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Overall Summary
Gary Paulsen’s Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books recounts a series of stories that inspired him to write his best-selling books, including plane crashes, dog sled races, and other adventures. Gary Paulsen has had many life experiences which have helped make him an outstanding writer.
Hatchet is a part of the Brian’s Saga series by Gary Paulsen. The book follows thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson who survives in Northern Canada after being in a plane crash. He has nothing but his hatchet, and he learns to hunt, build shelter, craft things and get help from others using his own initiative. His story is based on Gary Paulsen’s experiences while he was lost for several days when he himself was young.
In Guts, Paulsen explains how Brian has no choice but to swim free after he tries to land the plane when the pilot dies of a heart attack. This is inspired by his own life experiences; Paulsen worked as an emergency volunteer and has seen how devastating heart attacks are to everyone else on board.
He remembers traveling a lot, but being unable to save people because it took too long. He has to have hope that the next person will survive. Sometimes they do.
Paulsen was inspired to write Hatchet after witnessing a plane crash. He wondered what would happen if someone survived the wreck but there were no other people around to help him, so he created Brian Robeson, a character with little experience in life who is alone and has to survive on his own.
Paulsen has experienced things similar to the experiences of Brian in the books. For example, he’s been trapped in a storm while racing sled dogs and had to be rescued by plane. Another time, he tried turtle eggs because he was curious about how they taste. He believes that we should experience things for ourselves instead of listening to what others say; as a result, he always looks for new experiences to try.
Although the situations in which Brian finds himself are serious, Paulsen’s writing has a humorous touch. For example, he describes moose stampeding and swarms of mosquitos that give him no peace. It’s only by living through these experiences that Paulsen can bring true reactions to Brian’s character.
Survival is important. Even though Paulsen made mistakes, he learned from them and never repeated the same one twice if it didn’t kill him. Fear can consume you, but you must believe in yourself and that things will improve. This applies to wilderness survival as well as life in general. Wisdom is critical for success and survival; we should learn from our mistakes so that we don’t repeat them again.
Brian must make tools to hunt and defend himself. He learns from his mistakes, just as the author did when he made similar tools. Brian also recalls how difficult it is to hunt even with weapons, and how you need patience and attention to detail in order to do so. You have to carve arrows correctly or else they won’t fly properly.
Paulsen is trying to get across the idea that children need more freedom and independence in their education. They’re not being taught how to think for themselves, only how to follow instructions. He believes there’s a lot of information out there that they’re missing because they don’t have the opportunity to explore it. This will help them be better prepared for real-life situations where they must adapt quickly in order to survive.
Although Paulsen could write a survival book without actually going through the same things as Brian, it is important to him that Brian’s dilemmas are as factually accurate as possible. This will help deliver the messages he wants to communicate.
