Hatchet

Summay of Chapters 13-19

Chapter 13

While Brian searches for foolbirds, as he calls the chicken-like birds he has discovered, his instincts tell him that some creature lurks nearby. At that moment he spots a big beautiful wolf, which then walks up the hill and away from Brian, followed by three others. After the plane flies by him without spotting him, Brian feels incredibly defeated. He even tries to commit suicide by cutting himself with his hatchet. When he survives, however, he determines never to let death tempt him again, and in that moment Brian transforms himself into the "new Brian." He finally figures out how to catch the many fish in the lake when he realizes he must account for the refraction of light underwater and readjust his aim. On that first day that he catches fish, he feasts on them and, satisfied with his accomplishment and the wealth of food it produced, feels hopeful. This hope, however, differs from his earlier hope that he will be rescued. He now believes the chances of his being rescued are slim. Rather, he possesses "tough hope" that he can survive on his own with his new knowledge of the wilderness.

Chapter 14

A skunk comes to investigate the spot in the sand where the turtle has laid its eggs. Brian yells at the skunk, which reacts by spraying him. Blinded for nearly two hours as a result of the spray, Brian runs into the lake to wash himself. The skunk has also eaten the eggs he had stored on the shore. Brian learned two lessons from this incident: make a sturdy shelter and put food in a protected place. Spending days strengthening his shelter with additional wood, and finding a high tree for a food shelf that bears would be unable to reach, Brian still faces the problem of a lack of food. After brainstorming about this problem, he resolves to construct a small pond in which he may store the fish he has caught, attracted by the remains of the fish he had already eaten. Brian demonstrates his forethought but not only finding food for the moment, but also developing some system of storage for the future.

Chapter 15

While in the woods, Brian measures time by events he experiences rather than by societal measures of time, although he does mark the passing days on the stone next to his shelter. His real sense of time, however, revolves around events such as the day of First Meat. Living off berries and fish, Brian still had still craved more substantial food, meat in particular. He has thought of trying to catch the foolbirds that abound in the woods, but despite their stupidity has a difficult time catching them. They tend to fly away at the last second, and are difficult to spot. Training his eyes to see the outline of a foolbird, Brian decides to employ his spear rather than his bow and arrow, which enables him to lunge at the birds. Moving sideways rather than straight at the bird and lunging at it at the last second, he catches his first meat. Cleaning the chicken proves harder than he had expected, and he notes once more that in the past, and in a world where his mother had cooked for him, such a duty would never have occurred to him. Brian rigs up a system to rotate the chicken over a flame and sits back to watch it cook. Anxious to have his first bite, Brian pulls off a piece that has not quite cooked thoroughly yet. He reminded himself of the importance of patience, and when the meat has finally cooked through, Brian enjoys his feast more than anything he has ever eaten.

Chapter 16

Brian proudly recalls the major events since the plane crash, which he calls "First Days." For example, on "First Arrow Day" he had successfully constructed a straight-shooting arrow, and on "First Rabbit Day" he had killed his first rabbit, using similar methods as he had used to kill the foolbird. He alternates between rabbits and foolbirds, so he is able to satisfy himself with sufficient meat. In time he perfects his skills at catching foolbirds, once even catching a bird with his bare hands. While washing his hands in the lake, he senses something and turns around just in time to face a huge moose. The moose attacks him, throwing him into the water, thrashing him around, and badly hurting his ribs and his shoulder. Retrieving his bow, spear, and foolbird from the water's edge, Brian, in enormous pain, attempts to make sense of the attack before falling asleep. A far-off roar awakens Brian in the middle of the night. Suddenly, a tornado pounds down on him, slamming him on the side of the shelter. The tornado departs as quickly as it had arrived, leaving Brian out in the open, his shelter and fire obliterated. Without the protection of the fire, mosquitoes find him once again and he lies sleepless for the remainder of the night, contemplating how his situation has changed so drastically in one day. In the aftermath of the moose attack and the tornado he has little left. Nonetheless, Brian remains unfazed in his resolve to rebuild using the hatchet, his only remaining tool, still at his belt. Right before dawn Brian dozes off, awakening to assess the tornado's damage. The tornado had scattered the pieces of his shelter but they remained the area. Looking out over the lake, Brian spots the tail of the Cessna plane sticking out of the water. He thinks of the pilot, dead in the plane, and a huge weighty sadness sweeps over him. Compelled to say a few words for him, Brain hesitates because he does not know the "right words," the words of organized religion. He decides to simply concentrate and wish the pilot a peaceful rest.

Chapter 17

Brian works to restore his shelter to its former shape and to gather more firewood. Exhausted from a day of hard work, he lies down to go to sleep when it occurs to him that the survival pack that the pilot had mentioned might still be in the plane, and perhaps he could access it. Wondering what it might contain, Brian hopes that he will find food or tools, and decides to try to find it the following day. He falls asleep with the picture of the tail of the plane in his mind. The next morning he eats some fish to gain some energy for his project and reasons that a raft would be the best method to get out to the plane. Finding the construction of the raft difficult, Brian must find a way to attach the logs to one another. After many frustrating attempts, Brian interweaves branches into the logs to hold them together. Moving the raft presents another time-consuming challenge, and, as dusk approaches, Brian decides to return back to his shelter for the night and try again in the morning. Brian sensed fall in the air on this beautiful night in the woods. In the morning, he sets out for the plane on his raft. Attaching the raft to the plane, Brian shutters as it occurs to him that he might see the pilot down underwater.

Chapter 18

Frustrated by his inability to access the inside of the plane, Brian strikes it with his fist and the aluminum covering opens. Using the hatchet to cut through the rest of the sections, Brian is hacking away at a furious pace when he suddenly drops the hatchet and it falls to the bottom of the lake. After a few tries, Brian succeeds in picking the hatchet up from the bottom, having barely enough air in his lungs to return to the surface. He continues to cut into the plane and swims down into it to retrieve the survival pack. On his way back up he sees the pilot's head, the flesh eaten away by fish. Traumatized, Brian gets sick in the water and, struggling to free the pack from the plane, and arrives at the surface. Exhausted from his efforts, Brian drags the survival pack to his shelter and falls immediately into a deep sleep.

Chapter 19

In the morning Brian opens the survival pack to find many useful items, including a sleeping bag, a foam sleeping pad, a cookset, matches, lighters, a knife, a compass, a first-aid kit, a cap, and a fishing kit. Surprised to find a survivor rifle among the pack's contents, Brian dislikes it as he feels it separates him from the natural environment to which he has become accustomed. Although his daily patterns would become much easier with the use of a rifle, and with many of the tools in the kit, he feels attached to his old ways and to the self-sufficiency they represent. Brian notes his "up and down" feelings regarding the discovery of the survival pack. He then comes across an emergency transmitter and, attempting to turn it on with no evident success, Brian reasons that it had been broken in the crash. The survival pack also contains several freeze-dried food packets, which he determines to carefully ration after he feasts just once on a meal of his choice. He begins to prepare this feast with much anticipation when he hears the drone of an engine above him. The plane flies low and lands on the lake. The pilot emerges and reports to Brian that he had heard the transmitter signal. In saying this, the pilot slowly makes the connection that the searchers he had heard about were looking for Brian, who stands before him. Dumbfounded and initially unable to comprehend the situation, Brian simply says, "My name is Brian Robeson…. Would you like something to eat?"