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Hatchet
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Brian's brain tells him the bear did not want him, and he goes back to the raspberries because they are so good. Does he understand the bear, or does his hunger decide for him?
The tension Brian's calm reasoning that the bear meant no harm pulls against how badly he wants that reasoning to be true.
Notice how Brian reasons about the bear, and what hunger is doing to that reasoning.
Brian wakes in the night with terrible pain from the berries, then remembers the kiss he saw in the station wagon. In the morning he cleans up, eats carefully, and sees his face in the lake. He finds raspberries, meets a bear, runs and stops himself, and goes back to pick. Rain drives him into the shelter, and he sleeps with the hatchet by his head.
Start with the bear. Ask what Brian does in the first moments, and what his brain says to him after he runs.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the sick night, the lake in the morning, the raspberries, the bear, the rain, and the hatchet by his head.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern: what a creature did not do, then what it did, using "you".
Debate Take sides on the big question: does Brian understand the bear, or does his hunger decide for him? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Paulsen lets Brian's brain talk to him in the second person after the bear.
Easier Read the bear scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 2 and 4 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 talks himself into or out of something, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. In the worst of the pain, Brian cries out "Mother, mother, mother..." Why might that be the word he reaches for?Character
What it asks It asks why Brian calls for his mother at the moment he is hurt most, and what that shows about how he feels about her.
A boy in terrible pain calls for the person who comforts him.
Mother, mother, mother...
pain that doubled him in the darkness of the little shelter
The word is tangled up with the Secret, which comes back right after.
his mind decided then to bring the memory up again
His mother sitting in the station wagon with the man.
A strong answer In the worst pain of his life Brian does not call for his father or the pilot or anyone else; he calls for his mother, again and again. That can be the plain cry of a hurt boy for comfort. But the same night his mind brings back the kiss he saw in the station wagon, so the word may hold more than one feeling. A strong answer says what the cry shows and keeps in mind that the chapter does not explain it.
2. Brian's legs run before his mind has decided anything. What does that show about fear?Theme
What it asks It asks what the chapter shows about how fear acts compared with how thinking acts.
Fear acts first and thinking catches up later.
a thing happened with his legs, a thing he had nothing to do with, and they were running in the opposite direction from the bear
after he had gone perhaps fifty yards his brain took over and slowed and, finally, stopped him
Thinking can calm fear, though it takes a while to arrive.
It is something to understand, he thought, not something to run away from.
The bear was eating berries.
A strong answer Brian does not decide to run; the chapter says his legs ran in a way he had nothing to do with. Only after fifty yards does his brain take over, slow him, and stop him. So fear acts first and thinking comes second. But thinking does arrive, and it turns the bear into something to understand. A strong answer says what each one does and which seems stronger in this scene.
3. Brian feels "rich with food" just before the bear appears. Why might Paulsen put those two moments side by side?Author's choice
What it asks It asks what the author gains by placing Brian's happiest moment right against his biggest scare.
It shows how quickly safety can vanish.
thinking he was rich, rich with food now, just rich, and he heard a noise to his rear, a slight noise, and he turned and saw the bear
It ties food and danger together, since the berries Brian wants are the bear's food too.
eating berries as it rolled along
The bear was eating berries.
A strong answer Brian has just filled his stomach and feels rich, rich with food, when the sound comes from behind him. The nearness makes the scare hit harder, as if the good moment were a trap. It also shows something shared: the bear is after the same berries. A strong answer says what the nearness does for the reader and gives a reason from the chapter.
4. After the bear leaves, Brian's brain says it "did not want you." What in the scene backs that up?Inference
What it asks It asks the student to look at what the bear actually does, and to weigh how much that proves about what the bear wants.
The bear's actions show it meant no harm.
The bear made no move to hurt you, to threaten you.
then lowered itself and moved slowly to the left, eating berries as it rolled along
Brian cannot be sure, because the bear could have hurt him and he could do nothing.
It just walked up to him and could have eaten him and he could have done nothing.
not twenty feet from him and big
A strong answer The bear stands, studies Brian, and then moves off eating berries, so it never moves to hurt him. That backs up Brian's thought. But the bear was not twenty feet away, and the chapter says it could have eaten him and he could have done nothing. A strong answer says what the bear's actions show, and how much that proves about what the bear wanted.
5. The chapter opens with Brian screaming for his mother and ends with him wondering about the bear. What has shifted in him?Plot structure
What it asks It asks the student to compare Brian at the start of the chapter with Brian at the end, and decide what has changed.
He has turned outward: he is thinking about another creature, not only himself.
he was not thinking of himself, of his own life
Brian was wondering if the bear was as
He is steadier but still on guard, and the fear has not gone.
While he had accepted and understood that the bear did not want to hurt him, it was still much in his thoughts
put it by his head, his hand on the handle, as the day caught up with him and he slept
A strong answer At the start Brian is screaming in pain and sick on the sand. By the end he is dry and full, and for the first time since the crash he is wondering about another being instead of himself. But he still puts the hatchet by his head with his hand on the handle, so the change is not complete. A strong answer names a real shift and the part that has not shifted.
1. The morning after he is sick, Brian sorts the berries. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what he has learned.
What it asks It asks the student to find what Brian does differently after the sick night, and how far that goes.
He has learned to be careful: he picks only the ripest and eats only a little.
He selected only the berries that were solidly ripe
Not such a crazy amount, as he had, which he felt brought on the sickness in the night
He has learned to keep going: the berries are bad but they are still food.
They were awful berries, those gut cherries, he thought. But there was food there, food of some kind
covered the two piles with grass he tore from the lake shore to keep the flies off
A strong answer Brian has learned to ration and to choose. He blames the sickness on the crazy amount he ate, so now he eats just enough to stave off the hunger and picks only the dark, ripe berries. He also keeps what he has: he sorts the rest into two piles and covers them from the flies. A strong answer says what he learned and backs it with two different moments.
2. Brian decides to leave the gut cherries and look for other berries. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what drives that choice.
What it asks It asks whether Brian leaves because of what the gut cherries did to him or because he hopes for something better.
The memory of the sickness pushes him away from them.
But the explosion in the night was still much in his memory and he decided to go on.
Gut cherries were food, but tricky to eat.
Hope pulls him toward something better.
if there was one kind of berry there should be other kinds. Sweeter kinds.
Maybe he could find some better berries.
A strong answer Both pushes are in the chapter. The explosion in the night is still fresh, and Brian decides gut cherries are tricky to eat and he needs something better. But he is also pulled by a hope that if there was one kind of berry there should be other kinds, sweeter ones. A strong answer says which push is stronger and uses two different moments.
3. Brian looks at his reflection and then cries. Using two pieces of evidence, explain what he is feeling.
What it asks It asks what Brian feels when he sees his face in the water: shock at how he looks, or the weight of everything at once.
He is shocked and frightened by how he looks.
It frightened him—the face was cut and bleeding, swollen and lumpy, the hair all matted
He slapped the water with his hand to destroy the mirror.
He is overwhelmed by everything that has happened, not only his face.
He was dirty and starving and bitten and hurt and lonely and ugly and afraid
Long tears, self-pity tears, wasted tears.
A strong answer The reflection frightens him: the face is cut, swollen, matted with blood, and he slaps the water to destroy the mirror. But the chapter then lists everything he is, dirty and starving and bitten and hurt and lonely and afraid, and he cries what the chapter calls self-pity tears. A strong answer says what he feels and backs it with two different moments.