Hatchet: Chapter 7 Summary & Analysis

Brian wakes up in terrible pain in the middle of the night, screaming for his mother. He feels that the berries he ate are tearing his stomach apart, and he throws up in the sand outside his shelter before finally crawling back inside. He relives the memory of seeing his mother in the station wagon, this time thinking of her kissing the man in the car. Tormented by the Secret, he eventually falls asleep again.

Brian awakens early, again swarmed by mosquitos. He does his best to tidy up his camp and, while drinking from the lake, sees his reflection in the water. Brian thinks how ugly he looks and is overcome by misery at how alone and battered he is. He cries “self-pity tears, wasted tears” for several minutes before being distracted by his hunger and deciding that he must eat again.

Brian chooses some of the riper berries, which he now calls gut cherries, and carefully washes and eats them, deciding to get rid of the less ripe ones. He decides that he can still eat them if need be but that he wants to find better berries as well. Planning his route, Brian thinks about returning home later and realizes that he has thought of the shelter as home. Looking at it, he decides that it’s not such a bad place and resolves to call it home from now on.

Brian explores farther along the lake and discovers a clearing full of raspberry bushes. Brian is delighted to find that they are sweet and ripe, and he eats until he is full, careful not to push his stomach too much. He starts to pick more and is feeling happy about his situation when he turns around and sees a black bear.

Brian is frozen with fear and watches as the large, beautiful bear studies him with curiosity. The bear calmly continues eating raspberries and then leaves the clearing. As soon as it is gone, Brian runs back toward the shelter in terror. However, he stops halfway, reflecting that the bear was only curious about him and in fact did not try to hurt him. Brian convinces himself to believe that the bear does not mean him harm and resolves to go back and pick more berries.

Brian picks raspberries for the rest of the morning without seeing the bear again and then returns to his shelter when it starts to rain in the afternoon. He discovers that the raspberry juice is seeping through his windbreaker and drinks it happily, realizing that the pain in his body has greatly decreased since the crash. Brian thinks back on the bear, wondering whether it was as surprised as he was, and finds himself thinking about something other than himself for the first time since the crash. Just in case other dangerous animals appear, he places his hatchet by his head when he goes to sleep.