ShmoopTube
Where Monty Python meets your 10th grade teacher.
Search Thousands of Shmoop Videos
Transformation Videos 16 videos
In Maya Angelou's poem "Africa," she compares Africa's pain and struggles to a woman being brutalized. Why does she do this? Is it to draw sympathy...
We're not sure if good ol' Shakespeare would endorse The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, but that's not going to stop us from hosting themed viewing...
Why did the editor give Chapter 21 of A Clockwork Orange the axe? Was it because he wanted to leave the reader hanging? Or did he realize Americans...
Hatchet 5923 Views
Share It!
Description:
The ultimate young-kid-lost-in-the-wilderness book. And yes, there are a lot of them.
Transcript
- 00:01
Hatchet, a la Shmoop. In Gary Paulsen's Hatchet, Brian uses a hatchet
- 00:14
his mother gave him to survive in a forest after getting marooned in a plane crash.
- 00:19
Because this hatchet thing gets top billing, we have to imagine that it symbolizes something
- 00:23
pretty important. If it's not simply because Brian finds it
- 00:26
exceptionally useful...
Full Transcript
- 00:27
... could it be that the hatchet represents a bridge between technology and nature?
- 00:32
Maybe it denotes feelings of hope and despair?
- 00:35
Or perhaps it is Brian's last vestige of his home?
- 00:40
We actually like to think that it symbolizes the tools we need -- physical or otherwise
- 00:44
-- that help us through some tough times.
- 00:47
We wouldn't recommend trying to get through a rough break-up with a literal hatchet though.
- 00:51
You could wind up serving 40 to life. So question: Do our parents give us enough
- 00:57
tools to make it through life's disasters?
- 00:59
Are we stronger... ...or weaker than our parents?
- 01:03
With all the modern challenges thrown our way...
- 01:06
...are 'Kids These Days' going to be... okay? Is the whole world going to end?
- 01:13
Will this be the 'Last Generation'...ever? Probably not.
- 01:20
But are parents giving kids the 'Hatchets' they need...
- 01:22
...to survive this modern world? Brian got a real hatchet...
- 01:26
...without which he wouldn't have been able to construct a shelter, cut up his meals,
- 01:30
or defend himself against predators. But us kids are getting 'mental' hatchets...
- 01:37
...so we can cut through our challenges... ...and find our way out of our own forests,
- 01:43
just like Brian did. Even though parents are helping...
- 01:45
...it's still up to us kids to use our tools. For good...
- 01:49
...or for not so good. But preferably for good.
- 01:54
Kids are as strong as they've ever been... ...but what about the next generation?
- 01:57
Will the world end with them, or will they figure out how to use their own hatchets to
- 02:02
make their way? Shmoop Amongst Yourselves.
Related Videos
They say that honesty is the best policy, but Jack lies about his identity and still gets the girl. Does that mean we should all lie to get what we...
Ever wish you could remember everything that you ever studied? How about everything that everyone has ever studied? Yeah, pretty sure our brains ju...
Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man is an American classic. Hope you're not expecting any exciting shower scenes though. It's not that kind of book.
Do not go gentle into that good night. In fact, if it's past your curfew, don't go at all into that good night. You just stay in your good bed and...
