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The “Hatchet”
Canadian wilderness is a dangerous place, there are many threats that can easily take human’s life. Firstly, there are vicious animal lives throughout the forest. From large animals like bears to small animals like skunks, from carnivores like cougars to herbivores like moose, they are all dangerous and harmful. Secondly, biting by insects such as mosquitoes and spiders can also lead to sickness or even death.
The “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen is a story about a fourteen years old boy named Brian. He is on his way from New York to Alberta to visit his dad, but on the way, the plane crushed, fortunately he survives from the plane crush, but from that moment, he has to survive in the Canadian wilderness all alone, with only a hatchet.
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In the end, Brian survives from the Canadian wilderness with his knowledge, using his knowledge he get necessities. Moreover his self-reflect skills help him make progress and avoid accident. Brian survives from the wilderness because he learns from his mistake and makes progress. Brian learns from his mistake and upgrades his shelter. After the skunk sneaks into Brian’s shelter, attacks him and steals his food, Brian decides to upgrades his shelter, to prevent the same thing. The narrator explains:” Protect food and have a good shelter. Not just a shelter to keep wind and rain out, but a shelter to protect, a shelter to make him safe. The day after the skunk he set about making a good place to live. (page 124)” Shows in the quotation.
The skunk sneaks in his shelter, it attacks Brian and takes Brian’s food, and Brian is blinded and can’t do anything. He learns from this mistake that he is only thinking to build a shelter to prevent rains, winds and large animals like bears from coming in. but he never knows that small animals like skunk and porcupine are also vicious, so he decides to upgrade his shelter, make it more solid and close the opening to prevent small animals from coming in. If he doesn’t learn anything from his mistake and doesn’t make any progress, small animals will sneaks in again and again either for food or just by accident. This will lead Brian to injuries same as when he is attacked by the porcupine and skunk, without any support, Brian could die due to bleeding, starving and also infection of its laceration. Moreover it will also lead him directly to death, if poisonous animals like snakes sneaks …show more content…
in. Brian learns from his mistake and begins to store food. After Brian is attacked by the skunk. The poisonous spray makes Brian blind for a long time, that he cannot hunt or looks for food, and the skunk also takes all his food. Therefore while Brian is cleaning his eyes he decides to store food for emergency condition. The narrator explains: “it was all right to hunt and eat, or fish and eat, but what happened if he had to go a long time without food? He needs a way to store food, a place to store food. (Page 125)” This quotation shows the skunk attacks him; it put him in a situation that Brian has no food storage and he is not able to hunt, so that he will be starving for a long time. Brian learns from this mistake, that he is only thinking about getting food at that moment, he isn’t thinking about long term, he isn’t thinking about the future, he never thinks that one day he will not able to hunt, one day there isn’t any berries left, he never thinks how to face those situations. But now he realizes, he need to store food, he need to start thinking about how to survive in a long term, because he doesn’t know how long will he be trapped in the forest. if he still stays the same, if he still doesn’t begin to store food, there are a greater chance that he will die from starving. To summarize, Brian survives because of his self-reflect skills. He learns to make a safer shelter and to begin to store food from his previous mistake. A good shelter can prevent vicious animals from coming in. Good food storage will get him ready to face any emergency situation. The other reason Brian survives is because he applies his knowledge in real life situation.
Brian sets a fire using his knowledge
Brian tries to make fire using his hatchet and the rock, but he fails every time, therefore Brian tries to recall his knowledge of how to make fire. Meanwhile the narrator explains: “ He shook his head tried to focus. What did it take? You have to have fuel, he though - and he had that, the bark was fuel. Oxygen – there had to be air. (Page 85)”
Using his knowledge from his science class, he recalls that beside fuel, it also need oxygen to make a fire, so he blows lightly when the spark lands on the tree bark, and he eventually makes the fire. Fire is one of the most important things that support him throughout his survival. It produce heat and light, which warms Brian at night and gives Brian a better vision at night, so he can protect himself from dangers. The fire also helps him avoid mosquitoes, the bumps they left are itchy, and mosquitoes can carry diseases which might make Brian sick. Moreover the fire is also use to cook meat; otherwise the rotten meat is not healthy and will make Brian sick.
