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Hatchet
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Brian admits he has never heard anybody say the woods are full of berry bushes, yet he feels it should be true and goes looking. Is that feeling a help to him, or a risk?
The tension Brian's hunger makes him want berries to exist, while he knows he has nothing but a feeling to go on.
Notice how Brian goes after food with a feeling, a few borrowed memories, and a plan to stay in sight of the lake.
Brian remembers a game he and Terry played, then sets out to build a shelter and finds a stone overhang by the lake. Hunger makes him think of a family Thanksgiving, and he tries to remember how people eat in the wild. He follows birds to a thicket of red berries and eats until he cannot stop. After a failed try at fire, he weaves a wall across the front of the ledge and goes to sleep with his stomach turning.
Start with the berries. Ask how Brian knew to look for them, and how sure he really was.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the game with Terry, the overhang, the Thanksgiving memory, the berries, the failed fire, and the wall.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes three sentences in the same pattern: a short one about being surprised, a short one comparing the find to something else, and a longer one with detail.
Debate Take sides on the big question: is Brian's feeling that the berries should exist a help to him or a risk? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Paulsen shows how Brian finds the berries before he shows what they do to him.
Easier Read the berry hunt aloud together and talk through discussion questions 4 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 acts on something he only half remembers, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Brian wishes Terry were here with "a gun and a knife and some matches." What does that wish show about the game the two boys once played?Inference
What it asks It asks what the old game of pretending to be lost shows about how Brian once saw the woods, and how the real thing differs.
The game was make-believe, so the hard parts were left out.
they pretended that they were lost in the woods and talked in the afternoon about what they would do
Of course they figured they'd have all sorts of goodies like a gun and a knife and fishing gear and matches
The game gave him a real plan, and he still uses part of it.
In the park that time they had decided the best shelter was a lean-to and Brian set out now to make one up.
A strong answer In the game the boys gave themselves a gun, a knife, fishing gear and matches, so being lost was easy. Now Brian has none of them, and the wish for Terry shows how big the gap is. But the game also taught him something he uses: they decided a lean-to was the best shelter, and he sets out to make one. A strong answer weighs the make-believe against the plan that stayed with him.
2. In the middle of Brian's hunger, Paulsen gives us a Thanksgiving dinner with his father. Why might he put that memory here?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the memory does at this point in the chapter: sharpen the hunger, show what Brian has lost, or both.
It sharpens the hunger by showing how much food used to be there.
He was so used to having food just be there, just always being there.
His mouth was full of saliva and his stomach was twisting and growling.
It shows what Brian has lost besides food: a family meal with his father.
last Thanksgiving they had as a family before his mother demanded the divorce and his father moved out in the following January
When his father took the lid off, smiling, the smell that had come out was unbelievable
A strong answer The memory makes the hunger worse: Brian's mouth fills with saliva and his stomach twists, so he has to make himself stop. But it is also the last Thanksgiving the family had together, with his father smiling over the barbecue. So Paulsen may be placing it here to show both how much food Brian is missing and how much else is missing too. A strong answer says what the memory does for the reader and gives a reason from the text.
3. When thoughts of his mother push in, Brian tells himself he "Had to stop that kind of thinking." What might that save him, and what might it cost?Character
What it asks It asks what pushing a hard thought away gives Brian and what it takes from him.
It saves his strength for what has to be done before dark.
Had to stop that kind of thinking. The sun was still high and that meant that he had some time before darkness to find berries.
It costs him, because the hate keeps coming back.
Hot little jets of hate worked into his thoughts, pushed once, moved back.
If his mother hadn't begun to see him and forced the divorce, Brian wouldn't be here now.
A strong answer Pushing the thought away keeps Brian focused: the sun is still high and he has berries to find before dark. But the chapter says jets of hate pushed once and moved back, which suggests the thought is waiting. He does not settle his feelings, he only sets them aside for now. A strong answer says what the push saves and what it might cost him later, and does not decide which matters more.
