Preview

From Touching the Void (Notes)

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
402 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
From Touching the Void (Notes)
From touching the Void - Joe simpson

Joe and Simon, two friends embark on a climbing expidition in the Andes mountain range when things go unexpectedly and horribly wrong. The author Joe Simpson writes two accounts, each giving their own perspective on the incident

In Joe's account, the diction throughout the entire account is quite traumatic. Alot of words give imagery to the unbearable pain of both physical and mental agony

e.g.: "The pain flooded through my thigh"

" My thoughts raced madly "

These words show that he is in alot of physical and mental agony and gives the reader a sence of how terrible breaking a leg in that type of location is.

Joe describes that he is done for now that he has broken his leg and that nothing can be done to save him. There are very dark words throughout the piece

e.g.: "terrible", "dark", "dread", "dead"

In paragraph four it almost seems that he's talking to himself saying how it doesn't hurt so much

e.g.: "maby i've ripped something"

He is suggesting a better alternative so that the result would be so much worse. He is sort of giving a calm before the storm moment, in which the reader thinks everything is okay and then it takes a turn for the worse. Some of the things he writes exaggerates the reality of the situation such as the pointing out of how high up they were

e.g.: "we were above 19000 feet,still on the ridge and pretty much alone

He writes this to get the reader to see the peril that they were trapped in and to show the odds of surviving the gravity of the situation

To make the account even more remarkable the use of hyperboles which is evident in the words

e.g.: "My knee exploded"

"and the fireball gushed from groin to knee"

The account is written in moderately short paragraphs, once again to to build up tension and emphasize the gravity and remarkable situation

e.g.: I screamed. I lookd down at my knee and could see that it was broken.

The short sentences and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    The author of this essay uses the literary element of description well. He is able to pull his audience into the event with him. Through his use of concrete words and description, he is…

    • 221 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The boy in the story, Rudi, was just a normal kid who was doing one of his favorite things, which is hiking in the mountains. Rudi discovered a man, Captain Winter, trapped in a crevasse and he immediately wanted to help him out of there before he died from being frozen to death. “A head appeared. A pair of shoulders. A face was raised for an instant and then lowered. Again one hand moved slowly up past the other.” Rudi took the risk and saved Captain Winter. This proves that risks do pay off because it turns out that Captain Winter was Rudi’s hero and Rudi’s father was Captain Winter’s hero. Captain Winter was known throughout the alps as the best mountaineer of his day. Also, Rudi’s father was considered one of the best guides ever. Rudi is in shock right now becomes his hero knows of his family and is a fan of Rudi’s father. Talk about a small world. The whole point of this chapter was that even though something may seem difficult and be hard, you shouldn’t give up and not take the risk. You should take the risk because you never know what the outcome may be. Rudi had no idea that the man trapped in the crevasse was one of his heroes but even though he didn’t know the guy at the time, he still took the risk and saved him. This chapter clearly demonstrates why risks should always be…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    An unreliable perspective is used through the text, employing a narrative voice which results in ambiguity, leading the reader to think about the reality of the novel.…

    • 874 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This statement is about death. He is saying that no matter how horrible his body may feel he would rather live through the pain than just die. The use of the words “prolong the agony,” stand out to me. Personally, when…

    • 549 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Without any warning except a slight movement of O'Brien's hand, a wave of pain flooded his body. It was a frightening pain, because he could not see what was happening, and he had the feeling that some mortal injury was being done to him. He did not know whether the thing was really happening, or whether the effect was electrically produced; but his body was being wrenched out of shape, the joints were being slowly torn apart. (Orwell…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Shoe Horn Sonata

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Discuss how the author utilizes dramatic techniques to explore the themes of post- traumatic stress, survival and friendship.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    On his death bed he has a chance to make things a little better with Janie but instead they end up bickering, Joe yells at her saying, “Shut up! Ah wish thunder and lightnin’ would kill yuh!”(p.86) Joe would call Janie an old woman to make himself feel better with his own looks. Joe’s cold hearted nature RUINS his and Janie’s relationship; it also hurt his relationship with other people. Joe’s cold heartedness satisfies him; he will put Janie down to make himself feel better. Joe changes for the worst, in the beginning he was pleasant, and then turned nasty towards the end. Joe could have had a loving wife if he had not have been so cold towards…

    • 627 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    A separate peace study guide

    • 4334 Words
    • 13 Pages

    What is implied when the narrator considers “how far (his) convalescence had gone”? When the narrator sais “how far (his) convalescence had gone”, he’s implying that he’s been injured and is going through the process of his body repairing itself.…

    • 4334 Words
    • 13 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Montresor's Hyperbole

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The sentence that I saw that is an example of a hyperbole is "You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose,however, that gave utterance to a throat." This sentence makes me less sympathetic towards the murderer. I feel less sympathetic because he is showing a lot of hatred.…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Into Thin Air

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Throughout the personal account novel Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, there are fierce qualities which has mainly transformed from whole climbers’ satisfactory. Loyalty and teamwork invent whole members on Everest to experience hardships. In spite of inexperienced clients’ limitation, guides keep on pushing themselves to achieve their purpose. Due to all members in this expedition participate with their full of passion and determination, guides reveals arrogance, even over clients’ limitation. Moreover, Hall’s knowledge about media players such as Jon Krakauer and Sandy Pittman cause lethal events.…

    • 744 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Into Thin Air Essay

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In this passage from Jon Krauaker's Into Thin Air, Jon Krauaker does not display the sense of accomplishment that one would expect from achieving such a difficult endeavor. He really displays a sense of grief and dissatisfaction from what he had accomplished. For taking a risk as life threatening as this, in Krauaker's eyes, he couldn't possibly be proud of what he had done when so many men had lost their lives during the same excursion that he journeyed on. Throughout this novel, Jon Krauaker uses immense amounts of rhetorical devices to display his emotion to convey his attitude toward the dangers of climbing Mt. Everest.…

    • 803 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    What the author is trying to say is that he could not escape from the names that he had been called, nobody was there to help when he was being called names, and that being hurt mentally feels the same as being hurt physically.…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The effect on the reader is that wow, God never leaves you there to suffer the pain alone. It shows that he will always be there beside you even though you think God isn’t. God never gives you anything that you…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jon Krakauer begins Into Thin Air with a dedication page that displays the names of everyone on Rob Hall’s (the team leader) team who perished during the climb. Following the dedication page, there is an epigraph that suggests the theme of the book: theme here. Krakauer then gives an introduction in which he explains how he compiled the book and how the climb impacted his life. The book also contains several pictures that Scott Fischer (another team leader) took while climbing, allowing the audience to realize the perils of the climb. With the pictures is a map of the ascent and a description of each person who died during the climb. Accompanying each chapter is a Randy Rackliff illustration that previews what will occur in…

    • 867 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Circular saws response

    • 404 Words
    • 1 Page

    him of the pain he suffered, hence, avoiding it. As the third stanza begins, the poem has…

    • 404 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays