There he begins his long adventure of living on his own in the wilderness. He does manage to free himself from the plane and swim to shore. It is a good plan, but unfortunately instead of landing on the shoreline, Brian lands in the lake. He has decided to let the plane run out of fuel and try to glide it down on a shoreline next to a lake. He has had only a short lesson on how to fly the plane, so he must come up with a plan of to how to land. Brian is out of radio range and has to land the plane himself. The pilot of the bush plane, which Brian is a passenger in, has had a heart attack and died. Glide down, then slow the plane and hit.' (Brian Robeson, Chapter 2, p. The hatchet became a symbol of life to Brian, which is why he did all he could to keep it with him and in good working order.

Little did she know this gift would be the only thing standing between her son living and dying, after he is marooned in the wilderness. She thought that since his dad was working in the oil fields of Canada, which were located in a forested area, he might find a hatchet useful and fun to use. In an effort to reach out to her son, Brian's mother bought him a gift to take with him on his visit to his father. 'Inside there was a hatchet, the kind with a steel handle and a rubber handgrip.' (Narrator, Chapter 1, p. All he knows, is this is the cause of his family being torn apart and his world disintegrating in front of him. He doesn't know what to do with it or how to get rid of it. He is carrying this Secret around with him, as if it is a piece of unwanted luggage. His mother did not see him, his father did not know about the other man, and his friend, Terry, did not know Brian's secret either.

He saw her alone with another man in the man's station wagon in a mall parking lot. What he knew and had not told anybody, what he knew about his mother that had caused the divorce, what he knew, what he knew- the Secret.' (Brian Robeson, Chapter 1, p.3)īrian is thinking about how much his life has changed, because his mother had an affair. 'No, not secrets so much as just the Secret.

Brian robeson hatchet