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Hatchet
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Brian tells himself he must change to live out here, then scolds himself for forgetting the searchers. Are changing and hoping to be found the same work, or do they pull against each other?
The tension Brian grows more capable with every task, yet the more he gets done, the easier it is to forget the people he is waiting for.
Notice how Brian grows more capable, and what he starts to forget as he does.
Brian cannot leave his new fire. He builds a huge woodpile, finds that smoke keeps off the mosquitoes, and sees he could make a signal. In the night the fire nearly goes out. In the morning he finds strange tracks, digs up seventeen eggs, and eats six raw. He decides to save the rest, and he realizes he has forgotten the searchers.
Start with the "city boy" moment. Ask what Brian sees about himself and what he does next.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the fire, the woodpile, the night, the tracks, the eggs, and the searchers.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern: a short one about what someone does not do, then a long one that repeats a word to build toward what they must do.
Debate Take sides on the big question: are changing and hoping to be found the same work, or do they pull against each other? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Paulsen ends with Brian remembering the searchers just after his best day.
Easier Read the tracks scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 1 and 2 only.
On level Talk through all five discussion questions, then have the student write one critical-thinking answer with two pieces of evidence from the chapter.
Harder Ask the student to find one more place where Brian's work and his hope seem to pull in different directions, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Brian smiles at himself as a "city boy" trying to read the tracks. What is he really laughing at?Character
What it asks It asks whether Brian is laughing at how little he knows or at something he is starting to see in himself.
He is laughing at his own city habits, which do not help him here.
City boy, he thought. Oh, you city boy with your city ways
City boy with your city ways sitting in the sand trying to read the tracks and not knowing, not understanding.
He is laughing because he can already see a better way to think, and he starts using it.
It had come up from the water for a reason, and the reason, he thought, squatting
he carefully kept scraping and digging until, about four inches down, he suddenly came into a small chamber
A strong answer Brian first wonders if some animal came up to play in the sand, and then he laughs at himself: a city boy reading tracks the way a city boy would. But the laugh does not stop him. He decides animals do not waste time that way, so there must be a reason, and he digs until he finds the eggs. A strong answer says what he laughs at and what the laugh leads him to do.
2. Brian turns away from the eggs so he cannot see them. Was that wise, or just hard on himself?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks whether holding back from the eggs is good sense or needless suffering for a starving boy.
It was wise: he saves the eggs to eat one a day.
If he looked at them he would have to eat more.
He would store them in the shelter and eat only one a day.
It was hard on himself: he is starving and could easily have eaten them all.
He ate six of them, could have easily eaten all of them and not been full
The eggs had awakened it fully, roaringly, so that it tore at him.
A strong answer There are seventeen eggs and Brian has just eaten six, so if he eats on he will have none left. Turning away is a way to make himself keep them, and saving them looks wise when he has no other food. But the hunger tears at him, and the chapter shows how hard it is to stop. A strong answer says what holding back saves and what it costs.
3. Paulsen shows the turtle only through a noise in the night and strange tracks. Why might he keep the animal out of sight?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the reader gains from solving the tracks with Brian, instead of being told what made them.
It makes us puzzle with Brian, so we see him think.
He walked over and squatted near them, studied them, tried to make sense of them.
Some kind of water animal that came up to die sand to... to do what?
It echoes the porcupine night and keeps us uneasy until the surprise turns out to be food.
It was not unlike the sound of the porcupine, something slithering and being dragged across the sand
he laughed then because he knew
A strong answer The reader hears only a dragging sound in the dark and later sees strange tracks that lead to a small pile of sand. We get the clue the way Brian does, and we watch him study and think. The same sound as the porcupine also makes us uneasy until Brian laughs because he knows. A strong answer says what the delay does for the reader and gives a reason from the chapter.
4. Brian forgets to think about the searchers while he works. What makes them so easy to forget?Inference
What it asks It asks what in Brian's days pushes the searchers out of his mind, and what the forgetting shows.
