Share your literary essay with the rest of the students that chose this short story. Take some time to read 2 or 3 other essays. Comment on them. Your comment should be about something you noticed them doing well from our lessons. For example, "You did a really good job explaining your evidence.
¨Up the slide¨ is a short story by Jack london. In the story there are two characters but one main one named clay. Clay and his partner are struggling to survive and are out of firewood. The only available dry firewood is up a huge mountain which clay needs to climb. In the story uhe works very hard and in the end all of it plays off.
ReplyDeleteThe plot of this story helps the reader understand what is happening in the story and when it is going on. For instance when he looks up and sees that the wood is on top of a rock wall and in a cranny, he realises how hard it is going to be to get up there and how many people have passed by and haven't even noticed it. This part of the story helps the reader understand that it is going to be very tough to get up into the place where the trees are sitting, And the rock wall helps show how hard it is going to be too, because climbing a rock wall is very hard and not many people can do it. The last part of the plot that helps the story is when it says ¨but how dangerous he did not know until he slipped a dozen times.¨This quote in general shows that you will slip and fall and do it again but you have to keep on working to get what you want.
The setting really helps the story too by putting in details to help the reader understand the place he actually is. The story takes place in the yukon which is a very desolate place with not many people around and is very cold. This detail helps the reader understand that nothing he is easy and if you want it you will have to earn it. A part of the setting that helps the story is when he has to climb the mountain at thirty degrees, usually you can climb a hill and one hundred and eighty degrees but he can't he really wants the wood and he is going to have to work for it. The last part that helps the story is ¨the slide extended hundreds of feet upwards¨ which helps the reader understand if he slips and does not catch himself he will be dead. If he does not want to die he is going to have to work hard.
The last part that helps the story is figurative language which helps the reader think and picture what is happening. For instance the story say ¨it was a herculean of a task.¨ That relates to the greek hero Hercules who is very strong and mighty. This means that if he is going to do this task he is going to have to work hard and in the end it will pay off. One more example of figurative language that helps the story is when the story says ¨ he was sufficient of strength for the weary climb.¨ You can picture how tired and exhausted he is in this part of the story and lets the reader understand the theme of the story which is working hard will pay off, Although you could argue the theme of the story is survival the text that helps the theme of the story says ¨it was a herculean of a task¨ and ¨he was sufficient of strength.¨ This obviously means that the theme of the story is working hard will pay off.
At the end of the story he gets the firewood he needs in order to survive and also gets down from the mountain. The wood he then sells for 40 dollars a cord and he has 50 cords that lets him get not only firewood but money too. This makes me think the theme of the story is hard work pays off. This life lesson can help people struggling with something and show that they can make it through, because in the end hard work does pay off.
In the story Up The Slide by Jack London, the main character Clay Dilham takes a journey to get wood for their cam because they were low . He thought that he would be back in 30 min but little did he know all the dangers there were! The fear knowing that you have to survive by yourself in dangerous conditions.
ReplyDeleteThe setting is a key part in the story to show the theme, which is the fear knowing that you have to survive by yourself in dangerous conditions. The part that shows the theme the most is when Clay is on the mountain by himself and it’s -30° outside, plus being hundreds of feet into the air. Imagine being hundreds of feet in the air and falling on to a lake of ice.
This also ties to Clay himself because he knows all the dangers out there but still goes out of the way to help his friends stay warm , he would never give up till the job is done. This action helps show the theme when, before he reached the pine tree he slipped and fell on his face. However, he still reaches the tree and chopped it down and is making his way back to camp. But wait he realizes he can’t keep going down because of how dangerous it is! Because of that, he has to make his way back up the mountain. This shows that he's not giving up, because he’s trying to find a way back to camp.
