"Hatchet" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Brian Robeson

As "Hatchet" begins, we meet Brian Robeson, a thirteen-year-old from New York City. He also says his name in the final sentence of the book in a line that would make anyone smile.

Answer: Canada

While flying to see his divorced father, Brian's pilot seems to experience increasing pain in his shoulder, arm and stomach. At first, Brian doesn't think it's serious, but as the pilot begins jerking in his seat it becomes clear that he is having a heart attack.

The attack stops and the pilot is dead, so Brian is forced to take over the controls. After a harrowing descent, the plane crashes into a lake in the Canadian woods, where Brian is stranded and his tale of survival begins.

Answer: berries

He finds some strange berries, which make him extremely sick. He learns his lesson and focuses more on meat, even though he gathers some more berries for emergency situations.

Answer: porcupine

He wakes up in the middle of the night to find that a porcupine has entered his shelter. He throws the hatchet in its direction. It shoots its quills into Brian's leg, causing him severe pain. Brian then attempts to build a fire with no matches, but eventually succeeds when he realizes that throwing his hatchet caused sparks.

Answer: spear

Brian spends many hours perfecting his fish spear, but in the end it fails to help him catch any fish. After this, he realizes that he needs a way to send the spear into the water at rapid speeds, so he decides to make a bow and arrow.

Answer: foolbird

While searching for wood, Brian almost steps on a bird, which flies up in a flurry of feathers. It occurs to him then that he can try to catch these small birds, which he calls "foolbirds".

Answer: False

This is all true, except for Brian's method of suicide. He does not try to drown himself, but instead tries to commit suicide by cutting himself with his hatchet. When he survives, he determines to never let death tempt him again, and in that moment, he transforms himself into the 'new Brian', where awareness, intelligence and courage erase previous feelings of fear, loathing and ignorance.

Answer: The Day of First Meat

He constantly refers back to "The Day of First Meat" as the illustrious day where he feasted on the foolbird that he rotated over the fire he made, using the spear he carved.

Answer: moose

After this, the events of a quick yet disastrous tornado leave Brian out in the open, his shelter and fire obliterated.

Answer: No

He is surprised to find a survivor rifle among the pack's contents, but either way, he dislikes it, as he feels it separates him from the natural environment to which he has become accustomed. Although he does agree that his daily patterns would become much easier with the use of a rifle, he feels attached to his methods of self-sufficiency. Now, I assume you've read the book to be doing this quiz, but I still don't like to write endings down, so I will not discuss if Brian made it home or not.