A+Mountain+Journey

[|How To Read a Story]

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title: __A Mountain Journey__

**Point of View:** 3rd Person (Omniscient/Limited?)

**Protagonist:** Dave Conroy **What type of character is the Protagonist?**

He is a round and dynamic character.

**Antagonist:** the Environment

**Describe the setting** **Time:** Sometime in the mid-1900's **Place:** The Rocky Mountains **Mood:** Stressed, tired, regretful, lonely

**Type of Conflict:** Man vs Environment  ...and man versus himself

**Describe the main conflict:** Dave is trying to get home after a winter of trapping furs, but he is running into problems with the environment because of the extreme cold and his own unwillingness to stop traveling.

**Describe the Climax of the Story:** The climax of the story is when Dave gets to the clearing but the cottage isn’t there anymore, and he can’t make a fire because his hands and feet are frozen; this means he cannot possibly survive the rest of the journey without being able to make a fire or eat. He then decides that his only hope is to continue on for another 10 miles to his friend’s cabin.

**How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story?** The protagonist realizes that he should have camped at the river after he fell in so he could rest and dry his hands and feet, because when he kept going his hands froze and he was in a worse situation than he was before.

**Describe the relationship between the title and the theme.** The theme of the story is that each choice you make can lead to different outcomes, meaning you cannot overestimate yourself and think about all of the outcomes before making a choice. The title “A Mountain Journey” relates to this theme because on any journey you make there are choices, such as which path to take, that can affect you in a way that you had not imagined.

<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme?** The main conflict illustrates the theme because Dave has to battle his way through the elements to reach his final destination, but never making it there because of a single choice he made early on in the story. This suggests the internal conflict may be the main conflict.

<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**How does the climax help to illustrate the theme?** The climax helps to illustrate the theme by showing the consequences of a choice made along the journey. Because of a single choice not to rest because he thought he didn’t need to, Dave jeopardized himself, and that choice lead to his death at the end of the story.

<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**Give examples of each of the the following literary terms in the story (use quotes):**

<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**Simile:** “Mist, like the shadow of universal darkness...”

<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**Metaphor:** “The cold was an old man’s fingers feeling craftily through his clothes.”

<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**Personification:** “Mist... searched every crevice of the mountain land, roamed in great billows, formed in the blindness and suffering of eternal homelessness."

<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**Symbol:** The white cottage with the open door symbolizes welcoming and homecoming, which at his death, Dave wants most because he is dying alone and far away from where he is trying to go.

<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**Foreshadowing (give both elements):** "A man, when he was alone, he would travel to far. He would travel 'till he could travel no more, for the mere sake of traveling, when a day or two's delay in the time of his arrival made no difference at all." This is foreshadowing because it turned out that Dave Conroy continued to travel until he could not go on, and any delay that he should have taken wouldn't have made a difference in the end because at least he would have gotten to his destination. Instead, he decided to travel for the sake of traveling, and this is what lead to his death.

<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**Irony:** The irony in this story is that even though Dave Conroy is very experienced when it comes to mountaineering, he does exactly what he knows he shouldn't do and makes mistakes that a foolish person out in the wilderness would make. He says to himself at the end "that mountain travel was not dangerous if a man knew how to take care of himself. Any man who froze his hands or feet had only himself to blame." However, Dave Conroy did know how to take care of himself, he just kept making silly mistakes.

<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**Imagery:** "But the light of the sun was dim, as if a brighter light shone from behind it and the sunlight was its shadow." "...a wide brown river running over mossy boulders between low banks of grass and willow." "

<span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">**Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story.** The story "A Mountain Journey" is involved with the class's theme of choices because the choices that Dave Conroy makes in the story eventually lead to his death. The first major choice, to keep traveling after falling into the river, goes against his instincts. Dave Conroy admits to himself that "He should stop, make a fire, dry his hands and feet, change his socks and mittens." However, instead of listening to his instincts, the promise of the warmth sleeping in a real cabin would bring clouds his better judgment, and thus, Dave Conroy continues on his journey. The second major choice he makes in the story is deciding to set up camp in the clearing after finding that the cabin had burned down. This is a logical option, but because of a seemingly minor choice not to put the moose-hide gloves back on, his fingers are frozen. Therefore, making a fire for his camp is impossible. The third choice Dave Conroy makes in this story is to climb over a pass to where a cabin lay on Terrace Creek. He began climbing. However, the fourth and final choice Dave Conroy makes is to rest. At this point in the story, being so exhausted but unable to make a fire, this is a bad decision. As told in the story, any setting can seem comfortable when one is so tired. "How good to rest! How soft and warm the snow!" he thinks to himself. The mind does not register the fact that one is actually freezing to death while snow seems so comfortable. The choices that are made in this story are examples of how any decisions have consequences that can affect one in ways that one has not considered. Completion 5/5 Effort 5/5 Content4.5/5 total 14.5/15

__Character Traits: Dave Conroy__

Dave Conroy, a knowledgeable, but overconfident trapper in “A Mountain Journey”, embarks on a brave expedition that takes some unfortunate turns. Traveling through such a harsh landscape and surviving such a long trek cannot be achieved without expert knowledge of one’s surroundings and of how to take care of oneself. Conroy was doing quite well, surviving with the simplest tools and his expertise, until his accidental crash into the river. It is plain bad luck (too informal), not a lack of skill that eventually ends his journey. In the mid-1900’s, fur trading journeys were common, but could not be completed without some sort of bravery. Embarking on such a trek alone in the middle of a harsh winter, relying on one’s own sense of direction, strength, and knowledge of the surroundings, is very courageous. For example, even though he is lonely and “… beginning to feel like a ghost on an abandoned planet…” (p. 92), Conroy continues his journey without looking back. However, it is Dave Conroy’s knowledge and bravery that eventually leads to his demise. Because of his sureness in his abilities, he makes several overconfident decisions, such as not resting and warming himself, simply because “He [has] never finished a day in the mountains yet without another ten miles up his sleeve” (p. 97). This overconfidence is the reason Conroy overrides his instincts on several occasions, doing what he believes he can manage instead of what he knows is smart to do. Dave Conroy, at the beginning of the journey, is a brave trapper who knows exactly what to do to get where he needs to go; at the end of the journey, he is simply a knowledgeable man who makes foolish decisions based on his overconfidence in his abilities.

Wow! Excellent work Jenna. I really like your historical reference and the seamless integration of your quotes and examples. This is an example of writing and thinking far beyond your years. 6/6

6/6 Manmeet & Shelby Your paragraph was very descriptive, and had a variety of big words. - Manmeet It was very clear and flowed well. - Shelby