Hatchet Essay, Research Paper

The theme of the story Hatchet is determination, perseverance and survival.

Brian Robeson, whose parents are divorced, flies to visit his father in Canadian

wilderness. His pilot has a heart attack and dies. Brian managed to land the

plane in a lake, and escape unharmed. Now comes the hard part, surviving in the

wilderness until rescued. He does have one tool to help him, a hatchet that his

mother had given him as a gift. He will have to use it, his own determination,

imagination, perseverance and common sense to survive. Summary: This flight to

see his father in the Canadian wilderness is Brains first time in an airplane.

He explains this to the pilot and tells him that he is scared. The pilot feels

sorry for Brian and decides to show him that flying is not very difficult. He

lets Brian take the steering control and direct the line of flight for awhile.

Just when Brian thinks that everything is going well, the pilot has a heart

attack and dies. Brian knows he must land the plane himself or die. He tries to

use the radio without success. He knows that if he hits the trees, he can die,

so he decides to land in the water of a lake. When the plane is in the water, he

gets out through a window. He lay on the bank of the lake for a while to rest.

Brian knew he needed food and shelter to survive so he set out to find both. He

was very careful not to get lost or go too far from the lake where his water

was. He found a cherry tree and because he was very hungry, he ate his fill. He

filled his windbreaker with cherries to eat later and then managed to find a

cave for shelter. He slept very well, but in the morning when he awoke, he saw a

bear in the cave. He was terrified, because the bear was only about 20 feet away

eating his cherries out of his windbreaker. The bear only looked at Brian and

then left. The cherries must have been enough to curb his appetite! The

discovery of how to make a fire was very important to Brains survival. He needed

to have one at the mouth of the cave to protect him from wild animals, and to

signal for help. He discovered it by mistake when a porcupine wandered into his

cave! It was dark in the cave and he heard something moving. He knew it was

alive, but not what it was. He kicked it. It was then, when the quills shot into

his foot that he knew it was a porcupine. He was in pain, and knew he could not

touch it. He threw his hatchet, and when it hit the rock of the cave instead of

the porcupine, it made a spark. He knew how to make the spark, now all he had to

do was find the fuel. He knew he needed some type of meat to survive, so he

decided to catch fish. First he tried to catch them with his hands, but he soon

knew he needed a better plan. He made a primitive bow and arrow. He was very

proud of himself when he was able to use it to catch fish, or shoot a bird. He

would scoured them and cook them over his fire. He was becoming better all the

time at survival. One day a tornado went through the area. The tornado turned

out to be a revelation. It moved the plane so that the tail was now sticking out

of the water. It was then that Brian remembered that the plane contained a

survival pack. It was very difficult to get to, and it took a long time. He

almost lost his hatchet while trying to cut a hole in the plane, but he was able

to retrieve it. When he finally got back on dry land, he found that the pack

contained food, knife, rifle, and C. B. radio. He tried to use the radio, but he

did not think it was working. He found out that he was wrong when a rescue plane

showed up, it was working! Character Description: Brian Robeson is a typical 13

year old boy trying to cope with his parents divorce. He is not happy about his

mothers? new boyfriend, and he is very excited about going to visit his

father. He wears the typical tennis shoes, jeans, and T-shirt with a

windbreaker. He is not an outdoorsman, but he has watched a lot of TV and always

paid attention to how they survived difficult situations. He is scared of

flying, and tells the pilot this. As his situation changes and he is faced with

life or death in a survival situation, he chooses to be brave and strong and

survive. Review: I liked ?Hatchet? because it is about teenage adventure.

When I was reading I was trying to imagine what I would do if I were Brian. I

think that he was very tough. He was always thinking about what to do to

survive. The thing that I did not like about the book was that everything that

he did seemed to take so long! It seemed to take a few days to start a fire or

to catch a fish. I did not like the ending, it was unrealistic to have a tornado

go through and all of a sudden, the tail of the plane is sticking out of the

water. Then, after all that time he miraculously remembers the survival pack is

still in the plane. Why could not he remember it in all those other weeks?

Recommendations: I think that this book is especially good for preteens or

teens. Anyone who likes adventure and wild life would like it. A person who

likes scouting and the outdoors would probably like the book. Timeline: 1. Plane

crashes 2. First food ? fruits 3. Meeting with bear 4. Encounter with

porcupine 5. First fire 6. Found turtle eggs 7. Building fire for signal 8.

First fish 9. Heard search plane 10. Building a house 11. Attacked by moose 12.

Tornado 13. Plane tail sticking out of water 14. Get survival pack and radio 15.

Going home Rewrite: If I could make a change to the story, I think I would

change the part with the tornado. I think that it was weird. It seemed like the

kind of magic that you see in cartoons. If I wrote the ending to the book, I

would make it more realistic. He maybe could find sulfur to make a flare or a

search plane would see his smoke signal. He could even try diving over and over

again to get back into the plane for the survival pack that he may remember was

there. I just think that the tornado was an easy ending for the author and that

he should not have used it.