Hatchet

632 Words2 Pages

Gratitude is the Best Attitude. Imagine being forced to fly a plane over towering mountains after the pilot has a heart attack all while you are just thirteen years old. That is the backdrop of the adventurous and suspenseful coming-of-age novel Hatchet by Gary Paulson. In the novel, Brian Robeson, a brave thirteen year old boy, perseveres through many challenges and grows in gratitude as he struggles to survive in the Canadian wilderness. Throughout this novel, the author, using Brian Robeson to illustrate his theme, teaches many lessons surrounding the ideas of perseverance, resilience, and, most of all, gratitude. After recently finding out some horrible news about his parents divorce, Brian boards a small bush plane headed for the Canadian …show more content…

Throughout the novel, the author displays Brian as a resilient and courageous young boy trying to survive in a foreign area. While he is in the wilderness fighting to both thrive and survive, he begins to grow a deeper appreciation for what he had back at home. After 54 days of hard work, Brian is unexpectedly saved by a plane. He returns home as a new Brian Robeson with a heart filled with an abundance of gratitude. As Brian struggles to find food and survive in the wilderness, he finds himself remembering the bounty and abundance of what he had back home. In the epilogue, the author writes, “Food, all food, even food he did not like, never lost its wonder for him. For years after his rescue he would find himself stopping in grocery stores to just stare at the aisles of food, staring at the quantity and the variety” (Paulson 187). It takes a season of lack and scarcity for Brian to truly understand how fortunate and blessed his life was. Also, this shows that, until the little things are taken away, it is difficult to have a large appreciation for them. In this story, Brian truly defines the real meaning of gratitude; he no longer overlooks aspects of his life like food, clothes, shelter, nature, and, most importantly,

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