4. Brian swallows the berries "pits and all" and eats too many. Was that foolish, or all he could do?Moral reasoning
What it asks It asks whether Brian's eating was a poor choice or the natural result of how hungry he was.
It was foolish: he should have slowed down, and he pays for it.
Too many berries, he thought. I ate too many of them.
He almost spit them out.
It was all he could do: the hunger left him no room to choose.
there was such a hunger on him, such an emptiness, that he could not stop
Two days without food must have shrunken his stomach
A strong answer The berries are tart and full of large pits, and Brian nearly spits them out, so he has reason to slow down. Later his stomach rolls and he admits he ate too many. But the chapter also says such a hunger was on him that he could not stop, and two days without food has shrunk his stomach. A strong answer decides whether this was foolish or understandable and says what the hunger changes.
5. Brian almost thinks of the shelter as "home." What does the chapter show about what makes a place feel like home?Theme
What it asks It asks what turns a rock ledge into something Brian almost calls home: the safety it gives or the work he put into it.
A place feels like home when it keeps the worst away.
Wrapped in the jacket, with darkness coming down fast now, he crawled back in under the rock and huddled and tried to sleep.
A place feels like home when it is yours: you chose it and built it.
With these he interlaced and wove a wall across the opening of the front of the rock.
when he went in he found himself in a room almost fifteen feet long and eight to ten feet deep
A strong answer Brian crawls under the rock when the dark comes, so safety is part of it. But he also spent over two hours weaving a wall across the opening and found himself in a room fifteen feet long, so the work is part of it too. A strong answer picks what seems to matter more, safety or making the place yourself, and gives a reason from the chapter.
1. Using two pieces of evidence, explain why the stone overhang is a good place for Brian's shelter.
What it asks It asks what the overhang gives Brian: what the rock itself offers and what its place by the lake offers.
The rock itself does the hard work: it gives a roof and keeps him dry.
it was smooth and made a perfect roof and he could almost stand in under the ledge
dry because the overhang made a watertight roof
Its place suits him: it is close to the water he needs and where he might be seen.
He wanted to stay near the lake because he thought the plane, even deep in the water, might show up to somebody flying over
a small sand beach that went down to the edge of the water
A strong answer The overhang gives Brian a ready-made roof: it is smooth, nearly high enough to stand under, and watertight, so he only has to wall off part of it. It also sits by the lake, where he has water and where he thinks a plane might see the wreck. A strong answer picks what matters most and uses two different moments, such as the roof and the lake.
2. Brian decides to keep the lake or the ridge in sight while he hunts for berries. Using two pieces of evidence, explain why.
What it asks It asks what Brian fears when he plans to stay in sight of the lake: getting lost, the dark, or both.
He fears getting lost, since he knows nothing of this land except the lake and the ridge.
he didn't want to get lost—which was a real problem
if he lost sight of them there was a really good chance that he would get turned around and not find his way back
He fears the dark, so he wants to be near shelter before night.
He didn't want to be anywhere in the woods when it came to be dark.
A strong answer Brian knows only the lake, the hill at his back, and the ridge, so if he loses sight of them he might get turned around and not find his way back. He also does not want to be anywhere in the woods when dark comes. A strong answer picks the fear that seems larger and backs it with two different moments.
3. Brian rubs two sticks together and gets no fire. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what he does with that failure.
What it asks It asks how Brian responds when his idea for a fire does not work: whether he turns to something else or keeps wishing.
He lets the idea go and gets on with what he can do.
After ten minutes of rubbing he felt the sticks and they were almost cool to the touch.
So no fire. But he could still fix the shelter
The lack stays with him: he is surrounded by firewood and still has no way to light it.
There was driftwood everywhere, not to mention dead and dry wood all over the hill
All firewood. And no matches.
A strong answer Brian tries it for ten minutes, feels the sticks, and finds them almost cool. He throws them down in disgust, says so no fire, and turns to the shelter, which he can improve. But the chapter also shows how much firewood is lying around, so the lack of matches stays sharp. A strong answer says what he does with the failure and uses two different moments.