Isolation, being reshaped by nature, facing struggle after struggle - these were the key themes of the survival fiction novel “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen. This award-winning book highlights the fearless adventures of Brian Robeson, a thirteen-year-old boy from Hampton, New York. While flying on a small Cessna 406 to northern Alberta, tragedy struck and he was forced to crash into a lake in the middle of nowhere. With almost no knowledge of his surroundings, he had to fight to survive in this new forest environment. The novel Hatchet is a journey of Brian’s undeniable transformation: from a privileged city boy, to a courageous wilderness survivor. The theme of change is incredibly prominent through Brian’s newfound patience and tranquility, which …show more content…
Before the plane crash that left him stranded in the forest, he took many things for granted, including his hatchet. At the time, he found it quite embarrassing that he had to wear this tool around his belt, but kept it nevertheless. Through the following chapters, Brian realized just how useful it was and treasured it. Resources that used to be given in the city, such as food and water, became immensely valuable to him. He knew that materials would come and go, so he appreciated the few that he had, especially his hatchet. However, his physical gadgets were his strongest tool yet: himself, along with his ability to learn. These combined strengths gave him the new abilities to believe in himself and to see the positives in any bad situation. Brian knew that although it may be difficult, he would be capable of recovering from any challenge that the wilderness put him through. This was strongly displayed when he was both brutally hit by a moose and faced the destructive force of a tornado. Even with the physical and mental pains, frustration and aches, Brian remained optimistic. The forest became his home and no matter the struggle, he was grateful to know that he could survive in
Brian quickly made a fire using small pieces of bark that caught fire really fast. He now had warmth and a shelter, the only he needed was a steady food supply.
Finally, In Guts the writer of Hatchet Gary Paulsen talks about how he faces catastrophic things in his life. Before he was able
Hatchet by Gary Paulson is a fiction novel about a thirteen-year-old boy named Brian that survives a plane crash after the pilot dies of a heart attack and Brian is forced to land the plane himself, and in doing so, lands in a lake around the setting of a Canadian forest. Throughout the duration of the novel, Brian is to survive this dangerous situation with nothing except for a literal hatchet that was gifted to him by his mother prior to getting on the plane to go visit his father in the Canadian North Woods as his parents are newly separated after a recent divorce. Gary Paulsen was inspired to write Hatchet from his own life and personal experiences as both of his parents gave him a hard time growing up through their rocky marriage and unstable parenting as well as the fact that he grew up in the country and had to provide for himself. Hatchet also received a 1988 Newbery Honor award for its excellency. The fiction book is a piece of his life and it’s struggles as he wrote it to convey the following opinions: positivity can get you far no matter what the situation at hand may be, man can
The purpose of this book is to address the issues of seclusion from society. Christopher has plenty of opportunities but chooses to give it all up for life in the wilderness. “I had been granted unusual freedom and responsibility at an early age, for which I should have been grateful in the extreme, but I wasn’t.” p.148. “Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the great white north. No longer poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild.” p.163. Christopher spends several years on the road.
Gary Paulsen’s whole life reflects his life of adventures and survival in the wilderness and his writing reflects his experiences. Living in the remote Minnesota woods Paulsen released Some Birds Don't Fly in 1966 (Trelease), and began his professional writing career and now has achieved three Newbery Honor Books with his novels - Hatchet, The Winter Room and Dogsong (Pendergast). Paulsen’s most popular book, Hatchet, a story of a young boy named Brian who lands a plane after the pilot dies from a heart attack and must survive in the remote wilderness alone, reflects some of Paulsen’s real life experiences when he used to answer emergency calls and deal with many heart attack victims (Paulsen 2). The plane crash in Hatchet was also created by Paulsen after he was on the scene of a plane crash were the pilots died (Paulsen 7). Gary Paulsen’s experiences from living alone in the Minnesota woods to racing dogs in the Iditarod race has been exposed and reflected in a majority his writings.
This book Into The Wild is about how a young man wants to get away from the world. He does escape from society, but ends up dying in the process. The author, Jon Krakauer, does a great job of describing Chris McCandless and his faults. Chris is an intelligent college graduate. He went on a two-year road trip and ended up in Alaska. He didn't have any contact with his parents in all of that time. Krakauer does a great job of interviewing everyone who had anything to do with McCandless from his parents, when he grew up, to the people who found his body in Alaska.
