Book Reports On Hatchet By Gary Paulsen

In the novel, Hatchet written by Gary Paulsen, the main character Brian Robeson, will face a life-threatening situation that tests not only his physical but mental strength as well. Brian's parents are divorced because his mom was cheating on his dad. Brian Robeson is 13 and lives with mother, a real estate agent, in Hampton, New York. This will be Brian's first summer spent with his father since the divorce (which was only finalized a month before). His father is a mechanical engineer working in the oil fields of Canada. The plane Brian is on is also carrying drilling equipment and, Brian remembers, a "survival pack" that holds supplies in case the plane has to make an emergency landing. The pilot was rubbing his arm, and there was a smell.

Brian decides to try to make a lean-to (a kind of makeshift shelter constructed from sticks and twigs). Looking for a place to build it, he finds a small hollow on one side of the ledge. Not quite a cave, but it will be stronger and dryer than a lean-to. Brian decides to go look for berry bushes. He needs to keep the lake and his ledge in sight, so that he doesn't get lost. He walks slowly along the side of the lake. He sees several different kinds of birds and eventually comes upon some bushes full of bright red berries, which the birds are eating. Although the berries are tart and have large pits, Brian is so hungry that he eats and eats and eats, not stopping until his belly is full. Not wanting the birds to take all the berries after he's gone, he makes a pouch from his torn windbreaker and fills it with as many berries as it will hold. As the sun goes down, the mosquitoes return and attack again. Brian dumps the berries and puts on his windbreaker to protect himself a little. He crawls in under the ledge and eventually falls asleep. Brian wakes up to a sound like a growl in the night. It's pitch black and he can't see anything, but there is an odd smell in the shelter. He hears a slithering, brushing sound near his feet, and he kicks out, throwing the hatchet toward the sound at the same time. The hatchet hits the wall of his cave, creating a little shower of sparks in the darkness. Brian's leg explodes

Surprised to find a survivor rifle among the pack's contents, Brian dislikes it as he feels it separates him from the natural environment to which he has become accustomed. Although his daily patterns would become much easier with the use of a rifle, and with many of the tools in the kit, he feels attached to his old ways and to the self-sufficiency they represent. Brian notes his "up and down" feelings regarding the discovery of the survival pack. He then comes across an emergency transmitter and, attempting to turn it on with no evident success, Brian reasons that it had been broken in the crash. The survival pack also contains several freeze-dried food packets, which he determines to carefully ration after he feasts just once on a meal of his choice. He begins to prepare this feast with much anticipation when he hears the drone of an engine above him. The plane flies low and lands on the lake. The pilot emerges and reports to Brian that he had heard the transmitter signal. The pilot who landed so suddenly in the lake was a fur buyer. Brian had lost 17% of his body weight since the crash, and he remains thin for years. Many of the changes Brian underwent in the wilderness seem permanent, such as his observant and thoughtful nature, and food never loses its wonder