Chapter 2 · Hatchet

Copywork

Everything in him rebelled against stopping the engine and falling now. He had a vague feeling that he was wrong to keep heading as the plane was heading, a feeling that he might be going off in the wrong direction, but he could not bring himself to stop the engine and fall.

Read the passage aloud. What do you hear in the way the first sentence is short and the next keeps going?

Discussion

Narration Tell the chapter back in order: from the pilot's collapse, through the radio calls and Brian's plan for landing, to the moment the engine dies.

Brian's mind screams at the pilot, "Be asleep." What might that wish do for him just then? Character
Paulsen puts the hardest moments in single words, like "Hit." and "Period." Why might he write them that way? Author's choice
Brian screams into the radio and hears only his own voice. What does that moment show about being afraid? Theme
Brian could bring the plane down now or let it fly on. What might each choice cost him? Inference
Brian feels like a prisoner in a small cell hurtling through the sky. What does that picture help us feel? Tone

Make a Connection Tell about a time you had to choose between two hard options and did not know which was right.

Vocabulary

rebelled: Everything in him rebelled against stopping the engine and falling now. Pushed back hard against something.
vague: He had a vague feeling that he was wrong to keep heading as the plane was heading Not clear or certain.
prisoner: He felt like a prisoner, kept in a small cell A person who is kept in and cannot leave.
hurtling: a small cell that was hurtling through the sky Rushing along very fast.
hopeless: All so hopeless. Having no chance of getting better.
visualize: He tried to visualize it. To picture something in the mind.
rehearsed: rehearsed mentally again and again what his procedure should be Practiced something ahead of time.
impact: slow the plane down to reduce the impact. The hard hit when one thing strikes another.
intervals: He repeated the radio call seventeen times at the ten-minute intervals Spaces of time between things.

Critical thinking

Using two pieces of evidence, explain how much Brian really knows about flying this plane.
Brian does not want to touch the pilot, but he does. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what pushes him to do it.
Brian keeps calling every ten minutes on the radio. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what that routine gives him.