In this story Clay showed some of his fear, also that he wanted warmth, by using figurative language. The fear because, tord the beginning of the story he said, “ I don't wish to end up at the bottom like a shattered pine tree.”And this says he is afraid of falling. Plus he says this when he wants warmth, “ the grasses gave him much trouble, and made him long for soft-tanned moose hide moccasins.” This shows it because moose hide is very warm and moccasin is a type of shoe.
Once you finish the story. I hope you conclude that you shouldn’t go out in dangerous conditions by yourself. Because know you know the risk of going out by yourself. The Question is will you go out by yourself?
“Up The Slide” is a short story by Jack London that takes place in the Northwest part of Canada. With temperatures known to plunge to negative eighty degrees Fahrenheit and a slope with an altitude of at least five hundred feet, this is a setting where surviving is about the only thing anyone could hope for. That’s what Clay and Swanson are aiming for. It doesn’t help that Clay and his arrogant mind wander off with his dogs, himself, and an ax to get more wood. Swanson stays back to cook dinner, and Clay is all by himself. The author uses this setting to show the theme of survival and devotion. When Clay doesn’t give up on his goal of returning back to camp unscathed, that shows there’s a lot of devotion in tough situations if you want to survive.
ReplyDeleteWhen Clay leaves to get the wood, he had no idea what was in store as he started is weary climb up the steep slope with the dogs, his only form of transportation, at the bottom. Jack London creates tension as Clay starts his eventful trek up the slope. The events that happen during the climb help create the theme. When Clay spots the lonely pine tree, there was nobody stopping him. As he kept climbing and stopping, the tension builds even more, as the readers are waiting for something to happen. Then, “when both surfaces came together, his feet shot out, and he fell on his face, sliding downward and convulsively clutching for something to stay himself.” This creates theme as it relates to the claim that there’s a lot of devotion in tough situations if you want to survive, and he succeeds in doing so, as he stops and steadies himself, then keeps climbing.
Clay’s laziness starts to get the best of him, “three or four times he slipped slightly and recovered himself, but, growing careless from exhaustion and the long tension on his nerves, he tried to continue with too great haste, and was rewarded with a double slip of each foot, which tore him loose and started him down the slope.” “On account of the steepness there was little snow, but what little there was, was displaced by his body so that he became the nucleus of a young avalanche.” London shows there that if Clay makes one bad decision, his chance of survival is slim. This could be interpreted as arrogance, but it clearly means that Clay has devotion and wants to survive because of the way he steadies himself, and then keeps on going, and doesn’t give up.
Throughout the story, Clay’s mental strength drops, and the author shows that by the events in the story. “Fully ten minutes pass ere he could master these sensations and summon sufficient strength for the weary climb. His legs hurt him and he was limping, and he was conscious of a sore place in his back, where he had fallen on the ax.” Jack London portrays these events that the risk of climbing the steep slope can lead to injuries and it is very tough to survive.
ReplyDeleteJack London also uses figurative language to help support the claim. “He clawed up the broken rock, hand and foot, like a cat.” This example shows the precautions Clay must take to return unharmed. He uses more examples such as, “He did not wish to arrive at the bottom shattered like the pine tree.” This refers to Clay’s thoughts and how he wants to survive. Another key example is, “the surface they presented was as glassy as that of his muclucs.” This shows what it would look like in a dangerous situation and the level of fear that Clay has throughout his threatening expedition.
At the end of the story, when Clay and Swanson sell the wood at forty dollars a cord, it shows that Clay’s devotion paid off. The author uses sort of a circular ending by saying at the beginning of the story, “that whatever firewood there was originally had long since been gathered in; that firewood wouldn’t be selling at forty dollars a cord if any man could go out and get a sled load and be back in the time Clay expected to make it.” Then, in the end, he writes, “there were fifty cords of wood sold at forty dollars a cord, and it was Clay and Swanson who sold them.” This goes back to the claim that there is a lot of devotion in tough situations if you want to survive. Swanson appreciates that devotion, as he also gets a positive outcome from this situation. For one thing, he’s earning money, and another, he gets to spend quality time with his buddy Clay.