Questions:
1. What was Dave Conroy doing out in the wilderness?
He went somewhere where people lived, like a village or another culture to sell his fur.
2. At what point does the reader know the protagonist is in serious trouble and not likely to make it to MacMoran’s cabin?
We know that once he’s already sunk into the water, he’s not going to make it and he’s trying to dry off and light a match, but he can’t because he’s frozen fingers.
3. What three critical mistakes did Conroy make? What are some of the things he could have done to prevent himself from freezing?
He wasn’t supposed to have gone further than his gut told him (he wouldn’t have fallen into the water), after he fell into the water he was supposed to have started setting up his camp for the night so that he could dry up and warm up, but instead he kept going, drying more, instead of just shaking it off like nothing. He was also very overconfident and thought he could make it to the cabin.
4. Determine the elements of plot in this story: exposition, complicating incident, 3 crises, climax, and the denouement.
The show is the introduction, where we can find out who Dave is, what he is doing, when the story is going on etc. The complicated accident is when we find out that he is going down the hill for the first time (we find out later that he should have stayed and set up camp) because that is close to where the first incident happens, and the action begins. The 3 emergencies are: Dave falls into the cold, Dave refuses to believe he’s freezing so he continues with his quest and Dave attempts to light up a match but fails because his hands are frozen. The payoff is that Dave knows that he’s beginning to freeze but not doing anything about it, only holding going. The denouement is Dave relaxing and slowly freezing completely.
5. 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.
The environment is on a new, snowy, treed mountain. The atmosphere changes the story entirely because if it wasn’t snowy Dave wouldn’t freeze and there wouldn’t be any ending and Dave would be good. The idea is that you shouldn’t force yourself to a point, beyond where your own boundaries are because they can have serious consequences.
6. Find one example of symbolic setting (concrete place that represents something abstract) and explain its meaning.
The snow in which Dave relaxes reflects calm, because that’s how he feels and it’s calming him even if it shouldn’t be.
7. Quote four images from the story that make effective comparisons (figurative language: simile, metaphor, and personification)
Metaphor: “The cold was an old man’s fingers feeling craftily through his clothes” (p.91)
Personification: “The loud wind howling” (p.93)
Simile: “Curved and smooth and thin, like of a pen upon the snow” (p.93)
Imagery: “His breath rose white and yellow before him” (p.92)
Vocabulary:
- Eternal: Lasting or existing forever
- Immobility: the state of not moving; motionlessness.
- Opaque: not able to be seen through; not transparent.
- Reverberation: prolongation of a sound; resonance.
- Momentum: the quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity.
- Cadaverous: resembling a corpse in being very pale, thin, or bony.
- Congregated: gather into a crowd or mass.
- Inundation: an overwhelming abundance of people or things.
- Beggared: reduce (someone) to poverty.
- Filched: pilfer or steal (something, especially a thing of small value) in a casual way.