Hatchet

Group Members

• Patrick Borghese
• Damian Dillon

Tragedy Hits In the Cockpit

• In a Cessna 406, Brian is in the cockpit, seated in the co-pilot seat for his flight lesson with the pilot flying when all a sudden...
• The pilot was talking about pain and not feeling good. It lead to a fatal heart attack the pilot had."The pilot was having a heart attack and knowledge came to Brain..." (Pg.11)
• Brain knew he was in a heap of trouble since the pilot had a heart attack, Brain tried to contact ATC for assistance of the problem...no answer from ATC.
• Brain would be forced to make a crash emergency landing once he found an appropriate clearance since the plane was failing in flight as well. "He would have to find a clearing as he went down." (pg. 23)
• The plane crash had finally happened and the moment of the crash was huge, and was one of the important events in the story. "Then a wild crashing sound, ripping of metal, and plane rolled to the right and blew through the trees, out over the water and down, down to slam into the lake, skip once on water as hard as concrete, water that tore the windshield out and shattered the side of the windows, water that drove him back into the seat." (pg. 27)
• The two events in the beginning of the story were significant as it is just the start of the story in the Hatchet.

"The Secret"

• • First mentioned when, Brian is in the plane with the pilot. Key words pop into his head such as, Divorce, Fights, and split. ”The burning eyes did not come back, but memories did, came flooding in. The words. Always the words. Divorce. The Secret. Fights. Split.” (pg.5) • Brian had found out the secret when he was riding bikes with his friend Terry. He had seen his mother in the car with another man as they rode past the mall. “There was a man in the car. Short, blond hair, the man had. Wearing some kind of white pullover tennis shirt.”(pg.30) • He later dreamt of the secret but in more detail. Seeing his mother kiss the man that was in the car with her when he had rode past the mall with Terry. “In the mall. Every detail. His mother sitting in the station wagon with the man. And she had leaned across and kissed him, kissed the man with the short blond hair, and it wasn’t a friendly peck, but a kiss.”(pg.66)

Survival in the Wild

• It was pretty obvious that knew Brian had to fight for survival in the wild due to the occurrence of the plane crash and is in the middle of nowhere.
• "Here I and that is nowhere. With his mind opened and thoughts happening it all tried to come in with a rush, all of what occurred and he could not take it." (pg. 44)
• Since the plane crash and Brian finally realizes, he also knew he must construct and use his surrounding resources to build a shelter.
• "In the park that time they had decided the best shelter was a lean-to and Brian set out to make one up. Maybe cover it with grass or leaves or sticks, he thought..." (pg. 54)
• Not only shelter is needed to survive in the wild but you need food too, you can't go on with being hungry, Brian realized he was, and needed to find food.
• "He had to stop this. His mouth was full of saliva and his stomach was twisting and growling. What was there to eat?" (pg. 58)
• With the struggle of Brian fighting for survival, he must play the cards right, and with everything he's got, using his environment, resources, and his mind to be able to be able to survive in the wild.

Work Cited

• Paulsen, Gary. Hatchet. New York: Simon Pulse Paperbacks, 1987. Print.