Who do you think suffers more in Touching the Void, Joe or Simon? How does Simpson make you feel as you do by the ways he writes? Throughout the book a great sympathy is created for Joe as we learn about his pain and struggle between life and death. So in the short period of less than a week Joe is found to be the one who we should depict as the one who suffers more. But that is short-term even Simpson himself says "at least the wounds in my mind had healed" therefore conveying the message that he is not mentally scarred by his experience and instead appears to be completely un-phased about his extremely close scrape with death and instead just feels a bit disappointed that he had "dropped out of the summit attempt". He truthfully and …show more content…
Simon has lots of broken thoughts after he cuts the rope and finds himself a place to rest for the night in a snow-hole. He discusses with himself the feeling of guilt when he says "I should feel guilty. I don’t." This suggests how overwhelmed Simon is by what he has just done, he clearly wasn't expecting to face having the choice of another mans fate and the lengths you must go to in order for survival. The word "should" in the quote represents Simons fear that when he returns home people are going to hate him and shame him for cutting the rope on his best friend. Simon doesn’t know what he "should" be feeling only the expectations of society which also represents us, the reader. Simon wants to feel guilty and grieve over his friend he wants to feel some emotion instead of feeling "satisfied with himself" because he doesn't want to believe he is senseless and uncaring but he truly believed he had "done the right …show more content…
Simpson describes a lot of his pain in the book its not really to create sympathy but more to show the harsh reality of the dangers of mountain climbing. There is a strong contrast between the moments of "horror" and a few of the lighter moments in which Joe and Simon manage to laugh a few of their minor drops off. But as each of these happen an apparent tension comes between Joe and Simon as they have sudden realisation that they are tempting fate and a dark atmosphere clouds them as the anticipation grows for something terrible to happen. There is a point where a sense of fear, sympathy and even pity is created for Joe as he tells us "I recognised the last time I had seen Simon look at me this way" when Simon is evaluating Joe in the tent I the last chapter. Joe then tells us about the "haggard" face of Simon that "looked at me (Joe) for that moment too long" when he knew that "instant moment" that Simon had accepted Joe would die. There is strong imagery in the description of Simons haggard face and the "shock" in his eyes. You can almost imagine its like the look you would give a terminally ill person knowing that there was nothing you could do for them but you just can't find the words for it. Simons face is described as "tired" as if he had already given up on any hope for survival, for himself or Joe. Simpsons makes the reader feel great pity for
While Jack and Ralph represent the distinct polarization between civilization and savagery. Simon is separated from both of these dimensions. Simon represents built-in goodness. The other boys who hold on to their sense of morality only do so because society has conditioned and trained them to act in a certain way. They do not have an innate sense of morality. Unlike the other boys on the island, Simon does not act morally because an external force has compelled him to do so, instead he finds value in performing good actions.
Imagine a life that is detached from civilization and free from any socially imposed morals. In the story Lord of the Flies by William Golding, a group of young boys is faced with this situation, and there is a perpetual conflict between the boys who are trying to maintain order and those whose violent instincts take over. Despite Ralph’s efforts to maintain order on the island and get the boys rescued, the boys, including Ralph himself, resort to violent and primitive behavior, and this is what causes Simon’s death. Whereas the other boys on the island lose their moral principles once savagery takes over, Simon retains his morals and does nice things such as helping the younger boys find food. In Lord of the Flies, Simon represents the speck of intrinsic morality and perceptive reasoning on the island, and unlike the other boys, he demonstrates morality as a way of life rather than a socially-imposed concept that is to be quickly lost in the wake of uncertainty.
As I read pages 134-135 I began to realize that Joe Rantz is particularly much different from me. First, at the start of page 134 Thula is shutting Joe out of her life again. I don’t have a step parent but even if I did I would never let anyone treat me this way for most of my life. I believe that makes this passage a window so I may observe a different way to handle things. Even Joyce, Joe’s fiancé does not understand why Joe would allow himself to be looked upon in this manner. Joe is very impassive and relenting once Thula tells him to leave. This is a noticeably different personality from people I have encountered. It gives me a window to see a different mindset and way of thinking. Of which is wonderful for a reader because often we assume
Simon is the big tough character you can expect any group of men to want in the group. He is a calm character but can turn into a powerful and aggressive person that demands respect in an instant. In the scene where Tristan challenges Simon on being fearful of benny, Simon quickly reminds Tristan exactly who he is talking to by throwing the drink at Tristan who is the leader and in command. Simon demonstrates one characteristic that all men value and that is Power, Men are expected to be strong bold characters, and Simon uses these
A Reader’s Response to McEwan’s Characterisation of Joe Rose in Chapters 1 - 6 of Enduring Love In Chapters 1-6 of ‘Enduring Love’ McEwan has forced the reader to become heavily involved in the storyline through the use of a dramatic event; the balloon accident that happened within the first chapter. In the first 6 Chapters it becomes clear that Jed has become infatuated with Joe Rose. The reader can then use this as an insight into the personality and the character of Joe through the events that unfold within these chapters. Personally, as the reader, I see Joe as a very educated person who has a very organised, analytical and rational mind; he processes information in a very logical way.
