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"The secret"
Brian finds out about his mother's affair with his father, which he refers to as "the secret". He does not find it in himself to tell his mother that he knows this secret. -
The hatchet
Brian's mother gave Brian a going away gift to use in the woods during the Summer with his father. After given to him, he attaches it to his belt where it remains for the time of the plane ride. -
Heart Attack
The pilot allowed Brian to briefly take control of the plane. The pilot makes remarks about pain in his shoulder. Shortly after, the pain in the pilot's shoulder increases and Brian realizes that the pilot is having a heart attack, leaving Brian in confusion of what to do. -
Plane crash
After the shock of the sudden heart attack of the pilot, Brian is left unable and unaware of how to manuever the plane, He attempts to control the plane but is confused from the various controls on the dashboard. Every ten minutes he attempts to use the radio to make contact to relay information of his current status. The plane engine dies, forcing him to land into a lake. -
Positive thinking
After the plane crash, Brian manages to swim out of the lake and passes out on the shore of the lake. When he awakens, he remebers his English teacher's emphasis on maintaining a positive attitude. With that in mind, he sttempts to calm himself down and realizes he must find food and make shelter -
Shelter
Brian remembers past experiences of him and a friend, when him and his friend get 'lost' in the woods and made a lean-to shelter for the night, which inspires Brian in finding a spot to build his shelter in. After Brian finds his spot to set up shelter, he becomes aware of his current state of hunger and realizes he must seek food. -
Unexpected visitor
In the middle of the night, Brian awoke to a sound from something inside his shelter. He throws his hatchet across the shelter, with serious pain in his leg to follow It was a porcupine, and it attacked him with hundreds of its quills. He then pulls the painful quills out one by one, crying and losing what desire to live he has. After hs is done crying, he realizes that crying and feeling sorry for himself won't save him. He considers it to be the most omportant lesson of survivsl. -
Fire! Fire!
Brian decides to hit his hatchet on some rocks in his shelter realizing that that could aid him in making a fire for his lack of matches. He then sets off for materials needed in making a fire. -
Nothing like raw eggs!
Brian sets out in hopes of finding food. He reaches the lake and comes across a pile of turtle eggs, realizing that the eggs had more nourishment than any other food he's found so far. He gets over the unpleasant taste, he eats a few eggs and decides to eat the eggs later. -
Time to fish
Brian realized that the lake would be home to fish, which would be a great source of food. He realizes that he'd need some kind of weapon to aid him, so he develops a fishing spear. Needing a way of effectively killing the fish, he decides to create a bow and arrow to shoot the spear into the water. -
Search plane ahead!
While looking for wood to construct the bow and arrow with, a plane flies over him giving Brian hope that people have came to rescue him. He attempts to get the plane's attention by shouting at the top of his hungs and waving his arms, only to have the plane fly over him, abandoning faith that he will ever become rescued from the island. -
The first catch
Through many failed attempts to catch a fish, he wonders what he is doing wrong. He thinks it over and realizes that due to refraction from the water, the fish appear in a different spot than they actually are, leading him to adjust him aim. On the first day that he catches fish, he feasts on the fish. The satisfactory of catching fish gives him new hope of being rescued. -
On no, a tornado!
One night, Brian awakes to very loud noises that sounded similar to the sound of a train. He looks outside to find a tornado coming his way. With no way of protecting his house, he seeks the most effective immediate shelter. The tornado destroys his shelter and scatters his supplies throught the area making them unable to retrieve with his only left object his hatchet. -
Tools of survival
Brian remembers the plane in the lake, and realizes there might be some items that could help him survive in the plane. He makes a raft to get out to the plane, and attempts to dive to the plane. He hits the plane door with his fist, and opens them. He uses his hatchet to cut through the rest of the door. He retrieves the survival pack, but on his way up sees the pilot's flesh eaten by fish. Disgusted, he has trouble bringing the pack to the surface. -
Rescued!
In the pack, he finds a vareity of objects, a radio transmitter being one of them. He tries to turn it on but it appears that there's no success doing so. He takes some of the food packets from the pack and prepares to eat one of the packets. As he's doing so, he hears a plane engine and a plane lands on the lake. The pilot tells him he heard the transmitter's signal. He realizes that the other search planes were looking for Brian, who was standing right in front of him. Brian is then rescued. -
Quote 1
“You are your most valuable asset. Don’t forget that. You are the best thing you have.“ This is important because it's the words of his English teacher, which gives him hope to survive -
Quote 2
"Long tears, self-pity tears, wasted tears." This is important because Brian realizes that self-pity is just a waste of time for him and he won't get anything accomplished crying. -
Qoute 3
“Fire. The hatchet was the key to it all.” This is important because Brian realizes that the hatchet would help him in making a fire, which would be crucial to him surviving.
