
that has wandered into his cave. He
decides he needs to make a fire, so he tries everything he can think of to
create one. Eventually he learns that
his hatchet can make a fire when it is struck against the rock. This is a turning point for Brian, since he
now has hope that he can stay warm, ward of enemy critters, cook any food he
could kill, and signal a plane if one comes searching for him. Next, Brian finds some turtle eggs buried in
the sand. He eats them raw, and hides
the rest for later. He makes a spear to
help him hunt. Then, he hears a plane
overhead. He rushes back to his signal
fire, but the plane leaves before he can get it started. In this moment, Brian is sure he will be
stuck in the wild forever. Later, Brian
gets more bad luck – he is sprayed by a skunk that came in trying to steal his
eggs. This encounter with the skunk
motivates Brian to make a stronger shelter and create a food ledge to store his
food. He manages to catch his first
“fool bird”, so now he has meat that tastes like chicken to eat. He also becomes quite adept at catching fish
in the lake.
Then, the horrible day
happened. For no reason that Brian can
see, a moose attacks him down by the lake.
The moose keeps hitting him over and over again, and Brian is
injured. The same day, a tornado comes
through the woods and Brian loses the wall he built for his shelter, his fire,
and all of his tools that he made. He is
again left with just the clothes on his back and the hatchet. The good news is that the tornado went
through the lake and lifted up the plane, so Brian can see part of the tail of
the plane. Brian makes a raft and
decides to go out to the plane and see what he can find. He ends up finding a survival pack stuffed
with things – a sleeping bag, pots and pans, meals, and a transmitter radio
that he can’t figure out how to work.
After the horrible day, it seems that things might be looking up for
Brian.
Does he ever get rescued or
find his way out of the woods? To find
out, you will have to read Hatchet for
yourself.
As stated earlier, Hatchet is a realistic fiction
novel. It is told in third person
limited point of view. A narrator is
telling the story, but we hear Brian’s thoughts. Since there’s not much dialogue in the novel,
it is important to hear Brian’s thoughts to understand what he feels and is
going through in the novel. This is a
survival and adventure type of realistic fiction. Brian, the protagonist, must rely on will and
ingenuity to survive a life-threatening situation. Brian is involved with a person vs. nature
conflict. He is alone against the
elements.
This is a good novel to use
with students since there are lots of things they can make connections to or
have schema for. One of the ways that I
connected to Brian was through the fact that both his parents and my parents
are divorced. This is an issue that
Brian is dealing with throughout the beginning of the novel, and is something
that some students would be going through, too.
I have schema for bugs and mosquitos.
I seem to always be the person bitten the most out of all of my friends. When the swarms of mosquitos first attacked
Brian, I shuddered. I can only imagine
what that would be like, but YUCK! I
would have run away as fast as I could!
The literary term of
flashback can be discussed with this novel.
Brian flashes back to earlier events when he thinks of the drive to the
airport with his mom. We also are told
the story of why his parents got divorced through flashbacks. After Chapter 12, most of the story is told
in a flashback. Chapter 13 jumps from
day 5 of being alone to day 47. Those 42
days in between are told in a flashback.
This novel also uses foreshadowing.
In the beginning, the pilot tells Brian about a survival pack in the
back of the plane, in case of an emergency landing. Brian forgets all about this until he swims
back out to the plane at the end of the novel.
It ends up playing an important role in the story.
Gary Paulsen’s style of story
telling is very descriptive. His details
of the setting make me feel like I am there.
In this novel, the setting is integral.
Paulsen’s writing makes me see the different trees, hear the splashes of
the fish in the lake, and feel the insects biting me. Paulsen is also able to build up hope and
suspense. He writes really long,
detailed paragraphs and sections, then suddenly, in one sentence, all that hope
or suspense comes crashing down. It’s
very sad in some parts and in other parts it leaves me screaming at the book,
“No! Come on! That HAD to have worked!” Hatchet
ends up being very sad and powerful the whole way through.
There are many different
themes that I found throughout this novel.
One is of being positive. Brian
tells himself to “stay positive and stay on top of things.” This is a motto that he tries to follow
throughout the novel. This is a good
sentiment to have in life in general, but especially if you are alone in the
woods. Another theme is of hope. Brian is filled with hope and optimism that
things will be okay when he makes fire from the hatchet and the rock wall of
the cave. A third theme is learning from
your mistakes. After the skunk sprays
Brian, he learns that he needs food at hand in case he is ever injured for a
long period of time and that he can’t keep the food right next to him in the
cave. He makes a food ledge to store his
food, where it will be safe from curious animals. The last theme I found was that of
perseverance. Throughout this novel,
Brian never gives up. He continues to
work until he is successful. He did this
with making fire, catching fish, and killing the fool bird. Perseverance is a great theme to discuss with
students and to teach them to never give up.
There is so much to write
about with Hatchet. I can’t wait to dive into it again with my
students in the fall and see what their thoughts about it are.
BIG QUESTIONS:
1. When Brian catches the first fish and says he
“done food,” he is full of pride and excitement. What have you done that gave you that
feeling?
2. Brian tries to keep a mental journal while stuck
in the wild. What event do you have a
mental journal of?
3. Brian only has the clothes on his back and a
hatchet. If you were stranded with only
one tool, what would you want it to be?
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