Work and hunger fill his mind, so there is no room left.
he spent all the rest of the afternoon into dusk making wood trips
More than eggs, more than knowledge, more than anything this was food.
He is starting to feel he can manage, so waiting feels less urgent.
thought for the first time since the crash that he might be getting a handle on things
he had the fire now and plenty of wood so he wasn't as worried as he had been the night before
A strong answer Brian is busy from morning to dusk with the fire and the wood, and when the eggs come, hunger fills every thought. He also feels for the first time that he might be getting a handle on things, so the waiting stops feeling like his only job. A strong answer names what crowds the searchers out and says what that shows about how Brian feels.
5. The fire cuts the night chill, drives off mosquitoes and can make a signal. Which gift matters most to Brian, do you think?Theme
What it asks It asks the student to rank what the fire gives Brian and explain why one gift counts most.
Comfort matters most: warmth, sleep and freedom from mosquitoes.
The mosquitoes had nearly driven him mad and the thought of being rid of them lifted his spirits.
The fire cut the night coolness and settled him back into sleep
The signal matters most: it is his best chance of being found.
he now had the means to make a signal
He could carry a burning stick and build a signal fire on top of the rock
A strong answer The mosquitoes had nearly driven Brian mad, so being rid of them lifts his spirits, and the fire also settles him into sleep. But the signal is different in kind, because it is a way to be found. A strong answer picks one, gives Brian's words for it, and says what the other gift does for him.
1. Brian stacks a huge pile of wood before dark. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how he plans ahead.
What it asks It asks the student to find where Brian looks ahead to the night, and what he thinks of that the day before did not.
He plans for the dark: he knows he cannot gather wood then.
It would be almost impossible to find wood in the dark so he had to have it all in and cut and stacked before the sun went down.
He would need a large woodpile to get through the night.
He plans for the fire itself: he keeps it fed while he works.
Brian made certain the fire was banked with new wood
Between trips he added small pieces to the fire to keep it going
A strong answer Brian thinks ahead in two ways. He knows he could not find wood in the dark, so he must have it all cut and stacked before the sun goes down, and he sees that he needs a large woodpile to get through the night. He also keeps the fire banked and adds pieces between trips so it will not die while he works. A strong answer names the planning and gives two different moments.
2. Brian has never eaten a raw egg. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how he gets the first one down.
What it asks It asks what lets Brian do what he did not want to do: hunger, or his own reasoning, or both.
Hunger wins over disgust.
As his stomach moved toward his backbone he became less and less fussy.
His throat tried to throw it back up, his whole body seemed to convulse with it, but his stomach took it, held it, and demanded more.
He talks himself into it with comparisons and a trick.
Some natives in the world ate grasshoppers and ants and if they could do that he could get a raw egg down.
brought the egg to his mouth and closed his eyes and sucked and squeezed the egg at the same time and swallowed as fast as he could
A strong answer Brian remembers his uncle and almost loses everything he has ever eaten, so the egg is not easy. But as his stomach moves toward his backbone he becomes less fussy, he tells himself that people eat grasshoppers and ants, and he closes his eyes and swallows as fast as he can. A strong answer says what mostly gets the egg down and backs it with two different moments.
3. In the night the fire almost goes out. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what Brian does about it.
What it asks It asks the student to see what Brian does about the near miss: first how he saves the fire, and then how he plans for next time.
He acts in the moment: he finds the coals and builds the fire back up.
he stirred with a piece of wood and found a bed of coals still glowing hot and red
With small pieces of wood and careful blowing he soon had a blaze going again.
He thinks about next time: he plans to sleep in short stretches.
It had been close.
He had to be sure to try and sleep in short intervals so he could keep the fire going
A strong answer Brian wakes to a fire that has burned down, stirs it, finds a bed of coals still glowing, and brings it back with small pieces of wood and careful blowing. Then he thinks ahead: it had been close, so he must sleep in short intervals. A strong answer says what he does and what he decides, using two different moments.