72 pages • 2 hours read
Gary PaulsenHatchet
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1987A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Chapters 10-12Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary
Brian sits with his fire for a long time, not wanting to leave its side. The fire becomes a friend and constant source of comfort. Brian begins to collect and stack wood so he can keep the fire going. The smoke repels the mosquitos, giving him enormous relief. He also realizes that the smoke will act as a signal to planes flying overhead, which fills him with hope.
That evening Brian sits by his fire, eating his supply of raspberries and feeling “for the first time since the crash that he might be getting a handle on things” (91). He is later awakened by an animal. In the morning he sees tracks leading from the lake to the shore, where the creature has made a mound in the sand. Brian realizes it is a turtle who has laid her eggs. He digs up the eggs, collecting 17 in total. He recalls his uncle drinking a raw egg each morning and convinces himself to try the turtle eggs raw. He uses his hatchet to crack them open and then drinks them down. The eggs make him realize how ravenous he is. Although he wants to gorge on all 17 at once, he stops himself after six and carries the rest to his shelter for later. He is so engrossed with his eggs that he briefly forgets about rescue. He reminds himself that it is important “to keep hoping. He had to keep hoping” (97).
Chapter 11 Summary
When Brian thinks about the fact that he hasn’t been rescued yet, he feels depressed. To combat this, he focuses on tasks around his camp area: “when he was busy and had something to do the depression seemed to leave” (98). Now that his leg is fully healed from the porcupine attack, he occupies himself by collecting berries and chopping firewood. Seeing his tanned, thin reflection in the lake water alerts Brian to the changes he is undergoing: “perhaps more than his body was the change in his mind, or in the way he was—was becoming” (99). He is becoming deeply attuned to the sights, sounds, and smells of his environment. He is connected to his surroundings in a way that he never was as a city boy. This keen awareness leads him to believe that he can catch fish in the same way that other forest animals do. Thinking of the birds’ sharp beaks inspires him to make a fishing spear.
Chapter 12 Summary
After spending hours whittling a fishing spear from a willow, Brian is disappointed in his failed attempt to catch a fish. He realizes he needs to create something else that won’t startle the fish. He decides to make a bow and arrow. As he collects materials, he snacks on raspberries, noticing that he now gets a sense of fullness from simply eating berries and turtle eggs. He also notices a constant dull hunger that never leaves; this hunger motivates him to search for food and try various hunting methods. Startled by a bird and lost in thoughts of his mother’s roast chicken dinners, Brian initially doesn’t recognize the sound of an airplane. He races back to camp, grabs a burning stick, and takes it to the ridge to signal to the plane. Before he has the chance, the plane turns and leaves without seeing Brian. He falls to his knees and weeps: “He could do a day, but not forever—he could not make it if they did not come for him someday” (112).
Chapters 10-12 Analysis
Chapters 10 through 12 reinforce the importance of making and learning from mistakes. The novel repeats similar scenes wherein Brian loses hope or feels he cannot figure out the solution to a problem, only to successfully combat his negative thoughts and work through the issue. Each time he overcomes his negativity, he becomes more attuned to the natural world around him. Brian begins to separate his identity into who he was before the crash and who he is now, a distinction exemplified by his thoughts on the turtle: “Oh, you city boy with your city ways […] sitting in the sand trying to read the tracks and not knowing, not understanding” (93). He begins to focus on understanding the motives and movements of the animals around him, which causes a change in his mind and body: “I am not the same, he thought. I see, I hear differently” (100).
Despite these changes, Brian struggles to keep depression at bay. It is almost as though the more he connects with nature, the further he gets from hoping to be rescued. Whenever he gets too comfortable or forgets about home, he slips into negative thought patterns. Just as he repeatedly tries to create fire, Brian must consistently remind himself to maintain hope and keep busy with “these things to do” (104). Constant action and activity help him stay alive just as much as his lessons about shelter, fire, and hunting do.
Chapter 12 includes a scene in which Brian becomes more like an animal, creating a stark contrast from the opening of Chapter 10, when he thinks of himself as a city boy. Now, he focuses most of his energy on eating, just like the animals around him: “This was hunger that he knew would always be there […] a hunger that made him look for things, see things. A hunger to make him hunt” (108). At the end of Chapter 12, the novel continues its pattern of presenting a scene like this, where Brian feels newfound strength and calm, only to crash back down when a search-and-rescue plane fails to see him. He quickly shifts from a survivor’s mindset to complete despair: “He could not play the game without hope […] they would not come. He was alone and there was nothing for him” (112).
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