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Hatchet
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Brian was certain the spear would work, and it failed. Then he is just as certain, after a plane turns away, that he will never get out. How far should we trust his certainty?
The tension Brian's habit of turning each failure into a new plan collides with the flat certainty, after one plane fades, that nothing will ever work.
Notice how sure Brian is at each turn: about the spear, about the plane, and about what the plane's turning away means.
The fish spear fails, though Brian spent hours making it. He decides a bow and arrow might work, eats a turtle egg at camp, and goes up the lake for wood, stopping to eat berries on the way. A bird bursts from under his feet, and then he hears a plane. He runs to the bluff and lights the signal fire, but the sound fades away, and Brian ends on his knees, sure that no one will come.
Start with the two things Brian is sure of: the spear and the plane. Ask what he saw or heard each time before he was sure.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the spear, the idea of the bow, the bird, the plane, the run to the bluff, and the fire.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern: a short one about something sudden, then a longer one about trying to see it.
Debate Take sides on the big question: how far should we trust Brian's certainty? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Paulsen ends the chapter with Brian sure that no one will come.
Easier Read the plane scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 3 and 5 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 is sure of something, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Brian thinks discoveries happened "because they needed to happen." What might make him believe that, and does it hold up?Theme
What it asks It asks whether Brian's idea about need and invention is a real insight or a comfort he gives himself after a failure.
It is a real insight: the failed spear shows him exactly what he needs, and the bow comes to him at once.
He needed something to spring the spear forward, some way to make it move faster than the fish—some motive force.
That was it.
It is a comfort: needing a bow does not give him one, and he has never made one.
he had never made a bow, never shot a bow in his life
Not sure what he was looking for, not knowing what wood might be best for a bow
A strong answer Brian's idea fits what just happened: the spear was too slow, so he needs something that moves faster than the fish, and a bow does that. But he is also hopeful in a way that skips a step, since he has never made a bow or shot one. A strong answer can say the idea is a sound way to think and still ask whether need alone gets him a bow, and it does not have to decide which is stronger.
2. Brian says his hunger now is "A hunger to make him hunt." What do you think he means?Character
What it asks It asks what changes when hunger stops tearing at Brian and starts pushing him to look and act.
The hunger now drives him to act: it makes him look and plan.
a hunger that made him look for things, see things
The spear went out before him automatically, moving the brush away from his face as he walked
It is a lasting ache he has learned to live with, not a gift.
This was hunger that he knew would be there always, even when he had food
He hadn't thought he would ever be full again, knew only the hunger, and here he was full.
A strong answer The old hunger tore at Brian; this one, he says, will be there always, even when he has food. What changes is its job: it makes him look for things, see things, and hunt, and the spear moves ahead of him on its own as he walks. A strong answer says whether this new hunger is more a help or a burden, and keeps both sides in view.
3. While he runs for the fire, Brian pictures the pilot, the landing and supper with his father. Why might his mind run so far ahead?Inference
What it asks It asks what the long daydream does for Brian while he runs, and what it shows about how much he has been holding in.
It gives him strength: the picture is what lifts his legs.
He put all of his life into his legs, jumped logs and moved through brush like a light ghost
all as he ran in the sun, his legs liquid springs
It shows how long he has wanted rescue, and how little it takes to flood him.
and the pilot would be amazed that he was alive after all these days
this very night, he would sit with his father and eat and tell him all the things
A strong answer Brian has only a faraway engine to go on, yet he sees the whole rescue: the smoke, the circling plane, the pilot amazed, supper with his father that very night. The picture may be what gives his legs their spring, or it may show how long the wish has waited to be let out. A strong answer says what the daydream does for him in that moment, and notices that none of it has happened yet.
4. The chapter begins with a failed spear and ends with a gone plane. How are the two failures alike, and how are they different?Plot structure
What it asks It asks the student to set the two failures side by side and see what the chapter does with each.
