The Ascent”: The Indirect Story

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From death to drug use “The Ascent”, teaches a crucial moral lesson in how decisions affect more than one individual. In Ron Rash’s, “The Ascent”, he tells a story about a boy named Jared who has a rough life due to his parent’s decision making. While Jared is on Christmas break he begins to explore in the woods. As he was exploring he discovers a crashed plane that went missing recently. As the story continues Jared reveals little details, or inner thoughts that his young mind does not understand what is happening around him. Rash’s use of naïve narrator, critical foreshadowing, and imagery to create an effective setting that leads to a character revelation.
Jared, due to his age, misconceives the world around him, but this does not mean everything he encounters. Jared sometimes imagines things due to his age, but this helps in understanding his thought process and emotions. Rash explains, “He thought instead of Lyndee Starnes, the girl who sat in front of him in fifth-grade homeroom. Jared pretended she was walking beside him” (279). This situation shows that he is fond of this g...

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