Hatchet — Chapter 18

About This Passage

This long sentence carries Brian from triumph straight into disaster without a paragraph break. Paulsen strings the actions together with 'and' after 'and' — each 'and' speeds the sentence up, so by the time we reach 'when he dropped the hatchet,' the fall happens inside the same breath as the success. The passage teaches a young writer that sentence length can match emotional speed: when the world accelerates, so can the grammar.

Narration Prompt

Retell chapter 18 with attention to Brian's problem-solving sequence: he discovers the plane skin bends under his fist, uses the hatchet to cut a triangular hole, drops the hatchet, dives twice to retrieve it from the mud, widens the hole while saving every piece of scrap aluminum, wiggles inside through the cables and formers, finds the survival bag with his foot, sees the pilot's fish-stripped skull, gets sick, escapes, pushes the raft to shore, and drags the bag to his shelter. End with the three repetitions of 'He had done it.'

Discussion Questions

1. Paulsen writes that 'the hatchet was, had been him.' What in the story shows that Brian and the hatchet have become so connected that losing one means losing the other? How do you know this is not just a feeling Brian is having in the moment but a truth the whole book has been building toward?
2. When Brian drops the hatchet, he says 'That was the kind of thing I would have done before. When I came here—I would have done that. Not now. Not now...' What makes you think Brian separates himself into a 'before' Brian and a 'now' Brian? How can you tell the difference between these two Brians from the way each one handles mistakes?

+ 3 more questions in the complete study guide

Brian slams his fist against the plane 'in complete surprise' when the aluminum bends. The entire plan that follows depends on that accidental discovery. Explain how Brian's willingness to touch the plane with his fist (instead of only looking at it) shows a different way of studying a problem than just thinking about it. What does this suggest about the role of physical action in figuring things out?