In the movie called Simon Birch by Mark Steven Johnson emphasized the protagonist named Joe that the people can have an influence strongly from the particular experiences but an influence may easily covered or receded by other influences from different experience that is particular. For an example, Joe have a goal to find his real father for asking by himself about his existence of value. He has been believe if he finds his own father, he will get clue to his concern of himself. However after his mother’s death, the truth of his birth and his real father is remain a mystery. At this particular experience Joe received short term of depression and pretend to be indifferent which is negative influence. In the other example, he finally identify
To him, this title had a meaning. I think it takes us back to his near-death experience in the crevasse. He had so much hope and optimism but all that hope and optimism got crushed as his sense of survival was fading. He skimmed the darkness of death as if he touched a void that no one wants to enter. Joe knew if he let himself stay there and die if he fell into this void there was no coming back. He was alone, but Joe said no to that void. He took the risk and went further into the crevasse. To me, I think he named it ‘Touching the Void' because he almost let himself drown in that darkness but came back. I felt there was another moment where he wanted to give up but his goal of not dying alone kept him going. During the film where he first broke his leg, he said himself that he saw death. With his broken leg, Joe thought, there was no way I can make it down. Simon said otherwise. I definitely think the title has a connection to Simon. Without Simon, Joe wouldn't have gotten as far down as he did. Simon took the risk of dying on that mountain as much as Joe did. A void is an empty space, with Joe I think he meant by touching that void, that empty space is to see if someone was there for him. Simon was there even if it looked like to the climbing community that Simon abandoned Joe. To Joe, Simon was there for him, in that void Joe was desperately trying to get
3.) sThe mood that exists in the book Monster by Walter Dean Myers is a depressing one. You are sharing emotions with Steve as he goes through a grueling court procedure. Thinking about all this, how bad it is to be in jail, the murder of an innocent man makes you feel depressed. I think Walter Dean Myers wanted to incorporate that mood for his readers into the story and thoroughly succeeded.
In the novel Golding writes, “Simon looks around to make sure that he is alone, then he sits down to take in the scene, marveling at the abundance and beauty of life that surrounds him” ( ). In this quote, it is telling us that Simon is try to find the good in being alone on the island. This quote doesn’t say it, but Ralph was there with him. Being all alone on an island affected everybody except for Ralph and Simon.
I agree with Mr. Foster’s analysis, for in order to truly feel what the author intended you to feel you need to not only read the text but feel through the text. Also, I agree with the fact that the reader does not have to feel something the same ways as someone else feels it. When putting yourself in the position that the character in is you might take it in a different way than someone else because you have a different way of living and one characters experience might be more related to you than someone else. This way of reading will in-turn help with the multi-layers of literary writing. Upon reading this my first reaction is shocked.
Simon was the first and only one to realise the real beast on the Island. He could be compared to someone like a priest or a good samaraton – someone who tries his best to convince everyone of what’s right.
In the end, even though he failed to inform the other boys of it, Simon through his use of spiritual power was able to recognize the truth. He stood strong against evil even though it consumed the island after his death. People can look to him as an example of how to act in real life. And to be honest, Simon is an important character to Lord of the Flies by William Golding, not just for all this, but because he is what every person should wish to be. In the book the others bully him because they do not quite understand him, but Simon in all reality is a role model for the world. Don’t you think that the world would be a much better place, if we all tried to act a little bit like Simon?
However, we discover two-thirds into the book that he has a little bit of a bumpy past with anxiety and self harming. To me, this is to serve two purposes with the theme. The first is that we should never underestimate what another human being has been through as even the most well adjusted of us can be trying to bury tauma. The other speaks to those with that trauma that we can move past our worst moments as they do not define who we will be for the rest of our
In the beginning, Simon was described as a 'skinny, vivid little boy…,'; (Golding 24) showing that he was undersized and possibly weaker than the others. He stuck around Ralph for a while, went exploring with him and Jack, and even helped him build the shelters. It was not long before he began to wander off by himself to that little place among the creepers. The other boys thought he was 'queer….funny.'; (55) because he was an outcast and rather strange.
Emotions are a vast concept that can interpreted differently by everyone. For Christopher, studying other people’s faces and emotions are based on facts. The word sad, for example, could be broken up into more complex and defining words. Although, the fact still remains, sad is one of the main emotions; “...and I knew that [the picture] meant ‘sad,’ which is what I felt when I found the dead dog”(2). Through this, it was mentioned that Siobhan, a person whose relation to Christopher is not 100% clear, was the one who introduced him to different types of emotions.