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Hatchet
Trailblazers · 4th–6th
Brian cries in the dark until he is cried out, and later decides that feeling sorry for yourself did not work. Was the crying a waste, or part of how he learned?
The tension The crying leaves his leg, the dark and his loneliness exactly as they were, yet Brian later counts that hour as where he learned his most important rule.
Notice what Brian does with his fear and his tears in the dark, and what he carries out of the night by morning.
A smell of rot wakes Brian in the dark. He throws the hatchet at a slithering sound, and a porcupine leaves him with eight quills in his leg. He pulls them out, cries until he is cried out, and sleeps lightly. A dream in which his father tries to speak and Terry points at a fire, and then the morning sun on the hatchet, lead him to strike sparks from the dark stone in his shelter.
Start in the dark with the smell. Ask what Brian can know and what he can only guess.
Retell The student tells the chapter back in order: the smell, the porcupine, the quills, the crying, the dream, and the sparks.
Imitate the author After copying the passage, the student writes two sentences in the same pattern: a list of things that have not changed, then what a feeling accomplished.
Debate Take sides on the big question: was Brian's crying a waste, or part of how he learned? Each side must use at least one quote from the chapter.
Purpose Close by asking why Paulsen puts the crying right before the dream and the sparks.
Easier Read the porcupine scene aloud together and talk through discussion questions 1 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 learns by trying, and to add it to a critical-thinking answer.
1. Before Brian knows it is a porcupine, he thinks of the bear, Bigfoot and fright-movie monsters. What is the dark doing to his thinking?Inference
What it asks It asks why Brian's mind jumps to bears and monsters in the dark, and what the dark takes away from him.
The dark takes his sight, so his fear fills the gap with the worst things he can imagine.
It was too dark, too hard dark with clouds covering even the small light from the stars, and he could not see.
He thought of the bear, thought of Bigfoot and every monster he had ever seen in every fright movie he had ever watched
The signs are real, so he is reading something true, only wrongly.
But the smell was alive, alive and full and in the shelter.
Then he heard the slithering.
A strong answer With no light and a strong smell of rot, Brian has almost nothing to see, so his mind supplies what it fears most: the bear, Bigfoot, every monster from a fright movie. Yet the chapter also shows real signs, a living smell and a slithering sound near his feet. A strong answer says what the dark takes away and what his mind adds, and notices that his guess about what is in the shelter turns out to be wrong.
2. Brian kicks out and throws the hatchet at the sound in the dark. Was that foolish, or just what a frightened person does?Character
What it asks It asks whether to judge Brian's throw as a mistake or as fear taking over, and what a reader should expect of him at that moment.
It was foolish: he throws away his hatchet at something he cannot see, and it misses.
kicked out and threw the hatchet at the sound
But the hatchet missed, sailed into the wall where it hit the rocks with a shower of sparks
It was natural: terror moved him before any thinking could.
terror took him, stopping his breath
a noise coming from his throat
A strong answer In the dark Brian can hear a slithering and smell something rotten, but he cannot see, so he kicks out and throws the hatchet. It misses and strikes the wall, and what he threw it at was a porcupine that had stumbled in. A strong answer weighs what a frightened person can know against what throwing his hatchet risks, and says which weighs more.
3. In the dream, Brian's father and Terry try to tell him something without words. Why might Paulsen send the message that way?Author's choice
What it asks It asks why the author gives Brian's idea to him through a silent dream instead of letting him think of it plainly.
The dream is Brian's own mind working: he already knows about fire, so the message is his.
I know about fire; I know I need a fire.
Fire. The hatchet was the key to it all.
The dream ties the idea to the two people he misses, so it feels like help from outside.
it was so important to understand his father, to know what he was saying
That's what his father and Terry had been trying to tell him.
A strong answer Brian's father cannot be heard and Terry only points, so the message has to be worked out and cannot simply be told. Brian grows frustrated, saying he knows about fire, and only after waking, when the hatchet flashes like fire in the sun, does he see what the dream meant. A strong answer can say the dream is Brian's own mind at work, or that it ties the idea to the people he misses, and gives a reason for the choice.
4. "So fast things change," Brian thinks after the porcupine. What does the night show about how safe he is in the shelter?Theme
What it asks It asks whether the shelter keeps Brian safe or only seems to, and what the night's surprise teaches him about the place.
