You Are Your Most Valuable Asset Gary Paulsen’s survival novel, Hatchet, tells the story of Brian Robeson, a thirteen-year-old boy whose plane crashes after the pilot has a heart attack, leaving him stranded in the Canadian wilderness. He spends fifty-four days near an L-shaped lake, surviving nature 's unforgiving atmosphere with only his hatchet as a tool and his thoughts as a friend. Furthermore, Brian learns that he is his most important resource, and this is later proven to be the main theme of the story. The theme you are your best resource is shown throughout the novel when Brian when he makes fire, and when he retrieves the survival pack from the plane. Initially, Brian shows how he has to rely on himself when he lands the plane, …show more content…
On page 176, it reads, “He turned and sat on the bank with his legs in the water and pulled the bag ashore and began the long drag--- he couldn’t lift it---back down the shoreline to his shelter. Two hours, almost three he dragged and stumbled in the dark, brushing the mosquitos away, sometimes on his feet, more often on his knees, finally to drop across the bag and to sleep when he made it to the sand on his doorway. He had done it.” And on page 178, “Unbelievable riches. He could not believe the contents of the survival pack.” Brian proves to be his most valuable resource by getting other resources. Even though he used his hatchet, he dove down to get it and he dragged to the raft. He also was smart enough to come up with the plan and think out cutting the metal and getting the pack. Though he was just awarded more supplies for completing the task, he proves that he is his most valuable asset.
To conclude, in the book Hatchet, Brian, the sole survivor of a plane crash, survives in the Canadian wilderness by himself and learn that he is his most valuable asset. This is the main theme of the story and is strongly shown when he flies and lands the plane, when he makes fire, and when he retrieves the survival pack from the icy depths of the lake. The author slowly reveals this theme as the story continues and by the end, it is obvious that you being your most valuable asset is what he wanted the reader to get from the