The first failure shows Brian can recover, which makes the second look like a different kind of loss.
A string that snapped—or a bow. A bow and arrow.
Gone, he thought finally, it was all gone.
The two follow one pattern: he is sure, then let down, so the second is the first made bigger.
He had been so sure, so absolutely certain that it would work the night before.
That had been a search plane. He was sure of it.
A strong answer After the spear fails, Brian thinks at once of a bow and arrow, so the failure turns into a new plan. After the plane fades he goes down on his knees and calls all of it silly. Both times he was sure and both times he was let down, but the second leaves him with no next step. A strong answer says how the two are alike and different, and what the order does for the reader.
5. Brian whispers, "Look back," while the sound fades. Why might Paulsen stretch out that moment instead of cutting straight to his despair?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the slow fading of the sound does to the reader before Brian gives up.
It lets the reader hope along with Brian, so the loss is felt as he feels it.
Look back, he thought. Look back and see the smoke now and turn, please turn.
Oh, turn now and come back, look back and see the smoke and turn for me....
It shows hope dying in stages, not all at once.
seeing his father's face fade like the sound, like lost dreams, like an end to hope
But it kept moving away until he could not hear it even in his imagination, in his soul.
A strong answer Paulsen lets the sound go away a little at a time while Brian pleads, so the reader hopes with him and then loses it with him. The fading also shows hope ending in stages: the pictures fade, his father's face fades, and at last he cannot hear the engine even in his imagination. A strong answer says what stretching the moment does and gives a reason from the chapter.
1. A bird bursts from under Brian's feet. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how he goes from terrified to planning.
What it asks It asks the student to follow how a sudden scare turns into a plan, and what pulls on Brian along the way.
He turns the scare into a plan to hunt the bird.
And caught it, he thought, and eaten it.
He might be able to catch one, or spear one.
A memory of food pulls him off course, and he has to drive it out.
Just like chicken when his mother baked it in the oven with garlic and salt and it turned golden brown and crackled
He shook his head to drive the picture out and moved down to the shore.
A strong answer The bird makes Brian fall back and down, but once he is up and brushed off he sees it as food: he might catch one, or spear one. Then a memory of chicken baked in the oven pulls him away, and he shakes his head to drive the picture out and moves on to the shore. A strong answer says how the scare becomes a plan and uses two different moments.
2. Brian looks for wood to make a bow. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how he decides which wood is right.
What it asks It asks the student to see how Brian judges the wood when he has never made a bow, and what he does once he finds it.
He tests how it moves: springy is not enough, it needs snap.
He saw some young birch, and they were springy, but they lacked snap somehow, as did the willows. Not enough whip-back.
when he pulled on one of them and let go it had an almost vicious snap to it
He works carefully, because he knows he could ruin the wood.
The wood was hard and he didn't want to cause it to split so he took his time, took small chips
A strong answer Brian has never made a bow, so he tests: the young birch and willows are springy but lack snap, while one long branch has an almost vicious snap when he pulls it and lets go. Then he takes his time and small chips so the hard wood will not split. A strong answer says what he looks for and uses two different moments.
3. Brian calls all his work "silly" and "just a game." Using two pieces of evidence, explain whether you think it was.
What it asks It asks the student to weigh the care Brian put into his work against how he sees it once the plane is gone.
It was not silly: he put real care and skill into it.
Sitting by the fire he had taken the willow and carefully peeled the bark until he had a straight staff about six feet long
He had worked on the fish spear until it had become more than just a tool.
It feels silly to him because all of it rests on being found someday.
He could do a day, but not forever—he could not make it if they did not come for him someday.
He could not play the game without hope; could not play the game without a dream.
A strong answer The work was not silly: Brian peeled the willow into a straight staff and worked on the spear until it was more than just a tool. But he says he could do a day and not forever, and could not play the game without hope or a dream, so what feels silly is work with nothing to wait for. A strong answer says whether the work was silly and what Brian would need for it not to be.