The shelter is not safe: it has a doorway, and anything can walk in.
A porcupine had stumbled into his shelter and when he had kicked it the thing had slapped him with its tail of quills.
When he'd gone to sleep he had satisfaction and in just a moment it was all different.
The danger was small and accidental: a porcupine stumbled in and left.
A porcupine had stumbled into his shelter
it moved away, slithering and scraping it moved away
A strong answer Brian went to sleep with satisfaction and woke to a surprise: something walked into the shelter through the open doorway. It was a porcupine that stumbled in and moved away, so the real danger was small. But Brian cannot know that in the dark, and he fears that next time it might be a bear. A strong answer weighs what really happened against what Brian fears might come next.
5. Brian thinks "I can't do this" again and again in the dark. What might he mean by it?Character
What it asks It asks what Brian is giving up on when he says he cannot do this: the night, the woods, or something larger.
He means he cannot survive out here alone, with no fire and no light.
I can't take it this way, alone with no fire and in the dark
and next time it might be something worse, maybe a bear
He means he cannot go on feeling this much at once; the pain and fear are too much to carry.
It was all too much, just too much, and he couldn't take it.
Not the way it was.
A strong answer Brian lists what is wrong in one breath: he is alone, in the dark, without a fire, and next time it might be a bear. So "I can't" may mean he cannot survive like this. It may also mean he cannot bear so much at once, since he calls it all too much. A strong answer says which meaning seems nearer and gives a line for it.
1. Brian pulls the quills from his leg. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how he gets through it.
What it asks It asks the student to follow how Brian forces himself through a painful job, and what that shows about him.
He gets through by method: breathe, pause, jerk.
He breathed deeply twice, let half of the breath out, and went back to work.
Jerk, pause, jerk—and three more times before he lay back in the darkness, done.
He gets through by forcing himself, and it costs him.
It sent pain signals to his brain in tight waves, but he grabbed another, pulled it, then another quill.
The pain had gone from being a pointed injury pain to spreading in a hot smear up his leg and it made him catch his breath.
A strong answer Brian does not rush: he holds his breath and jerks, and when four are out he stops, breathes deeply, and goes back to work, jerk, pause, jerk, until he lies back, done. But it costs him, because the pain spreads in a hot smear up his leg and some quills tear as they come out. A strong answer says how he gets through it and backs it with two different moments.
2. Brian tests the dark stone with the hatchet. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how he gets from a few weak sparks to flying sparks.
What it asks It asks the student to trace the steps in Brian's testing, and whether he learns by trying or by thinking.
He learns by trying again, harder each time.
Too gently, and nothing happened. He struck harder, a glancing blow, and two or three weak sparks skipped off the rock and died immediately.
He swung harder, held the hatchet so it would hit a longer, sliding blow, and the black rock exploded in fire.
He learns by thinking first: he studies the wall and turns the hatchet to the right side.
Brian went back into the shelter and studied the wall.
Brian turned the head backward so he would strike with the flat rear of the hatchet and hit the black rock gently.
A strong answer Brian begins with thought: he studies the wall, finds where the steel nicked the dark stone, and turns the hatchet to strike with the flat rear. Then he learns by trying. Too gently gives nothing, harder gives a few weak sparks, and a longer, sliding blow makes the rock explode in fire. A strong answer says what Brian changes and uses two different moments.
3. After the porcupine Brian sleeps lightly. Using two pieces of evidence, explain how the night has changed the way he acts.
What it asks It asks the student to find where Brian is already acting differently, since the chapter says his patterns are changing.
He is more watchful: even asleep he listens.
already his patterns were changing and the sleep was light, a resting doze more than a deep sleep, with small sounds awakening him twice in the rest of the night
He is more practical: he plans for the next animal.
He should keep it in his hand, and make a tool of some kind to help push an animal away.
Make a staff, he thought, or a lance, and save the hatchet.
A strong answer The night changes Brian's habits. His sleep is light, a resting doze, and small sounds wake him twice. In the morning he looks at the nick in the hatchet and decides to keep it in his hand and make a staff or lance to push an animal away. A strong answer says whether he is more watchful, more practical, or both, and uses two different moments.