Brian catches a fish using his
knowledge. Brian tries to catch a fish using his bow and arrow, but even though he aims the fish accurately every time, he never hit a single one, not even close, then when saw the arrow bended in the water, he remembered something he learned from his science class. The narrator explains: “Of course, he had forgotten that water refract, bend light. He had learned that somewhere in some class, they were lower, just below, which meant he had to aim just under him. After recalls the knowledge, he aims just below the fish, and the arrow ends up hitting the fish. The skill of catching fish is important to Brian because fish is a stable food source, the fishes in the lake will not run out very soon. Before catching fish, Brian’s foods are raspberries and turtle eggs, but those will run out in a short period of time. Without enough food, without enough energy, Brian won’t be able to do anything; he will be starving and die. In conclusion, Brian uses his knowledge to survive. He grasps the skills of making fire and catching fish using his knowledge. Fire and food source are two essential things that supports Brian’s survival, these are thing that he cannot live with. Therefore, Brian survives because he uses his knowledge to solve problems and he learns from his mistake and makes progress, to prevent it from happening again. Brian learns from his trials and errors to upgrade his shelter to make it safer and more solid. He also learns from his mistake to begin to store food for a long term survival and emergency situation. Brian grasps the skills for making fire using his knowledge which makes him safer at night. He also grasps the skills of catching fish using his knowledge, which provide him a stable food source that can support him for a long time. Nevertheless, the “Hatchet” teaches that, people should always self-reflect and learn from its trials and errors after a failure, instead of getting frustrate and do nothing. For example, there is a quote by John Dewey, “Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failure as from his success.” After reading this book, people should apply the self-reflect skill in their real life, because they can only get advantage out of it.
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.
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
At first, Brian gets on an small airplane to go to his father who works in Northern Canada oil field. However, the captain of an airplane suddenly died because his heart stopped by an accident. It was a sudden cardiac death. So, he dropped at a lake in the forest. He made a forced landing. And he started to use his hatchet to survive himself in a desert island. However, he dropped his hatchet in a lake. When a tornado came to him, he
When the pilot found him, the old Brian would have not been very patient to get on the plane and go home, but now he is kind and patient, because I think he realizes that the pilot has probably just saved his life, and he really owes the pilot. In chapter 19, the text says “He looked at the pilot and the plane, and down at himself - dirty and ragged, burned and lean and tough - and he coughed to clear his throat. ‘My name is Brian Robeson,’ he said. Then he saw that his stew was done, the peach whip almost done, and he waved to it with his hand. ‘Would you like something to eat?’” This quote really shows that he has grown as a person and has gained kindness and patience. Before this experience, he would’ve not said anything and just got on the plane and whined to go home. Now, he is inviting him to eat, showing that he is waiting, so he is more patient, and by offering the pilot something it shows that he is
A major lesson that Brian learned during his time in the wilderness is to prevent simple mistakes and if it's inevitable then learn everything you can. In Hatchet Brian wakes up to a skunk trying to steal all of his food, Brian is alarmed because it's one of his only valuable sources of food. When Brian sees the skunk trying to get all of his food he gets startled and throws sand at it, but this just enrages the skunk, and then the skunk sprays Brian. It was a very simple mistake but the skunk only has one drive, survival, and that means
in the Canadian Shield there are many types of living organisms living in it, such as moose, black bears, grizzly bears, wolves, foxes, beavers, minks, martens, wolverines, lynxes, wood buffalo, woodland caribou, shrews, weasels and hares, these animals live here because they can find enough food, water and shelter in the Canadian Shield
Just like in “Hatchet” a adventure story about a boy who is in a plane to visit hiss father when the plane crashes and he is left in the woods to survive on his own with nobody to help him by Gary Paulsen HIs plane crashes in the canadian north woods and every day he made a mistake and he never made the same mistake again because he learned from his mistakes and adapted. Just like the other characters will. Another story is “middle
Although fire is linked to human life, as it is essential for survival, not only its use for food, security and warmth, particularly in the extreme cold weather
Main Theme: The story Hatchet’s theme is determination, perseverance and survival. Brian Robeson, whose parents are divorced, flies to visit his father in Canadian wilderness. His pilot has a heart attack and dies. Brian managed to land the plane in a lake, and escape unharmed. Now comes the hard part, surviving in the wilderness until rescued. He does have one tool to help him, a hatchet that his mother had given him as a gift. He will have to use it, his own determination, imagination, perseverance and common sense to survive.
