Hatchet Chapter 17
Brian looks at the wreckage of his camp and decides that he must rebuild, he finds it lucky that he wasn’t hurt more seriously, for that would have certainly meant death. The tornado worsened the state of his ribs, and so Brian has to move tenderly. He first sets a fire and collects the firewood. Then, he works to recover some of the wood that he had used to create his wall and doorway. He manages to recreate his shelter and sits close to his fire. Just as he is drifting into sleep, his mind focuses on the idea of the plane, and with a rush, Brian recalls the survival pack strapped in the back of the plane. He spends a lot of time thinking of what the survival pack could have and decides to give it a try first thing tomorrow. He wakes the next day and reminds himself to eat before beginning to work on the project of the plane.
Brian first fashions a spear, on which he spends about an hour. He easily spears some fish from his pond and cooks them on the fish board that he had fashioned before. He eats the fish meat with relish but understands that it doesn’t quite fill his stomach. Brian then begins to think about the project and decides the best way to get inside the plane would require him to have a floating base from which he could work. He decides to make a raft of logs but struggles with the construction as he has nothing to hold the logs together in the water. Brian then has the idea of using logs with branches that he could then use to weave the logs together just like his door. He works on the project for several hours and then uses his tattered windbreaker to fashion a cord that would hold the raft close to the plane. He begins to push the raft into the water, and then towards the plane. However, the task of pushing the raft becomes much more difficult than he had anticipated and Brian decides to postpone the work for early tomorrow morning. He hunts some more fish and then goes to bed.
He wakes the next day and immediately begins to work to get the raft to the plane. It takes a lot of his energy, and he wishes that he had eaten before beginning the arduous task. The raft finally reaches the plane, and Brian ties it to the plane’s tail. He looks in the water to find a means of breaking into the plane, and he hesitates before he begins his endeavor as the thought of the dead pilot comes to him. He finds no sign of any opening on the back of the plane.
Unable to find an opening Brian slams his hand against the fuselage and feels it sink with the force. He realizes that the fuselage is like thin skin, and so tries to part it with his hatchet. The hatchet cuts through the aluminum like paper, and Brian has soon fashioned a small opening. As he is working to pull away some of the fuselage the Hatchet slips out from his grip and falls to the bottom of the lake. Brian is shocked at his carelessness since the Hatchet is central to his survival. He takes two deep breaths and tries to reach the bottom, just as his breath runs out he sights the bottom. He returns to the surface and prepares himself to dive a second time. This time he uses the raft to push off and shoots like an arrow through the water. He paddles so hard that he slams into the mud at the bottom. He looks around quickly, sights the Hatchet’s handle, grabs it, and kicks off hard from the bottom just as his breath is about to explode out of him. He manages to reach the surface just as he is forced to exhale. Brian recovers himself for a few moments and then returns to the airplane.
He carefully continues to remove the fuselage, using his hatchet cautiously and saving the pieces of Aluminium for future use. He soon has a wide enough hole to enter, he looks in and finds no trace of the survival bag. Brian then eels into the plane and uses his feet to feel around inside the plane. He manages to discern the bag and prepares himself to dive into the plane and retrieve it. He goes in headfirst, and finds the bulky bag, and struggles to free it. Just as he has released the bag, Brian looks to the pilot’s side and sees his body reduced to a skeleton by the feeding fish. Brian throws up in the water and nearly drowns there but his legs push him out of their own accord. He hangs out of the plane struggling for breath with the survival bag floating next to him. Brian has a hard time getting the heavy bag out of the plane, onto the raft, and then back to the shore. He finally reaches the shore after the sun has set, chilled to the bone from working in the lake. Brian is unable to carry the bag, and so he drags it back to his shelter having to crawl sometimes just to keep going. He collapses to sleep just as he reaches the sand near his shelter.
Brian finds the survival bag to be full of treasures when he opens it the next day. He finds butane lighters, cooking pots, matches, a sleeping bag, and a rifle. Brian assembles the rifle, and suddenly feels a difference in his position. With the rifle, Brian feels as if he doesn’t have to blend in with nature, and can survive without having to survive it. He also finds a device labeled emergency transmitter, so Brian turns it on and off but feels like nothing happens. He creates fire with the lighter and marvels at the ease of the action, and it gives him the same feeling as the lighter. Brian then examines the food last. He is astounded by the richness and the quantity of the food. He goes through the freeze-dried packets of dinners, sweet drinks, and deserts, and then has to do it a second time. He decides to have a feast, so selects a beef dinner, an orange sweet drink, and a peach dessert. He carries water in his new pots to bring to a boil, a fantastic ability that he couldn’t achieve in all of his time there. He begins to boil the water and begins to have the sweet drink and savors each mouthful. Just as his food is becoming ready, a plane arrives with floaters, it sights the downed plane in the lake, swings around, and lands gently on the lake.
The pilot brings around the plane and steps out onto the sand without even wetting his shoes. He deduces that Brian is the boy for whom the searches had been stopped about two months ago. Brian hasn’t had time to process the event, and looks back to his food and offers the pilot some.
The Pilot had been a trapper working at a camp some miles away, he had been able to find Brian as he had left the emergency transmitter switched on. Brian’s survival is featured in the news, and reporters are taken to the spot where he had lived those two months. Brian becomes changed from the experience, he becomes thoughtful, careful, and observant. He sometimes dreams of those nights in the woods, but they aren’t frightening dreams. A few weeks after his rescue, it seemed like his parents would get back together, but it never happened. He tried to tell his father about the secret but could never quite manage it, and his mother continued to see the man with short blond hair.
Analysis
The theme of positive thinking features large in this section of the book, as Brian faces adversity in the form of an angry moose and a tornado. He is severely hurt by the cow and then is injured in the tornado as well, yet he doesn't allow the loss of his tools or bodily hurt to bring him down. He sleeps in the cold and windy shelter after the passing of the storm, still irresolutely determined to survive irrespective of the problems faced. This scenario is a good marker of the change that Brian has undergone in his weeks of survival in the woods. In addition to this unshakable will, Brian has also become highly attuned to the beauty of nature, as he looks at the impending tornado with amazement even though it poses him significant danger. His dislike for the lighters and the rifle reflects his newfound understanding of nature. He dislikes not being able to rely on the knowledge that he had earned so dearly, since both of those instruments simplify the most difficult challenges of survival that of fire and safety.
The plane is an important symbol in the book, but a somewhat contradictory one. The plane leads to Brian's crash into the woods, and so serves as the beginning to the tale of his survival. At the same time, it serves as a symbol of hope after the tornado shifts it. Brian remembers the survival pack from the plane, and rightly hopes for instruments that could help him survive. It finally serves as the symbol of an end, as Brian discovers an emergency transmitter in the survival pack which leads to his rescue.
