BRIAN'S RETURN

HOW BRIAN'S RETURN RELATES TO HATCHET

• Brian's return is a sequel to Hatchet set 2 years later.
• In Hatchet Brian enters the wilderness a city boy and in his struggles to survive learns about the wilderness.
• As he learns about the wilderness Brian learns to love it.
• In Brian's Return Brian is living at home but doesn't fit in. His time in the wilderness has changed him.
• He decides to return to the wilderness and the life he has grown to miss.

BRIAN'S RETURN SETTING

• It takes place at Brian's mothers house in New York and in the Canadian Wilderness.
• It's time period is the 1990's.
• The time period and location impacts the story by:
• Allowing him to fly to the wilderness and bring some modern equipment with him to help him survive.
• The entire story is based around the location and his need to leave the city and return to the wilderness.

PROTAGONIST: BRIAN

• Brian is the main character and lives in New York.
• Brian has returned home after surviving in the wilderness but isn't fitting in.
• After spending many hours speaking with Caleb, Brian realizes that he can only be happy if he returns to the wilderness. .........
• Brian loves the wilderness and all of the animals and things associated with it.
• When Brian returns to the wilderness he faces many challenges but he grows more at peace with himself.

ANTAGONIST: MODERN SOCIETY

• After surviving the wilderness Brian returns to his home in New York.
• Brian can't relate to his friends and the things they do and care about.
• Brian doesn't relate to going to the mall or playing video games.
• Brian realizes that his issue is modern society and that he can only be happy if he returns to the wilderness.

CHARACTER: CALEB LANCASTER

• Caleb is a blind, seven foot tall retired policeman who counsels boys.
• After speaking with Brian about his fight, he realizes that Brian was simply protecting himself.
• Brian visits with Caleb regularly to describe his experiences in the wilderness to him.
• Through their time together Caleb learns to see the wilderness through Brian's eyes.
• Brian figures out that he needs to return to the wilderness through his discussions with Caleb.

CHARACTER: BRIAN'S MOM

• Brian lives with his mom in New York.
• She developed a fear of the bush when Brian disappeared.
• She was afraid to let him go back but with Caleb's help let's him return.
• While she stills remembers Brian as a small boy she now realizes that he has grown.

CHARACTER: SUSAN

• Susan is a local girl at school who likes Brian.
• She invited him to go to Mackey's for pizza.
• She had refused to date Carl once.
• She gets knocked down and twists her knee when Carl attacks Brian.

CHARACTER: CARL LAMMERS

• Carl is a football player who is large, and is nicknamed the Hulk.
• Carl likes Susan but she doesn't like him.
• Carl is jealous of Brian because of his celebrity and because Susan likes him.
• Carl thinks Brian said something bad about him and attacks him at Mackey's .
• Brian defends himself and sends Carl to the hospital.

Character: Haley

• Haley is a small thin boy who tagged along with Susan and Brian at Mackey's.
• When Carl tried to attack Brian he actually hit Haley with the door and knocked him into Susan.
• The door hit Haley in the nose and blood poured out.

CHARACTER: POLICEMAN

• The policeman showed up after the fight.
• They took Brian home to speak to his mother.
• They suggested that Brian get counseling and gave Brian's mom Caleb's number.

CHARACTER: THE PILOT

• The pilot flew Brian out to the wilderness to meet the Smallhorns.
• He was the same pilot who rescued Brian from the wilderness two years earlier.
• He described to Brian where the Smallhorns camp was.
• He dropped Brian off a 100 miles away from their camp.

CHARACTERS: THE FISHERMEN

• The fishermen had lived the wilderness all their lives working for lumber companies.
• Now city dwellers, they go fishing every year for Muskie but is really a excuse to return to the wilderness.
• They knew who Brian was from television.
• They recognized that he felt the same way about the wilderness as they did.

CHARACTER: BILLY

• Brian meets him while on the way to meet the Smallhorns.
• His medicine is a crow.
• He hunts the old way like Brian with a bow.
• He has lived in the wilderness for many many years.
• He is around 50 years old and Brian later realizes that it is him in the future.

CHARACTER: SMALLHORNS

• They are a family that Brian first meets in Hatchet.
• Brian goes to the wilderness to find them and visit with them.
• They live in the wilderness year round.
• Their summer fishing camp is located in the William lake area.

MAJOR CONFLICT

• After his time in the wilderness Brian has trouble adjusting to society and it causes him to be unhappy.
• As time passes Brian finds himself fitting in less and less and has no interest in the things his friends enjoy.
• Through his discussions with Caleb he comes to realize that he is just happier in the wilderness.
• Brian decides to confront this conflict by returning to the wilderness.
• This conflict is external and is person against self.

CONFLICT

• Brian gets in a fight with a football player named Carl at a pizza place.
• They get in a fight because of Carl's jealousy of Brian's celebrity.
• Brian reacted by hitting Carl all over until he had to go to the hospital.
• The police take Brian home and suggest that he get counseling.
• This conflict is external and it is Person Against Person.

CONFLICT

• A bear is pushing Brian to a bank.
• The bear kept pushing Brian into a smaller area to trap him.
• The bear keeps teasing Brian by going back and forth lunging every once and a while.
• Brian yells "No, Not me!" And the bear watches Brian then leaves him.
• This conflict is external and it's type is Person Against Nature.

CONFLICT

• A storm hits in the middle of the night and it caused Brian's tent to collapse around him.
• The wind rolled him and the tent five feet down the embankment to the lakeshore.
• An arrow stuck him in the leg and the canoe hit him in the head.
• The conflict is external and Person Against Nature.

CONFLICT

• Brian is hungry and has just been eating fish and has an opportunity to shoot a deer for food.
• He chooses not to because he can't store the meat and doesn't want to waste it.
• He comes to realize that the deer is part of the wilderness and he has too much respect for the wilderness.
• The conflict is inner and Person Against Self.

EXPOSITION

• Brian is 16 years old and lives with his mother in New York.
• It has been two years since he was rescued from the wilderness.
• He has had a tough time fitting in and misses the wilderness.

RISING ACTION

• Brian gets into a fight with Carl.
• He meets Caleb and they discuss his time in the wilderness.
• He returns to the wilderness.
• A deer jumps into his canoe, a storm ravages his tent and he meets Billy.

CLIMAX

• Brian comes face to face with a bear.
• The bear backs him down and Brian gets his bow an arrow out.
• After a stare down the bear leaves and Brian comments "It's good... my medicine is strong".

FALLING ACTION

• Brian slept under his canoe, and paddled for 10 hours the next day.
• While reading Romeo and Juliet on the lakeshore, two otters swam up.
• That night he had a dream and Billy was in it, and when he woke up he realized that Billy was him in the future. .

RESOLUTION

• Brian began paddling towards the Smallhorns.
• An hour into the trip he realized that was not where he was headed.
• He was now a man of the wilderness and his visit with them would have to wait for another day.