Summary: A Survival Story Of Gary Paulsen 'Hatchet'

Hatchet : A survival story [ June 2017 | Children’s Literature |Pranavi Madaan]

There can be no true despair without hope. This was quoted by Tom Hardy who portrayed the character of Bane in 2012s The Dark Knight Rises, during an intense monologue on the truth about Hope that he explains to Christian Bale (as Bruce Wayne). It has been one of my favourite quotes because it hints an element of survival, about possibilities and confrontation. While reading Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, I could relate to this dialogue during a lot of instances that Brian Robeson, the protagonist of the story, encounters with and succeeds with the ‘tough hope’ in his

The limitations of companionship helps him observe better and have a personified relationship with the things he builds from the resources around him, for instance, during his First fire, the joy of establishing a fire on his own connects him more to a human experience. The hatchet also takes a guardian frame in the story where it helps Brian figure out the various methods in his attempts. So much that when he drops it in the lake, he makes sure to get it back as in that moment he acknowledges the help the hatchet brought him, despite being a mere object. By the end of the story, he also experiences a sense of detachment as after arriving back home slightly unravels him. He recalls his days in the woods in his dreams and longs for them. The normalcy of his real life makes him feel alienated and almost deserted back again. Even during the time when he secures a rifle, after having invented all of his instruments of survival, he is truck by an irregularity of the weapon, and the utter ease that were brought in with its functions. His perception of living went through a sea change after all the efforts he made surviving in this ordeal that taught him the joy of the simplest of things people deprive themselves from. It made him explore himself and be a part of nature away from the hustle of city life. His recognition of danger transitions into a different meaning when he has some encounters with the animals. The wolf episode brings out a surprising reaction of the situation from Brian. He develops a sense of reverence for the elements of the wild and understood how to deal with them. The advent of the tornado brings him to panic at first but soon as the wind settles, he only looks at all the advantages he had around him. Despite being awfully hurt by the moose and having lost all of this shelter, he thought of the hatchet and all the knowledge he had gathered to make himself comfortable and redo