Linda Ulleseit

Determination and Learning from Mistakes

by Joshua

            In the book Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen, Brian’s plane crashes in a lake. While Brian is stranded, he learns how to hunt for food and start a fire. He doesn’t give up when he is in trouble and learns from his mistakes.

First, the pilot has a heart attack in the plane, and Brian has to control the plane. He crashes into a lake, and luckily, survives. Over the next days, he eats wildlife food and learns how to make weapons. One day, he makes an arrow and a bow, which kills a bird, but doesn’t kill fish. He finally makes a spear to kill the fish. The next day, a noisy sound wakes him up. It turns out to be a tornado. A few days later, he decides to go in the sunken plane to get the emergency bag. He finds food and a radio transmitter, which he finds out he had left on the whole time. A plane finally comes to rescue him.

Determination is a good value for people, instead of quitting. When he tries to make weapons to hunt the wildlife, he uses different kinds of ways to make it. For example, he first uses the bow and arrow to kill the fish, but he realizes that it doesn’t work, so he makes a spear. Even though some tries don’t work for him, he is still determined to hunt for the fish. He finally does it, because he is determined. Once, in Bizworld, I tried to learn how to make a ninja star. I tried to make it, but it didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to turn out. I used different kinds of ways to make it, and I finally did it.

Learning from your mistakes is something that people should do, and what Brian does. When he goes into the water, the moose throws him. At first, he tried to escape from the moose quickly, but the moose still flung him. He learns that if he moved slower, then the moose wouldn’t have tossed him around. This is what he learns. I also learn from my mistakes, but it usually doesn’t go that painful. When I started in a youth symphony this year, I didn’t really know how to play the pieces, so I was last seat in the cello section. I knew my lesson. I learned from this, so every time my symphony hands out new pieces, I always remember to be prepared.

After Brian lives for more than a month in the wilderness, he has more experience on how to survive in the wilderness. He learns how to be persistent and also knows and changes his errors.