Hatchet:By Gary Paulsen

Quote 1: "At this point he sat back on the beach and studied the problem again. Sense, he had to use sense. That's all it took to solve problems—just sense."(pg., chapter 17)- He realises that to solve his problem he needs to be calm and organized otherwise everything will go in vain. He needs to take the time and calm himself in order to realise what he's doing wrong then only he can solve the problem and also continue to survive in the wilderness without dying or panicing. 

 

Quote 2: "West, he thought. I'm watching the sun set in the west. And that way was north where his father was, and that way east and that way south—and somewhere to the south and east his mother would be. The news would be on the television. He could visualize more easily his mother doing things than his father because he had never been to where his father lived now. He knew everything about how his mother lived. She would have the small television on the kitchen counter on and be watching the news and talking about how awful it was in South Africa or how cute the baby in the commercial looked. Talking and making sounds, cooking sounds."(pg.61, chapter 17) -Brian thinks about life in the city, and imagines what must be going on there. His mother's concerns—and in a way, the concerns of all the people in the city—seem almost quaint, so detached from the surrounding reality. This invites comparison to Brian's life on the lake, where he must constantly be aware of his immediate surroundings. If only he could get a small kitchen TV out there, too.

 

Quote 3: "He looked down at his feet and saw that there were some fish in his fish pen looking for the tiny bits of bait still left from before the wind came. He fought impatience to get on the plane project and remembered sense, remembered what he had learned. First food, because food made strength; first food, then thought, then action. There were fish at hand here, and he might not be able to get anything from the plane. That was all a dream." (pg.59, chapter 17) -Brian reminds himself, physical needs like hunger and thirst have to come first, before less immediate goals can be pursued. Being in nature forces Brian, here and elsewhere in the book, to live in the moment and concentrate on the here and now