The Role Of Grit In Gary Paulsen's Hatchet

Words: 1562
Pages: 7

Can you imagine a world without the invention of the light bulb? Many crucial inventions to today’s life would not have been created if it weren’t for the grit that the inventor possessed. “Grit is passion and perseverance for very long term goals. Grit is having stamina” (Duckworth). If it weren’t for this grit that Angela Lee Duckworth explains in the TEDTalk, "The key to success? Grit”, many inventors would have given up on their inventions after a few unsuccessful tries. Did you know that it took Thomas Edison over 1,000 attempts until he finally got a working lightbulb? If it weren’t for him persevering through all of these failed attempts, we wouldn’t have the light bulb. Grit is very important to me because I strongly believe that …show more content…
The main character in this novel is a thirteen-year-old boy named Brian Robeson whose parents recently got divorced. Over one summer, his mother gives him a hatchet as a gift and sends him on a plane to his father’s house in Canada. Brian is the only passenger on the plane and not long into the flight, the pilot has a heart attack and dies. Brian is able to then crash land the plane into a lake in a very desolate piece of land and managed to escape with only some bruises. Brian must work day in and day out to survive on his own in these woods and to reach his ultimate goal: return home. Brian must use grit to attain this goal, which means that he must not let something knock him down without getting back up, and he must constantly fight to reach his end goal. Brian begins to show grit not long into his journey when he is attacked by a porcupine and uses his grit to get past this obstacle of a few more injuries and tries to remain on track. Then after a while of fighting for survival, another test of his grit appears, he is attacked by a skunk and shortly after, a moose. These animals both attack him and Brian must use grit to not give up on surviving. Brian was so tired at this point from the constant worrying about what he would eat, where he would sleep, where the next animal hunting for food was, and so on. It would be so easy for him to just curl …show more content…
Martin Luther King Junior. Martin Luther King Jr. had to work for years, day in and day out to get rights for people of color. Martin Luther King Jr. was constantly harassed and told “no” to his idea of everyone having equal rights. People alway tried to knock Martin Luther King Jr. down but he did not let them. He fought and fought as hard as he could and always remained peaceful. This took a lot of grit. Martin Luther King Jr. followed through on his plan to achieve equality and this was an extreme test of grit. In order to continue to achieve his goal, he had to have the mental stamina to let him persevere through setbacks or obstacles. In his case, he had to have the mental stamina to let him persevere through everyone telling him that he was wrong, or trying to make him use violent ways. Martin Luther King Jr. had to continue on with his protests and speeches even after being physically, and mentally abused by those who had opposing views. If it weren’t for this quality of grit that Martin Luther King Jr. possessed, he might have given up on his fight for rights. He wouldn’t have given his famous speeches and led marches which prompted equal rights for people of color. Grit is and has been shown by many people in everyday life and one person in particular who showed that they used grit was Dr. Martin Luther King Junior. Martin Luther King Jr. had to work