Mountain+Journey

** Point of View: ** Third person (Omniscient/Limited?) ** Protagonist: ** Dave Conroy ** What type of character is the Protagonist? ** Though the usual protagonist is a round and dynamic character, Dave Conroy appears to be a rather //flat//, dynamic character in this story. His only goal in mind is to get home with his furs. He does not change this view on life, even though it leads him to his death. From certain places in this story, it appears that he has traveled this risky trail with his fellow fur traders several times. This would show that his development as a character is negligent, and his learning from the past mistakes of his unfortunate colleagues does not penetrate his skull. Yearly he follows the trail that he has skied, and yearly, like a migrating animal, he passes through his old cabins, not guessing that anything could possibly go wrong. As he goes through his final passage, though he changes from a hardened -although exhausted- huntsman to someone who is hoping against hope for survival. ** Antagonist: ** The Environment, Time period ** Describe the setting ** Excellent! Time- The story is most probably set sometime in the mid to late 1800s, though the author is not specific. This inference is made due to the fact that this was the time in which fur trading was a respectable business. Place-Modern day Jasper, Alberta located in the Jasper National Park. Conroy skis in between a place called the head of the Jackpine to another place called Hoodoo creek. A distance of over 5 miles. Mood- The mood in the beginning is rather happy and hopeful that this guy will sell his furs and become rich back at home. But as the story progresses, the reader feels suspense and fear for the life of Dave Conroy, which finally culminates in a certain amount of revulsion and pity for the fact that his fingers are frozen, his feet are frozen and finally dies. ** Type of Conflict: ** Man vs. Environment, Man vs Time ** Describe the main conflict: ** The main conflict of man vs. environment is shown in many ways. The first being the fact that the environment is cold, it being winter. The second is that he is obstructed from going at his top speed because of the thinness of the ice coating on the snow. He keeps falling and screwing up. This finishes in an exciting dip into the thin ice of the newly frozen creek. In the first sentence, the narrator is quoted as saying that the air around was so cold, it "hung stubby icicles on his mustache". Such phenomena are only observed in -30 degree Fahrenheit weather. A second, contributing conflict is the time in which this story is set. If Dave Conroy was set in a story 150 years later, he could have phoned a hot line for stranded hikers and gotten heli-lifted off the mountain, or perhaps used a snowmobile rather than skis. Either of which would have saved him from certain death. ** Describe the Climax of the Story: ** In my opinion, the climax of the story is the point at which Dave stops to rest at the middle of the mountain. What happens next is the quickly downward spiral ending with his hallucinations and consequentially, death. I believe that all of the other pieces of information before this point are made to lead up to it. The rising action that leads up to it begins with Conroy's' hands freezing. He then has the firm belief that he can last 3 more miles to his cabin. When he arrives at the cite, he finds it to be burned to the ground. After that, hands frozen, feet frozen, he ends up thinking that he can uphill cross-country ski 10 miles to Mac Moran's cabin. Stopping to rest, as it is human nature to do, he freezes over and dies. As one can see, freezing over and dying is rather anticlimactic. ** How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story? ** As was stated above, the rather emotionless Dave Conroy appears to make one major emotional change to his outlook on his situation. Up until the point at which he can no longer open his matches, he is determined and full of zeal. //After// this point, Dave realizes that he will die unless he finds a way to get warm. Here is where the insane drive for survival kicks in, and this is where the major change (in my opinion) occurs in the story. ** Describe the relationship between the title and the theme. ** The theme of the story illustrates the fact that every day, everyone must take chances, and some of those chances fail miserably. People say that life is like a mountain that one must climb and in order to climb it, one must take some chances. The title A Mountain Journey might relate to the fact that life is an uphill climb, and that when you slip on the ice (or fall through it), you should try for the safe route, if possible. ** How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme? ** The main conflict being man vs environment, and the theme being the fact that life is an uphill climb, I believe that the conflict does not illustrate the theme. It shapes it. Snow or wind would shape a mountain, make it look different, or make it colder. Snow, wind and cold are literal representations of the obstructions that come in the way of your individual progress up the mountain (or hill depending how harsh your life is). These things could be the fact that you are stranded in a desert with one cup of water, or a banana peel on the floor that you slip on on the way to the fridge. In the case of the Unfortunate Dave, snow, cold and wind were his particular obstructions for his climb. ** How does the climax help to illustrate the theme? ** The climax, which, in my opinion was the place where he stopped to rest, illustrates the worst possible aspects of an uphill climb. The fact that poor Dave died is a little extreme, but the theme, if it were to apply to another story might show that one can work very hard toward what they believe is right, even though it might be wrong in action. ** Give examples of each of the the following literary terms in the story (use quotes): **
 * Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: A mountain Journey **

** Simile: ** pg 1 para 2, "...white and soft as flour..." pg 2 para 1"...like a strong but lonely woman..." pg 4 para 3"...trees, like a parade of skeletons..."

** Metaphor: ** pg 1 para1 "The cold was an old man's fingers..." pg 8 para 2- this hallucination of the open door is a metaphor for the fact that he is dying and entering a new, hopefully better place, full of welcome and peace.

