A Mountain Journey Questions

A mountain Journey Questions:

 

  1. What was Dave Conroy doing out in the wilderness? (motivation)

He is a trapper who kills and get animals fur and was on his way back home.

  1. At what point does the reader know the protagonist is in serious trouble and not likely to make it to MacMoran’s cabin? (plot)

When he falls into the river and tries to dry off but can’t light a match because his fingers are frozen

  1. What three critical mistakes did Conroy make? What are some of the things he could have done to prevent himself from freezing? (plot)

He should have stopped when he couldn’t feel his fingers

  1. Determine the elements of plot in this story: exposition, complicating incident, 3 crises, climax, and the denouement.

Exposition: When we are introduced to Dave Conroy, the trapper and find out that

he’s making his way to a cabin that he can spend the night at

Complicating incident: When he decides that he doesn’t want to stop for the night but to

continue on so that he can have warm shelter.

3 Crises:

-When Dave skis over a thin ice patch and falls into the river but instead of stopping to dry himself off he continues on to a cabin

-When he arrives at the cabin that he thought he could dry off was burnt down.

-When he is unable to light a fire because his hands are suffering with hypothermia and couldn’t feel his fingers after he fell into the water

Climax: When he’s beginning to die of hypothermia, he decides to hike 600 feet up a mountain to meet his friend that he thinks can help him.

Denouement: Dave lays down and dies slowly because the hypothermia sets in.

 

  1. Describe the setting – how does the setting affect the plot and the theme of the story? What is the theme – write a theme statement for this story.

A mountains journey takes place in late February somewhere in Alberta. The setting is important because it gets really cold in Alberta and because Dave pushed his luck he died of hypothermia in the end.

 

  1. Find one example of symbolic setting (concrete place that represents something abstract) and explain its meaning.

At the end of the book when he said he saw a white cabin, it could be taken as the afterlife.

 

  1. Quote four images from the story that make effective comparisons (figurative language: simile, metaphor, and personification).

 

“The loud wind howling”

“His breath rose white and yellow before him”

“he saw the snow melt around his wrists and flow into the top of his mittens, searing the flesh off his wrists like flame”

“If he slept, his fire slept with him”