72 pages • 2 hours read
Gary PaulsenA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
The hatchet becomes the most important item in Brian’s life after the plane crashes. It is a gift from his mother and his last tie to his life back home. It is a bitter truth that if his mother had not cheated on his father, he would not have needed the hatchet or been on that airplane at all. Yet, without it, he might not have survived in the wilderness. The hatchet enables Brian to make fire, chop firewood, and prepare food and shelter. It is a simple, man-made tool that becomes a lifeline. In the end, it is the hatchet that allows Brian to access the interior of the wrecked plane, which leads to the emergency transmitter. In this way, the hatchet is responsible not only for his successful survival but also for his rescue.
Time and again Brian must endure injury, hunger, thirst, and sickness. He learns that being physically strong is helpful, but that emotional fortitude is far more important to survival. When he loses the ability to think positively, he sinks into panic, irrational thinking, and depression. This even leads him to try to kill himself. However, his physical wounds heal, proving that the real danger is in giving up hope.
By Gary Paulsen
Brian's Hunt
Brian's Hunt
Gary Paulsen
Brian's Return
Brian's Return
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Brian's Winter
Brian's Winter
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Canyons
Canyons
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Dogsong
Dogsong
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Guts
Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books
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Harris and Me
Harris and Me: A Summer Remembered
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How Angel Peterson Got His Name
How Angel Peterson Got His Name
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Lawn Boy
Lawn Boy
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Liar, Liar
Liar, Liar
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Masters of Disaster
Masters of Disaster
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My Life in Dog Years
My Life in Dog Years
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Nightjohn
Nightjohn
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Northwind
Northwind
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Soldiers Heart
Soldiers Heart: Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers
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The Crossing
The Crossing
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The Monument
The Monument
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The River
The River
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The Transall Saga
The Transall Saga
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The Voyage of the Frog
The Voyage of the Frog
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