The Three Novels Of Gary Faulsen And Hatchet By Gary Paulsen

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I have spent much of my free time this semester reading and analyzing three novels for my English class. One book in my opinion stands out among the others. The three books had some similarities between them, but the books also had quite a few differences. Through those similarities and differences I have concluded that Hatchet is by far my favorite. It was also the easiest to follow and in a weird way relate to.
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen is a novel about a young boy’s survival. According to randomhouse.com Gary Paulsen is one of Americas most popular writers to young people. Most of his books aredirected more towards young readers than any other age group. At the age of 14 Gary ran away from home to travel with a carnival.Gary had many jobs before realizing that his real calling was for him to be a writer. Gary’s books have a lot to do with adventure and survival. I think his past childhood gives him such a creative way of details just from a standpoint of he was on his own at such an early age.
Hatchet is about a young boy 13 years old by the name of Brian Robeson. Brian is the protagonists of the novel. Brian is from the states and is going through a life transition. The transition has to do with his parents going through a divorce and he is carrying a secret that his mother is having an affair. Brian keeps this secret about his mother throughout the whole book. He is on a plane going to visit his dad in a part of Canada when the pilot suffers a heart attack. In mid-flight the pilot dies. So Brian is forced to try to land the plane on his own. Brian eventually crashes the plane in the North Canadian woods, and is now stranded all alone in the middle of the woods. This is all set into setting the major themes of the novel by ...

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... a boy to a man. These themes appear all throughout the novel.
Gary Paulsen uses a variety of sentence structures throughout the novel to maximize effect. But Gary uses this to different kinds of effect. Gary uses a mix of sentence fragments and short sentences "Maybe even today. They might come by today. This was the second day after the crash. No. Brian frowned." (44). Gary Paulsen uses this structure in sentences to keep you interested in what Brian is thinking in his mind about his rescue. Gary also uses a series of one word paragraphs "Divorce. The Secret. Fights. Split." (5). Gary uses this method to really single out what is going through Brians mind, and how its affecting him mentally.
I would most definitely recommend this novel to those who like adventure. This novel is non-stop adventure filled novel staring a young boy against Mother Nature herself.

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