A Walk In The Woods: Chapter 9

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Recommended: Theme of nature in literature

Bill Bryson the author of the short story ‘A Walk in the Woods’ constructs the story in a certain way to try to get the reader to accept his attitudes and values about how dangerous and death defying Earl V. Shaffer and other’s are in attempting to travel the trail. He uses the techniques of emotive language, unusual language and use of first hand accounts in the short story ‘A Walk in the Woods‘ . The use of descriptive and humorous language, combined with conversational text has allowed Bryson to express his feelings and opinions on his and others experiences on the Appalachian Trail to the audience. The language that the author uses in the short story is very emotive and expressed the feeling which have been felt by others on the trail. The author uses emotive language throughout the story to position us to feel amazed and astonished toward Earl V. Shaffer’s 2000 mile journey on the trail. ”He spent long periods bushwhacking over tangled mountains or following the wrong path when the trail forked.”, this text shows that Shaffer was a tough and sturdy and wouldn’t give up for any reason. “ On the other hand, even the dustiest little hamlets nearly always have a store of café, unlike now, and generally when he left the trail he could count on a country bus to flag down for a lift to the nearest town“. The reader is also told that he might have been helped along the way, so suspicion arises. “...Reduced to a rutted, muddy track…” shows that the trail conditions at times were anything but perfect. ‘Rutted’ and ‘muddy’ describe the Appalachian Trail as an almost tough and hardy trail to trek across. “The trail Shaffer found was nothing like the groomed and orderly corridor that exists today” shows how the Appalachian trail appears to Bryson and portrays to the audience a trail affected by modern societies requirement of health and neatness. 'orderly' and 'groomed' are used to portray an image of a beautiful trail that is set out neatly, far from what Shaffer would have experienced on his travel along the trying trail. The attempts of Bryson to explain the conditions fought by Shaffer on his trip were well complimented by descriptive and explanatory sentences.Bryson uses the very distinct humorous and silly style of writing which entertains the audience very well.

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