A+Mountain+Journey

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: A Mountain Journey

Point: 3rd Person ( Omniscient/Limited?) Protagonist:

Dave Conroy

What type of character is the Protagonist? Dave Conroy is a round and dynamic character.

Antagonist: Himself.

Describe the setting The story takes place in the snowy mountains along the Snake Indian River near Jasper, Alberta. The story probably took place around the late 1800's early 1900's because that's when railroads and horses were used a lot. And the story was definitely before the 1970's because that's when Canada converted to the metric system and started using kilometers instead of miles. The overall mood of the story is loneliness and a longing to go home. media type="custom" key="6987017" Type of Conflict: Man Vs. Himself.

Describe the main conflict: Throughout the story he is making decisions to keep going on. He debates with himself whether to stay for another night or go another couple miles and make it to a cabin. He’s tired and cold but he still pushes himself to go on. His tired body and frozen fingers is his main challenge. Even though the environment is a challenge to overcome, he ultimately makes the decisions that lead to these challenges. Excellent!

Describe the Climax of the Story: The climax of the story is when Conroy wakes covered in snow and unable to move after he falls asleep on the ridge. He wakes up, he’s not panicking, and he expects MacMoran and Macdonald to come save him. It’s like an unconscious gesture of giving up. And after that point nothing else really happens other than his death, which is the conclusion.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? He didn't really change that much. In the beginning, Conroy was persistent and stubborn to reach the cabin. He always kept going even though he was cold and tired. He only really changed at the climax of the story, instead of continuing to climb up the ridge he takes a rest. He changes his attitude and gives in to his cold and overworked body. At the very end near his death, instead of trying to get up, he wishes for people to come save him. He admits that he's in trouble which he had be denying and hopes for help.

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. A mountain has peaks that represent high and low points. Conroy is making decisions and choices that he thinks is going to bring him home faster or save himself from death. That’s a high point. And as soon as he realizes all his decisions are not leading him home faster at all, everything goes downhill to the lowest point.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? Conroy is making choices and decisions throughout the entire story. He battles himself in making the safer choice or the riskier one that would get him home faster and ultimately leads to his death.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? Conroy decides, even though he isn’t lucid and might not realize it, to give up and rest and just wait for help. This is the biggest and final decision/choice he makes in the entire story.

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

Simile: "He swung to the right in a wide telemark that threw snow in his face, swept down an open meadowland where the black tips of willows showed between two walls of timber, dropped off cutbank to the frozen river, glanced a moment over his shoulder at the curved beauty of his ski trail on the hill above, curved and smooth and thin, like the tracing of a pen apon upon the snow." "At every step too, he had broken trail and his skis had sunk a foot in the new snow, white and soft as flour." "A beggard moon from behind a grey rack of clouds wandered in the sky above the earth's desolation and in its light he perceived on the slope above him, where the fire had leaped from the cabin, stiff, branchless trees, like a parade of skeletons climbing up the mountainside."

Metaphor: "He tucked his ski poles under his arms, leaned upon them, sinking their discs into the creaking snow, and while he rested there panting, the cold was an old man's fingers feeling craftily through his clothes."

Personification: "His pack slipped forward upon the back of his his head and held him." "He saw dark water streaming in furrows by his wrists and before he staggered upright again heard water tinkling over pebbles, murmuring, protesting, running downhill between ice and pebbles to the Arctic Ocean." "A beggard moon from behind a grey rack of clouds wandered in the sky above the earth's desolation and in its light he perceived on the slope above him, where the fire had leaped from the cabin, stiff, branchless trees, like a parade of skeletons climbing up the mountainside."

Symbol: "The world growing small, dying slowly in the darkness of the sunlight." - It's a symbol for death and also ironic. "Across the valley he saw a cottage he had never seen before- a white cottage, low-roofed, with green trees beside it and an open door." - The open door is welcoming him to his death, like walking into the light.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): “A man when he was alone would travel too far. He would travel till he could travel no more, for the mere sake of travelling, when a day of two’s delay in the time of his arrival made no difference at all.” - The sentence implies that a man would travel until he died and Conroy did, and "the time of his arrival made no difference at all" because he would never actully finish this journey. The description of the story says that Conroy is "driven by a gnawing fear of death..." which implies that something bad is going to happen to him

Irony: In the beginning of the story Conroy admits that he should have stopped 2 miles back. Then later he admits that he should have waited another 2 weeks so that the weather would be less severe and that a man travelling alone was a fool. He knew all these things yet he kept going. So in the end, after he went against everything he knew and died it was ironic.

Imagery: "Across the valley he saw a cottage he had never seen before- a white cottage, low-roofed, with green trees beside it and an open door." "A beggard moon from behind a grey rack of clouds wandered in the sky above the earth's desolation and in its light he perceived on the slope above him, where the fire had leaped from the cabin, stiff, branchless trees, like a parade of skeletons climbing up the mountainside." (This is like Cecilia's, favourite sentence, she used so many times.)

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. Everything Dave Conroy does in this story is a choice. Conroy chose to start his journey in the first place. He chose to continue his journey even when he should have stopped, he chose to ignore his cold and wet hands and feet, and he chose to rest while climbing the ridge. He chose everything that happened to him because life is basically a bunch of choices. Completion 5/5 Effort 5/5 Content 5/5 total 15/15 Character Sketch

In stories, characters may have many character traits and the story “A Mountain Journey” by Howard O’ Hagan is a great for example of __**it**__. In the story the protagonist, Dave Conroy’s three main character traits are his courage, negligence, and, most importantly, his stubbornness. Dave Conroy may not be smart in making choices, but he sure is (too informal) courageous. A journey in a mountains is a challenge, especially in winter when the mountains are covered with thick white blankets of snow. It takes lots of (too informal) courage to travel alone in the mountains, but Dave Conroy has too much of it, which led him to the wrong path. If he had less courage, he woul dn’t have traveled alone, what was he thinking? (too informal) “…A man was a fool to travel alone in the mountains…” he should at least brought someone with him, so the person could help him make the choices and give him a hand when he needed. But it was also his courage that made him stand up every time when he got knocked down and pushed him to keep going. Dave Conroy acted negligently throughout the story, and it is his negligence that put him in danger. In the story Dave Conroy made a few choices and every time when he made a choice, his negligence the fact and cost of him making the choice. In the beginning of the story, Conroy thought that he should have waited another two weeks to come out so the weather would be less severe and he admits that a man travelling alone was a fool. But why did he do it? He knew all these things, but when he made the choices and he continually overlooked how the choices were going to effect him. He probably knows that negligence equals accidents and injury, but he only focused on how to get home faster a nd he missed out on the other thing that surrounds him. Even though the environment is a challenge to overcome, he ultimately makes the decisions that lead to these challenges. This also shows how stubborn he is, they fact that he went against everything he knew. Stubbornness may not always be bad, but in this case, it is Dave Conroy's weakness, and it is holding him back from making the right choices. In the story he debates with himself whether to stay for another night under the tree or go another couple miles and make it to a cabin. He is tired and cold but his stubbornness pushes him to go on. Even he admits later in the story that he should have stopped under the tree. It is his persistence that award the thought in the brain and just continuing on with what he is doing, no matter is right or wrong. The combination of these three traits is what led Dave Conroy to his death, and if he was not so courage, negligent or stubbiness, maybe none of the things would happened and he would made home safely. 5/6 She supports her points with examples out of the story. There are a few run on sentences that don't really make sense along with a few grammatical errors but the overall paragraph conveys her points. Cecilia Liu and Sunny Chen Check sentence structure and be careful to avoid informality. 4.5/6