A+Mountain+Journey

A Mountain Journey

[|How To Read A Story]

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: A Mountain Journey

Point of View: This story was told from a third-person point of view.

Protagonist: The protagonist was named Dave Conroy.

What type of character is the Protagonist? Dave Conoroy is a round and dynamic, because he changes over the course of the story.

Antagonist: The antagonist is himself.

Describe the setting The setting takes place during a frigid winter day, somewhere on the Rocky Mountains, near Jasper in the 1970s, or before. At first, the mood of the setting is cold, impatient and tired. This soon expands to desperation and a longing to get home. []

Type of Conflict: Man vs. Himself

Describe the main conflict: In the beginning, all he wants is to get home safely. This soon turns into a fight against himself to stay alive, and to make rational decisions despite his body’s condition.

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax in this story is when Dave Conroy attempts to climb up to MacMoran’s cabin even though his body is in such a terrible state of desperation and pain. His mind is not fully capable of functioning properly, and Dave Conroy makes a fatal decision because of it.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? In the beginning of the story, Dave Conroy is just a man trying to get home. By the end of the story, he changes into a desperate, dying man, on the verge of insanity, trying to keep himself alive.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. The title of this story is “A Mountain Journey”. We’ve decided that the theme of this story is survival, and making the right choices. A mountain journey is always hard and strenuous, and so is staying alive during desperate situations. During a mountain journey, it’s inevitable that you’ll encounter dangerous obstacles, and that you’ll be uncomfortable at times. During the fight for survival, it is also obvious that you’ll run into many hardships as well.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? Because he’s on the verge of insanity, Dave Conroy isn’t capable to make rational choices. He must also fight against his body, which is slowly freezing to death, to stay alive. This illustrates the theme of “survival”.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? We think of this story is when Dave Conroy attempts to climb up to MacMoran’s cabin. He makes the choice to attempt to make it to MacMoran’s cabin because he’s desperate to survive, but in the middle of his strenuous climb, he makes the fatal decision to take a rest, which results in his death.

Give examples of each of the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):

Simile:

pg 95, paragraph 3:

“Stiff, branchless trees, like a parade of skeletons, climbing up the mountainside”

Metaphor: pg 91, paragraph 1: “the cold was an old man’s fingers feeling craftily through his clothes”

Personification: pg 91, paragraph 1: “whose breath had hung stubby icicles on his moustache”

pg 91 paragraph 2: “stand back on his skis and let them carry him where he wished to go”

Symbol: During the conclusion of the story, Conroy sees a a white, low-roofed cottage with green trees and an open door during a hallucination. The open door on the cottage symbolizes that Conroy was close to comfort, warmth and a welcoming home.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): On page 96, Conroy says to himself: “Any man who froze his hands or feet only had himself to blame”. Although his hands and feet were very cold from the icy water, they were not frozen yet, therefore, this is an example of foreshadowing because later on he freezes his hands and feet because of his mistake.

Irony: On page 93, Conroy falls into a freezing river. The cold water “sears the flesh of his writs like flames”. This is an example of irony because cold water is the opposite of flames. This is verbal irony

Imagery: pg 95, paragraph 3: “Stiff, branchless trees, like a parade of skeletons, climbing up the mountainside”

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. Our class theme is choices, and choices were what Dave Conroy had to make in order to survive. Unfortunately Dave, made the wrong choices and eventually died. A good choice is the difference between failure and success. For example, Dave made the choice not to rest at the tree, a choice that he later regretted. If he had stayed at the tree, Dave Conroy might have had enough energy to complete his journey.

 Completion 5/5  Effort 5/5  Content 5/5  total 15/15

-Lindsay and Erin _  A Mountain Journey- Character Sketch It takes a strong man to face the strength of a bellow  freezing winter, and a stronger man to do this for weeks with nothing but a pa ck so me fu rs an d a strong will to survive. Dave Conroy is a fur trapper, a trade for a courageous person, which with no doubt he is.  He riskes his life every winter in order to provide for himself and his family. He fights his way through a  rugged terrian, the icy chill "...an old man's fingers feeling craftily through his clothes.",and pushes through. One might say Dave Conroy is the type of person who thinks nothing is enough to stop him, sometimes that type of person is wrong. If one is too impatient to do the necessary , one might deeply regret it later on. "That tree, like a strong and lonely woman, called to his weary body to stop. But two hours of daylight remained and he [Dave] went on." This is an example of a situation where if Dave Conroy was more aware of reality and less impatient, he would have gotten a more favourable outcome. Dave C﻿onroy relies too much on luck. Another reason Dave Conroy is perfect for his line of work is that he is so  stubborn to ever give up, even though he knows what he should do (he is not a stupid man!) he is too stubborn to admit he has to stop and will not accomplish what he thought he would in a day. He will not believe he is wrong. Then aga in to  be stubborn is also to never give up, a perfect trait for one in a freezing climate, where if one rests long, one will have to take the aftermath . In the end Dave fails to survive, a direct result of his poor choices and stubborn attitude, only his courage brought him that far.

-Lindsay Probably what Dave Conroy was thinking. 6/6 Lindsay wrote a great intro and conclusion for her character sketch. She included quotes from the story, and used a variety of adjectives, verbs and adverbs. She followed the rubric completely and wrote her sketch using a variety of colourful language. Her character sketch flowed beautifully, and was smooth to read.

Erin Skinnider and Lindsay Cole

I agree! Be careful to avoid awkward phrases...proof read out loud! Watch out for comma usage. Excellent use of quotes. 5.5/6