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Early 20th-Century Literature Videos 47 videos
You might be hearing a chorus of farewells if you recommend A Farewell to Arms as the next read for your Fabulously Feisty Feminist Book Club.
She was just a girl who found herself in some unimaginably awful circumstances. If you feel like gaining some valuable perspective on the drama in...
Hatchet 5921 Views
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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.
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