A+Mountain+Journey+Questions

Short Stories - Literary Devises Title:_A Mountain Journey

Point of View: Omniscient (Third Person)

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

Antagonist: Himself, Environment

Describe the setting: Mood= Suspense, Hope, Anticipation Time= The mid 19th Century Location= North America, North Alberta, Mountain Region, by Hoodoo Creek

Type of Conflict: Man/Himself, Man/Environment

Describe the main conflict: Man/Himself, if the character had gone with his original instincts to set up fire and not to stop moving, he would have survived, but if the environment had been less brutal, then maybe he would’ve had carried on in his journey.

Describe the Climax of the Story: When he lies down in the snow.

How does the Protagonist change over the course of the story?: He starts off as a brave adventurer but in the end he succumbs to the environment. What does he realize before he dies?

Describe the relationship between the title and the theme.: In the title it says mountain journey, which would suggest going somewhere, and in the story he is. Also, the title may suggest an internal struggle.

How does the main conflict help to illustrate the theme?: The mountain in the title suggests struggle, which is one of the themes, and in the story Dave Conroy is struggling with himself to survive.

How does the climax help to illustrate the theme?: When he lies down in the snow, it shows his internal journey finally coming to an end.

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

Simile: “...stiff branchless trees, like a parade of skeletons climbing up the mountainside.”

Metaphor: “The cold was an old man’s fingers feeling craftily through his clothes."

Personification: “Dave Conroy, whose breath had hung stubby icicles on his mustache...”

Symbol: “He was beginning to feel like a ghost on an abandoned planet...”. This symbolizes how isolated and alone he feels.

Foreshadowing (give both elements): When he passed a nice bare patch of dirt under a spruce tree he said he should’ve stopped. The results of not doing this led to fatigue, frostbite, and lack of judgement. Also, with that being said, we can assume that there aren’t very many places to rest in the mountains.

Irony: He was a trapper, taking life from nature without giving back. So in the end nature took something from him. His life. BAM!

Imagery: The pain in his shoulders was the only reality of his existence and his body was no more than the shape of agony and effort crawling through the twilight, across the long shadows of spruce trees laid upon the snow.

Describe the relationships between the class theme and the story.: There are two types of power in this story. One, after finding the incinerated cabin, the will power inside Dave Conroy slowly faded until it was no more, the result leading in his death. So you can say to rule power you have to have will and a goal. And second the sheer power of nature. Throughout the story the power of nature was emphasized heavily, from the river ice breaking to the burning down of the cabin. So it shows how important power is this story. Completion 5/5 effort 5/5 Content 5/5 total 15/15