He had to adapt from a normal teenager to a boy living in a Canadian wilderness. I am around the same age as Brian, but our lives are completely different. We are both very persistent in all the things we do. Brian is an important character in Hatchet because when he arrived in the forest, he used the hatchet his mother gave him and other resources around him to survive in a new environment. “I might be hit but I'm not done. I still have the hatchet and that's all I had in the first place." This quote shows Brian’s perseverance to survive. Lastly, Brian is a courageous boy who always strives to do his
Into the Wild, written by John Krakauer tells of a young man named Chris McCandless who 1deserted his college degree and all his worldly possessions in favor of a primitive transient life in the wilderness. Krakauer first told the story of Chris in an article in Outside Magazine, but went on to write a thorough book, which encompasses his life in the hopes to explain what caused him to venture off alone into the wild. McCandless’ story soon became a national phenomenon, and had many people questioning why a “young man from a well-to-do East Coast family [would] hitchhike to Alaska” (Krakauer i). Chris comes from an affluent household and has parents that strived to create a desirable life for him and his sister. As Chris grows up, he becomes more and more disturbed by society’s ideals and the control they have on everyday life. He made a point of spiting his parents and the lifestyle they lived. This sense of unhappiness continues to build until after Chris has graduated college and decided to leave everything behind for the Alaskan wilderness. Knowing very little about how to survive in the wild, Chris ventures off on his adventure in a state of naïveté. It is obvious that he possessed monumental potential that was wasted on romanticized ideals and a lack of wisdom. Christopher McCandless is a unique and talented young man, but his selfish and ultimately complacent attitude towards life and his successes led to his demise.
“I now walk into the wild” (3). It was April 1992 a young man from a rather wealthy family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness. His name was Christopher McCandless. He gave all of his savings to a charity, abandoned his car in the desert, left all his possessions, burned his money and wallet, and invented an alter ego all to shun society. Four months after his adventure, his decomposing body was found in bus 142 by a moose hunter. Into the Wild is a riveting novel about one man’s journey to find himself and live as an individual. Although, Chris McCandless may come as an ill-prepared idiot, his reasons for leaving society are rational. He wanted to leave the conformist society and blossom into his own person, he wanted to create his own story not have his story written for him, and he wanted to be happy not the world’s form of happiness.
The book Into The Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, tells the story of Chris McCandless a young man who abandoned his life in search of something more meaningful than a materialistic society. In 1992 Chris gave his $ 25,000 savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, and burned all of his money to chase his dream. Chris’s legacy was to live in simplicity, to find his purpose, and to chase his dreams. Chris McCandless’s decision to uproot his life and hitchhike to Alaska has encouraged other young adults to chase their dreams. Neal Karlinksy illustrates the love Chris had for nature in the passage, “He was intoxicated by the nature and the idea of a great Alasican adventure-to survive in the bush totally alone.”
Firstly, the retracing is the convoluted path of McCandless to pursue his faith in the Alaskan taiga. The writer uses documentary style and story dispelling to depict the boy’s hitchhike and risks in Alaska, and tries to remain emotionally detached from personal convictions. The second, the wilderness, a...
The novel “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer goes into great detail to describe the main character, Chris McCandless, who died traveling alone into the Alaskan wilderness. McCandless, whom in the novel renamed himself Alex, left his home and family to travel to Alaska in 1992. In Alaska McCandless planned to live an isolated life in the desolate wilderness, but unfortunately he did not survive. This non-fiction novel portrays his life leading up to his departure and it captures the true essence of what it means to be “in the wild”.
In the novel, A Hero’s Journey, Joseph Campbell, an American mythologist, writer, and lecturer, states that “every decision made by a young person is life decisive. What seems to be a small problem is really a large one. So everything that is done early in life is functionally related to a life trajectory” (Campbell). In mythic criticism, the critic sees mythic archetypes and imagery connecting and contrasting it with other similar works. Certain patterns emerge, such as a traditional hero on a journey towards self actualization. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer portrays this hero’s journey. The protagonist of the novel, Chris McCandless, hitchhikes to Alaska and walks alone into the wilderness, north of Mt. McKinley. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. He thought that the reality of the modern world was corrupt and uncompassionate, so he went on this journey in order to find a life of solitude and innocence that could only be expressed through his encounters with the wild. During this ambitious journey to find the true meaning of life, Chris McCandless exhibits a pattern like the type explained above. In Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, Chris McCandless follows this mythic pattern, seeking to be the traditional hero who spurns civilization, yet he discovers that modern heroes cannot escape their reality.
“Into The Wild” by John Krakauer is a non-fiction biographical novel which is based on the life of a young man, Christopher McCandless. Many readers view Christopher’s journey as an escape from his family and his old life. The setting of a book often has a significant impact on the story itself. The various settings in the book contribute to the main characters’ actions and to the theme as a whole. This can be proven by examining the impact the setting has on the theme of young manhood, the theme of survival and the theme of independent happiness.
The gripping tale of a young man who leaves all that he has and goes to live amidst the natural world, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer showcases the two years Christopher McCandless had spent journeying throughout the United States before his unfortunate death. After graduating from Emory University in 1990, McCandless disconnected with all of his past relations and abandoned the majority of his possessions. McCandless’ decisions either seem extremely unwise or extremely courageous. He had a comfortable life with few worries yet he still chose to toss it all away and venture into unknown territories. What many wonder is why he would do such an irrational thing. Maybe, McCandless’ was simply trying to run away from his perception of reality. Through deserting his family, friends, and material possessions, Christopher McCandless was attempting to escape the unavoidable condition of the world along with the mundane life ahead of him. He was escaping from the impending dreariness of his future and the idea of decisions impacting him and the people around him. Christopher McCandless appeared to believe that by going off into the wild, his life would no longer be surrounded by a shroud of uncertainty and despair.