Theme Of Hatchet By Gary Paulsen

Don’t Doubt Yourself
Have you ever imagined or wondered about how you would survive fifty-four days on your own after a severe plane crash? In Gary Paulsen's adventure novel, Hatchet, he tells the story of a thirteen-year-old boy named Brian Robeson, who is stranded in the Canadian wilderness after his plane crashes. He spends the next fifty-four days alone, with only his thoughts and a hatchet. In fact, while Paulsen shows Brian was trying to survive on his own, fighting nature, he reveals a theme to his story: don’t doubt yourself or others. This theme of not doubting yourself is shown when Brian was on the plane during and after the plane crash when he wanted to end his life, and right before he was rescued. There are many reasons for this theme. To start with, this theme is appropriate for this book because in the beginning, after the crash, he was getting worried about how he is going to live and when or if people are going to rescue him. He has some doubts about how this is all going to be alright, but he persevered. “They would look for him, look for the plane. His father and mother would be frantic...They would come, they would look for him. The searchers would get government planes and cover both sides of the flight plan filed by the pilot and search until they found him…”(45) and “They may not find him for a long time. And

For instance, on page 166, he had an idea of looking for food inside the plane, he needed hope, so he told himself that there was food inside. He didn’t let any piece of doubt go into his mind at that moment. He knew that if he did doubt himself, he probably would lose hope and not succeed. And succeed he did. In the plane, while scavenging, he actually found the tool that saved him. He would never have found that if he doubted himself. The littlest things can make a huge difference, especially for Brian, who luckily was found and brought home afterward.