Between a rock and a hard place by Aaron Ralston Flashcards
Context
-Auto biography
- On a life changing event that caused Aaron Ralston to lose his arm in a climbing accident
Message/purpose
- To tell his story
- to serve as a warning
- Causes the reader to think about their actions and recognise some things aren’t meant to be done alone
Language features
- Listing
- vivid imagery
- technical language
Listing
’ In slow motion: the rock smashes my left hand against the south wall: my eyes register the collision, and i yank my left arm back as the rock ricochets.’
speeds up pacing , shows panic
Vivid imagery
’ as i dangle’ shows helplessness and lack of control over the situation
‘The boulder then crushes my right hand’ Gory helps reader sympathize with his pain
Technical language
‘Known as stemming or chimmneying’
‘ It is possible to stem my body across’
Shows expertise and Ralston knows what he is doing
Structure
- In 2 parts factual and panicked /scared
- narrative first person
- opens in media res to create tension
- reference to time
- short sentences
Themes
- expertise
- pain
- determination
Expertise
Technical language
‘geometry’
‘eleven or twelve feet’
‘stemming or chimmneying’
Pain/shock
Vivid imagery/ emotive language
‘the boulder then crushes’
‘ disbelief paralyses me’
‘flaring agony’
‘searing hot pain’
determination
” ‘ Come on…move!’ nothing.” still trying after all that pain
‘ anxiety has my brain tweaking’ fighting through the fear
Tone
1-33 factual
33-end panicked/scared
‘As i dangle’
Helpless no longer factual
vivid imagery
reference to time
- ‘Time dialates’
- ’ i do know for certain that right now’
pain and determination
present tense
conveys to the reader a sense of immediacy
last sentence
‘Nothing’ emphasises how dangerous his situation is
alliteration
’ i grimace and growl’ shows the immense pain he is as he is reduce to making animalistic sounds
‘But im stuck’
short sentence shows the bleakness of situation.creates pause in the reader
