STUDY GUIDE FOR HATCHET BOOK SUMMARY

IMPORTANT QUOTES - QUOTATIONS AND ANALYSIS

The following quotations are important at various points in the story: (Aladdin Paperbacks, New York, New York, 1987):

1.) “ ‘All flying is easy. Just takes learning. Like everything else. Like everything else.’ “

(pg. 5; This quote emphasizes what Brian will come to know about survival: everything can be learned.)


2.) “If you keep walking back from good luck, he thought, you’ll come to bad luck.”

(pg. 40; Here, Brian shows his first sense of despair.)

3.) “ ‘You are your most valuable asset. Don’t forget that. You are the best thing you have.’ “

(pg. 51; These are the words of Mr. Perpich, Brian’s English teacher, which he remembers just as needs hope that he can survive.)


4.) “If his mother hadn’t begun to see him and forced the divorce, Brian wouldn’t be here now.”

(pg. 61; These thoughts reveal that Brian is so angry about his mother’s infidelity that he uses it when he needs to assign blame for his situation.)

5.) “Long tears, self-pity tears, wasted tears.”

(pg. 70; These words reveal that when brian gives in to his despair, he is wasting his time, because there is no one there to help him; he must help himself.)

6.) “Fire. The hatchet was the key to it all.”

(pg. 85; Here Brian discovers that the hatchet was help him build a fire.)


7.) “. . . two things, his mind and his body, had come together as well, had made a connection . . “

(pg. 105; These words reflect that idea that Brian is growing and maturing.)

8.) “Clouddown, Clouddown through that awful night.”

(pg. 122; Here Brian remembers the night he contemplated suicide with the hatchet.)

9.) “I am full of tough hope.”

(pg. 127; This is Brian’s description of how he finally comes to the realization that suicide is not the answer and that he can survive.)

10.) “So much of this was patience - waiting and thinking and doing things right.”

(pg. 145; These words reflect Brian’s understanding that llife doesn’t go right without patience at just time.)

11.) “A flip of some giant coin and he was the loser.’

(pg 157; At this point, Brian has been attacked by the moose and nearly destroyed by a tornado all in the same day, and he once again is having doubts about his ability to survive.)

12.) “He . . . focused on the pilot and thought: Have rest. Have rest forever.”

(pg. 160; Brian prays here for the soul of the man who died at the controls of the plane. It is the first time he shows the compassion of a grown man.)

13.) It was a strange feeling, holding the rifle. It somehow removed him from everything around him . . . he wasn’t sure he liked the change very much.”

(pg. 186; Brian observes how close he has come to the wilderness he once feared.)

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen Free BookNotes Summary

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