** Personification: ** pg 1 para 1"...breath hung stubby icicles..." pg 2 para 4 "...his ski poles pacing beside him..." pg 3 para 2 "...dark trees reached out and touched him." pg 3 para 4 "...it was as loud and sudden as if the river had spoken..." pg 4 para 4" ...cold hand of wilderness..." pg 4 para 5 "...ski points... tight cheeks pulled back into a cadaverous grin. " pg 5 para 3 "...a beggard moon..."

** Symbol: ** The White Cottage is a symbol (as well as a metaphor) of the death of Dave Conroy for the reasons stated above The creek he falls into is a symbol of the hardships that everyone faces

** Foreshadowing (give both elements): ** Beginning- The narrator states, towards the beginning, that it is foolish for a man to travel by himself in the mountains, because he would always travel too far. he would "push himself until he would travel no more." In the end of the story, Dave traveled until he could travel no more, collapsed on a snowbank and died. Middle- The point at which Dave crashes through the ice in -30 degree weather gives room for only a small ray of hope for his survival. I mean, what could possibly go wrong if you have a safe house only 3 miles away, downhill? Perhaps the fact that the safe house is burned to the ground puts a slight damper on the situation. From this point on, it is quite obvious the story wont end well. The three possible outcomes, given this situation are 1. That he will get finger and foot amputations, and live a rather messed up life, 2. He will die or 3. He will miraculously recover in front of a warming fire 10 miles away. End- Sadly, as the story journeys on to the next page, it becomes more bleakly obvious that Dave will not be able to go on path one or three. Finally, Dave stops to rest. He is tired, and has frostbite on his hands and feet. When he wakes up, it is morning, and his arms are immobile. He is having hallucinations about a white cottage, horse-bells, and a rolling stream. Slowly, he fades, and is swallowed in the "darkness of the sunlight" ** Irony ** EXCELLENT! Situational: Dave dies in the mountains that he has traveled for several years Dramatic: Because of foreshadowing (above), one can kind of see that Dave might not be choosing wisely, when he decides to go on after he takes a dip in the creek. Verbal: There were no actually quotable lines of speech, yet what the narrator is saying has some irony in it. Here are some examples: "Darkness of the night" "How soft and warm the snow" ** Imagery: ** The author uses a lot of imagery to express his idea of what the surroundings of unfortunate Dave ought to be. For the sake of time, I will only quote the imagery from the page when his skis fell through the creek "The snow rifted about him" "The black tips of the willows showed between two walls of timber" "The cold wind against his face, the loud wind howling in a crescendo by his ears" ** Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story. (Theme=choice) ** This story, even from the vaguest of read-throughs, is centered solely on choice. The first choice that he make s is said to be before the beginning of the story, when he chooses to take advantage of the last two remaining hours of daylight. In doing this, he refuses the protection of the "strong, lonely woman", and ventures into the unknown. The second choice is to go the last three miles to the cabin after he falls through the creek. He knows that this is not advisable, but the luxurious pull of a warm, comforting fire and a good rest is too much to resist. He keeps going. When he sees his cabin has burned to the ground, he chooses to set fire to the forest. At this point, poor Dave has pulled a good, solid zero out of three on the good choice test. He keeps pushing himself into deeper trouble, and always chooses the worst possible way to fix it (this lands him into new troubles). His fourth choice is possibly the only rational one he makes. He makes the decision to cross county ski 10 miles to Mac Moran's cabin. His fifth and most disastrous choice was to rest. This choice led him to his death in the end of the story. To stop and rest is the most wonderful proposition to someone who is exhausted from a day of hard labor and in Conroy's case, pain. In fact, on a separate, yet related note, rest is sounding fairly attractive to me too.

Excellent, Thorough Response. Completion 5/5 Effort 5/5 Content 5/5 total 15/15

During the 1850s, on a certain mountain out in the cold barren province of Alberta, a lone fur trapper met his doom due to his own foolishness. This King of Misfortune, Prince of Bad Choices went by the name of Dave Conroy. Mr. Conroy, in the story " A Mountain Journey" is portrayed as a strong man with a stubborn disposition to his life in general. Only when faced with the looming imminence of death, does his outlook on life change. Possibly the most prevalent characteristic of Conroy's otherwise emotionless character is that fact that he expresses human nature. This, along with the following finally leads to his death, the culmination of the story. The stubborn side of Dave Conroy is shown when he faces with the choice to rest, or the choice to move on. He chooses, without fail, to move on. This, throughout the story proves to be exactly the wrong choice in the given scenarios. He always believes in his own power to forge ahead along the path that he knew so well. The strength of the character Dave Conroy is admirable, yet it can also be thought of as a main factor in the death of the man. He banks too much on his strength, and believes that it will never run out. When, he is faced with overwhelming proof that his strength has come to its end, he diminishes into a shell of tiredness and fear. These traits stated above are only two of his most prevalent traits. Together, strength and stubbornness are very good for works of endurance or patience.Yet, sadly, man is only human, and one tires. Suddenly, as is human nature, one's strength will give out. In the case of Dave, he had plenty of warning as to the fact that he was tiring. His stubborn decision to forge ahead finally led him into exhaustion, which led him to his death. As one can gather from the above, there was only one motto that Conroy lived by, and that was the fact that the sole purpose in life is to move on. 5 1/2. Great topic sentence, traits clearly outlined and explained; conclusion great but not perfect. Bruno K. and Cyrus B.
 * Dave Conroy Character Sketch- Traits are 1) Human Nature 2) Stubborn 3) Strength**


 * I agree 5.5/6 **