How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Of course he had made a lot of mistakes. He smiled now, walking up the lakeshore after the wolves were gone, thinking of the early mistakes; the mistakes that came before he realized that he had to find new ways to be what he had become. (13.19)
Brian's ability to survive sure isn't based on his natural skills at hunting or making a shelter or building a fire. When you get right down to it, his success comes from his willingness to go forward despite all of his mistakes—his willingness to persevere.
Quote #8
It had been a feast day, his first feast day, and a celebration of being alive and the new way he had of getting food. By the end of that day, when it became dark and he lay next to the fire with his stomach full of fish and grease from the meat smeared around his mouth, he could feel new hope building in him. Not hope that he would be rescued—that was gone.
But hope in his knowledge. Hope in the fact that he could learn and survive and take care of himself.
Tough hope, he thought that night. I am full of tough hope. (13.35-37)
In a note in the 20th-anniversary edition of Hatchet, Gary Paulsen says that if he had a motto, it would probably be "I am full of tough hope." Tough hope, as defined here, is the hope that comes out of despair, the hope that knows that life goes on even though things will not be easy. Got tough hope?
Quote #9
Patience, he thought. So much of this was patience—waiting and thinking and doing things right. So much of all this, so much of all living was patience and thinking. (15.31)
We often think that perseverance goes hand in hand with strength—you know, the boxer who lasts through ten rounds and still gets up off the floor after it's all over. Brian points out that perseverance can be a passive quality, too—the ability to wait when it's necessary, and sometimes to do nothing at all.