A novel has the ability to explore the characters, growth and change. The book "Hatchet" is a short story in which Gary Paulsen, the author, presents it in an often-unheard survival skill by young adults. Brian Robinson, a 13-year-old-kid, is the main character of Hatchet who experiences the joy of nature rather than loneliness after his plane crashed in the wilderness of Canada. Fighting to survive, Brian positivity, wisdom and perseverance kept him alive.
The grizzly bear trophy hunt is an issue regarding the citizens of Canada who immorally hunt and kill grizzly bears for pride, thrill, and trophy. Many people question whether this is morally acceptable as hunters kill without a conscience. Grizzly bears are vital to Canada’s environment, as they are essential to maintaining a healthy ecosystem. As keystone species, they regulate prey, disperse seeds of plants,and aerate soil to maintain forest health. Due to the vulnerability and over-hunting of grizzly bears, Pacific Wild and many other non-profit organizations, are working to protect wildlife in British Columbia, especially the grizzly bear habitat.
The sentencing of underage criminals has remained a logistical and moral issue in the world for a very long time. The issue is brought to our perspective in the documentary Making a Murderer and the audio podcast Serial. When trying to overcome this issue, we ask ourselves, “When should juveniles receive life sentences?” or “Should young inmates be housed with adults?” or “Was the Supreme Court right to make it illegal to sentence a minor to death?”. There are multiple answers to these questions, and it’s necessary to either take a moral or logical approach to the problem.
He knows he must land the plane, so he decides that he will let the plane run out of fuel and hope he makes it to the destination. The thing Brain didn’t know was what direction the pilot was traveling. Eventually the plane crashed and just as he had planned, he aimed and landed in the lake. Brian was in so much pain from injuries sustained during the crash that he couldn’t even move. Finally, when he had the strength to walk and the motivation from his English teacher, Perpich, to explore he knew he had to find food and get some sort of shelter for the night. First he assembled his gear, mostly clothes, and a hatchet his mother gave him. Next he looks around for some kind of natural structure he can use for housing, he finds a rock ledge just off the beach so he can stay with a water source. Finally he searches for food, he walks down the shore line and gathers some berries in deep brush, then makes it home just before night fall. The next morning he went to get more berries when he encounters a huge black bear. The bear acts as if Brian wasn’t even there, and surprisingly walks away. As if a bear meeting isn’t enough, he meets a porcupine that night and he is struck in the leg. He now notices that he needs a fire to keep away unwanted guests, as well as a source of heat and a way to cook meat, so that night he successfully creates a fire. One night a tornado comes
To Build a Fire is a remarkable account of one man’s finish line. In it this story holds quite a few rather important morals. There is as well a very important theme. The theme most referred to is that of the power of nature. The force that it can display on earth is immense and cannot be duplicated or overpowered by humans. However one man decided he would be the one prove this axiom wrong. One man became totally confident that he can and will withstand the awesome mighty strength of nature.
Fire begins with an idea of a spark. Then the spark is made and with the