Discussion Topic
Brian's Actions and Wilderness Knowledge in Hatchet's Plane Landing
Summary:
In Hatchet, after the plane crash, Brian escapes the aircraft and swims to shore, disoriented but alive. He survives by recalling basic survival skills and learning through trial and error, such as watching animals to find food and learning to fish. Initially, Brian lacked wilderness knowledge but gained it from his experiences, like suffering from mosquito bites and eating unripe berries. His determination and adaptability help him endure in the wilderness until rescue.
In Hatchet, what did Brian do immediately after the plane landed?
Brian got himself out of the plane and swam to shore.
Brian was the only survivor of the plane crash. The pilot had a heart attack and crashed the plane rather than landing it. Brian managed to detach himself from the seatbelt.
He saw nothing but sensed blue, cold blue-green, and he raked at the seatbelt catch, tore his nails loose on one hand. He ripped at it until it released and somehow—the water trying to kill him …— somehow he pulled himself out of the shattered front window and clawed up into the blue … (Ch. 3)
After the plane landed, and Brian got himself out and swam to shore, he was disoriented and surprised he was alive. He was saddened by the pilot’s death, and he was cold and clammy. Brian then passed out. When he woke up it was dark and he was surprised he was still...
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alive. He watched the sun come up, which took an hour or two, but then swarms of mosquitoes came up.
The mosquitoes were relentless, swarming and biting him so horrifically that he could not even see. Brian could barely believe it. He felt like he was being eaten alive. They tore his clothes, and ate almost every inch of him. As if surviving the plane crash wasn’t bad enough, he had to deal with this!
Brian fell asleep against a tree, then woke up and drank some of the lake water. He immediately threw up. Then he decided that he was hungry, and decided to look for berry bushes.
Simple. Keep it simple. I am Brian Robeson. I have been in a plane crash. I am going to find some food. I am going to find berries. (Ch. 6)
He eventually found berries by watching birds, but the first berries he found turned out to be a little troublesome, giving him a bad stomachache because he ate too many of them and they were not quite ripe. He named them gut berries!
Brian is young, and on his own. However, he is clever and has a thirst for survival. He has to survive, so he will survive. He watches the animals, and does what they do. He also remembers lessons he has learned from adults in the past. So survive he does.
What action does Brian decide is necessary to land the plane in Hatchet? What is the source of Brian's wilderness knowledge?
Brian realizes that once the plane begins to run out of fuel, it will begin to slow down. His plan to land the plane is to tilt the nose down to keep it flying. He will then pull the nose up to slow the speed of the plane just before it hits the ground. To increase his chance of survival, he determines that he should attempt to land in the shallow part of a lake. Brian thought of his plan as trying to "fly the plane kind of onto the water."
Brian's knowledge about the wilderness and animals is gained through a combination of experience and trial-and-error. Brian makes many mistakes as he struggles to survive, and he learns from his mistakes. For example, it is through trial and error that Brian learns to catch fish with his bow and arrow. After many trials, he realizes that he must consider that water refracts light. For this reason, he must aim just below the fish. Brian also learns through an encounter with a skunk that he must create a more effective shelter to protect himself and his food.
What did Brian do after the plane engine died in Hatchet?
In chapter 1, Brian boards a plane to go to Canada to visit his father. His parents had recently gotten divorced:
So this summer, this first summer when he was allowed to have "visitation rights" with his father, with the divorce only one month old, Brian was heading north.
Brian's dad is a mechanical engineer working in the oil fields in Canada. Brian is going to Canada from New York with "some drilling equipment" for his dad. He flies in a bush plane with only the pilot and himself on board. While traveling, the pilot has a heart attack. Thankfully, he had shown Brian how to fly the plane before his heart attack:
"Good plane like this almost flies itself. . . . Makes my job easy." He took Brian's left arm. "Here, put your hands on the controls, your feet on the rudder pedals, and I'll show you what I mean." . . . Brian reached out and took the wheel in a grip so tight his knuckles were white. He pushed his feet down on the pedals. The plane slewed suddenly to the right.
The pilot's training allows Brian to steer the plane after the pilot's death:
He had to fly it somehow. Had to fly the plane. He had to help himself. The pilot was gone, beyond anything he could do. He had to try and fly the plane.
He tries to communicate with someone using the plane's radio; he gets through to someone and has a short broken conversation that is not helpful:
It all seemed so hopeless. Even if he did get somebody, what could anybody do? Tell him to be careful? All so hopeless.
He soon realizes that the plane will eventually run out of gas; he either has to "wait for the plane to run out of gas and fall or he could push the throttle in and make it happen sooner."
He decides to continue flying, but he thinks of a plan while the plane moves:
When he ran out of fuel the plane would start down. He guessed that without the propeller pulling he would have to push the nose down to keep the plane flying . . . He would have to push the nose down to keep flying speed and then, just before he hit, he would have to pull the nose back up to slow the plane as much as possible.
Brian decides to let the plane run out of fuel, but he thinks about how he will bring the plane down without crashing to the ground. He decides, also, that he will need to find a clearing to land in. However, there are no clearings in the woods. Instead, he decides he will need to land in water.
When he finally runs out of gas, he pushes the nose of the plane down, as he has planned. He scans the ground to find a lake; then, he steers the plane towards this lake. Despite his great fear, he manages to land the plane in the lake:
Then a wild crashing sound, ripping of metal, and the plane rolled to the right and blew through the trees, out over the water and down, down to slam into the lake, skip once on water as hard as concrete, water that tore the windshield out and shattered the side windows, water that drove him back into the seat.
Brian then fights to get his seatbelt off and escape through the broken front window. He makes his way out of the water and to the shore. Now, he has to figure out how to survive alone in the woods.
In Hatchet, where does Brian get his wilderness knowledge?
As he crashes into the lake, Brian has basically no knowledge of the wilderness. He had flown over it previously to visit his father but never spent any significant time in it. The fact that his mother had given him the hatchet was somewhat odd in light of this fact, but obviously it was vital to his survival.
So Brian gains his knowledge through painful experience. From his very first day getting bitten ferociously by the mosquitoes, he begins to stockpile understanding and experience that will serve him well. He learns not to eat just any berries after the gut cherries give him horrible stomach pains and other awful symptoms. He learns that he has to keep any food in a safe place after dealing with the skunk that stole his turtle eggs.
Eventually Brian feels like he has gained enough knowledge that he is confident in his existence there at the side of the lake. He is obviously happy to be rescued when the bush pilot lands on the lake but he is so comfortable that, rather than race out to get on the plane and get away, he invites the pilot to join him to eat the meal he's just cooked.