The Ascent by Ron Rash

596 Words2 Pages

Many people have life changing revelations in their lives, but very few people are as young as Jared when he realizes what he does about his life. Ron Rash wrote the short story, "The Ascent," about a young boy's journey that brought him to have a significant revelation about his life. In the story, Rash uses a naive narrator, foreshadowing, and imagery to show the setting of the story that led to Jared's revelation about his life. Rash uses Jared's character to show why he cannot give a trustworthy, objective truth. In the story, Jared's actions show that he does not understand death when entering the plane after discovering the dead bodies of a pilot and passenger. Rash writes, “Jared placed the knife in his pocket and climbed into the back seat and closed the passenger door” (281). He does not fully understand the seriousness of death and it does not frighten him. Jared has a big imagination and tries to help by bringing tools and repairing the plane. After he meddles around with the tools, Jared says, “I fixed it so it’ll fly now” (287). He sees what he wants to because he ca...

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