16th February 2018

What has been included?

Critical thinking from extract from “Touching the Void”-Joe Simpson

Authors use details in a text to create pictures in the audience’s mind. Images that are presented in this passage is the silence of the mountains, how peaceful the character is with himself and the harsh environment around him, he felt like he was under the power of the mountains, “The mountains held me in thrall. Something prevented me from leaving” quoted from the extract. Joe Simpson described that the city Lima is busy and chaotic, that it would “Erase the silence which seemed to bear down on me each time I was alone in camp. In my heart, I knew I should go but I couldn’t make the break.”  Joe Simpson than creates the image of his surroundings ” I gazed across at the icy white sweep of Sarapo” 

These images can affect our understanding of the events, the setting and the people involved in a certain situation. When authors create images in our mind we can understand and feel the same emotions or relate to what the characters are going through. Bitterness, fear, and tiredness are a key theme in this passage of text, the image of his blackened fingertips from frostbite, the image of the isolated camp where the character and Richard are alone, the image of his deep tiredness he had felt on the previous day to what we assume is a long day of  climbing on Sarapo.

The author has used specific vocabulary to create meaning to the text, where the audience can immerse themselves in and dig deeper into a story of endurance, values, and desperation. “I had done the right thing; no one could challenge my conviction that I was as much a victim as Joe.” This passage of text shows but not tells. His thoughts, what he has suffered and his beliefs and values that have come to life due to his situation. The understanding that he has become stubborn to the idea of leaving the mountains to come to the bustle of Lima.”So why not go?” that character questions after. He becomes in though as he gazes across the mountains of Sarapo.