Hatchet:By Gary Paulsen

Quote 1: "Mistakes.Small mistakes could turn into disasters, funny little mistakes could snowball so that while you were still smiling at the humor you could find yourself looking at death. In the city if he made a mistake usually there was a way to rectify it, make it all right. If he fell on his bike and sprained a leg he could wait for it to heal; if he forgot something at the store he could find other food in the refrigerator.Now it was so different, and all so quick, all so incredibly quick. If he sprained a leg here he might starve before he could get around again; if he missed while he was hunting or if the fish moved away he might starve. If he got sick, really sick so he couldn't move he might starve." (pg.48, chapter 14) - One of the most important differences between the city and the natural world, of course, is that the stakes are much higher in the natural world. In the city, people are often protected from the consequences of their mistakes, but in the natural world, one mistake can change your situation either in good or bad.

 

Quote 2: "A hundred funny cartoons he had seen about skunks. Cute cartoons about the smell of skunks, cartoons to laugh at and joke about, but when the spray hit there was nothing funny about it—he was completely blind for almost two hours."(pg. 49, chapter 14) - Brian now knows this is how to be blind in nature. He is also realises that fiction is very different from reality and its not amusing

 

Quote 3:"It had always been so simple at home. He would go to the store and get a chicken and it was all cleaned and neat, no feathers or insides, and his mother would bake it in the oven and he would eat it. His mother from the old time, from the time before, would bake it"(pg.52, chapter 15) - Brian reflects on the ease of getting food back in the civilized world. In the woods, he has to kill the bird himself, then clean it, cook it. He learns to appreciate the value of effort that goes in doing any kind of work. He appreciates the hard work that his mother does for him.