1.8 significant conections

For survival in the harshest conditions, one must rely on internal dialogue or “the voice” to guide them through the toughest of decisions.  internal dialogue guides people through the toughest conditions through the use of motivation for the person and encouragement of the correct decisions even if they are difficult. internal dialogue ability to guide people through these difficult scenarios is what makes it such a necessity for those in difficult scenarios. the texts “touching the void” by Jo Simpson “into thin air” by Jon Krakauer “between a rock and a hard place” by Aron Ralston and “into  the wild” by Jon Krakauer all show the importance of internal dialogue through there experiences with it as well as what happens  when the internal dialogue is ignored.

in “touching the void”  by Joe Simpson internal dialogue keeps Joe focused on survival in the extreme circumstances because of internal dialogue in his head guiding him.  this is shown throughout the text but one of its first appearances is when Joe is being lowered by Simon at a fast pace until eventually Joe slides of a cliff Simon is unaware of this and continues to lower Joe. when it is time for Joe to underweight the rope he cannot because he is hanging on the rope. because Simon does not know he is hanging so he continues to wait holding Joe’s weight. however, when conditions worsen and he starts sliding downwards his internal dialogue suggests to him to use the knife to cut the rope. this thought’s shown with this quote”The knife! The thought came out of nowhere. Of course, the knife. Be quick, come on, get it.”. the imperative sentences like the knife, be quick, get it.  they are all commands or simple instructions that are easy to follow. this is important because in extreme scenarios the human mind can not function as it would in other cases it is mostly focused on surviving what is happening. it is easier to survive when things are simpler this is why it is short and simple sentences as it allows the brain to focus on achieving the goal instead of struggling to understand what is happening.  this is reinforced later in the text when Joe is attempting to climb out of the cassavas with his injured leg he is repeating to himself as he climbs “That’s the way. Find a routine and stick to it.” this is short sentences that are clear and serve to encourage himself and then more instructions about what to do next. these short sentences encourage Joe to keep working and focus on what is happening now and where he needs to head. this makes it similar for Joe to focus on the task at hand and ignore the distractions IE his leg hurting. this helps the reader to clearly see what is happening what Joe is focusing on what he needs to be focusing on and most importantly what he is thinking.

“into thin air” by Jon Krakauer is another text that shows the very real need for internal dialogue. while Jon Krakauer is attempting to climb Everest   with his guide rob hall and the other paying customers he talks about mountaineering issues and topics on the way up one of the things he talks about is how important it is to listen to distress calls and to listen to them. this is shown when he says ” the sort of individual who is programmed to ignore personal distress and keep pushing for the top is frequently programmed to disregard signs of grave and imminent danger as well.”. this quote talks about those people that ignore and push past there limits often do not know when is too much this puts in grave danger of going too far and injuring them self on the mountain. however, if they were to listen to there personal distress calls they would be in a better mindset and more prepared to face difficult scenarios. because of there personal distress calls being listened to people are normally closer to there comfort zone meaning that they will be better suited to making life and death decisions. another point where internal dialogue is shown is when Jon and his group are making there way up the Khumbu icefall a treacherous and unpredictable piece on the way up to Everest. while he is going through here he makes the comment “my inner voice resembles Chicken Little: it was screaming that I was about to die” here the inner voice is surviving for Joe as something that allows him to know that he is at risk of injury. because he knows now that he is at risk he will be more precarious on the way up also when he says that his inner voice resembles chicken little he is showing that his inner voice is very afraid and often resembling chicken little. this is mostly a good thing during climbing as it shows the reader that he is unlikely to take risks and is likely to be taking the safest route if he listens to his inner voice. the reader can learn from this that it is often those who take risks often and make habits of it are often those that go too far and may not be able to come back, however, those that listen to there inner voice are unlikely to make rash unguided decisions and are likely to take the route that will get them down alive. this shows the reader that the people that listen to there inner voice will be more likely to survive when compared with those that do not. 

like the book touching the void, into thin air clearly displays to the reader that those that listen to there inner voice / internal dialogue are significantly more likely to take a better route to stay motivated and “keep their eyes on the prize” as such the prize ultimately being survival when things go sourer.  for joe, it was making it back to camp before Simon left and for and for Jon it was making through the mountain safety however for those in their everyday lives it could be that they need to get through a difficult day.

in “between a rock and a hard place” by Aron Ralston internal dialogue is used to keep Aron the main character focused on survival. Aaron Ralston is an adventurer in the USA how is commonly climbed many mountains and survived the harshest of terrain. however, when he decided to go through a canyon he was jumping on choke stones making his way through when one of the stones rolled under his weight and pinned his arm between the walls and the choke stone . in order for him to survive he listened to his internal dialogue which guided him through the experience. one example of this is once he is first trapped by the choke stone he notes this “My mind commands my body, “Get your hand out of there!” “this here is an example were internal dialogue is completely controlling his every move in order to test the waters and evaluate what is happing. this shows under extreme stress that Aron is feeling with his arm being trapped the mind takes control of the body to stop any irrational actions to occur. this is because of the mind’s reasoning in these scenarios is far better then irrational actions that may cause the situation to worsen if the body panics and takes all control.  another area of the text that supports the use of the internal dialogue is when Aron is stuck in the canyon he talks to the camera about his struggles and his thoughts these thoughts are really Aron trying to wrap his head around what is happening and by vocalizing his thoughts he is able to become more confident with his decisions and talk about things so he can control his emotions. he starts by saying “its two pm on a Wednesday afternoon. it’s getting close to four days that I have been in this hole.” he then finishes off by addressing his loved ones by saying “I’m holding on but its really slowing down…thank you love you”. by him being able to talk about what is happing what the time and date and etc is he is able to reflect and look back and what has happened by him being able to do this he can think to the future it is most likely the mental voice in his head encouraging him to do this as it knows that he can not concentrate the same thing applies to his message for the loved ones he is talking about  what is on his mind by doing this he is sharing it with what could be other people if they find the camera so he sees it as a way to talk to his family. also when he is talking about it getting really slow but that he is still holding on he is motivating himself to in the future so he can think this is where I have been and this is where I need to go. these thoughts being said to the camera are encouraged by the voice to stop Aron from living in the past so instead, he can focus on the now. this can teach the reader that sharing emotions is often driven by a voice in the head to allow the person to be able to focus on the now even in extreme situations.

between a rock and a hard place relates to touching the void as most if not all of  Joe’s and Aron’s thoughts are to get him in the correct mindset to be able to be able to focus on what he needs to be doing even when his body or his mind starts to break. these thoughts of survival are derived from the voice encouraging Joe and Aron to think like this. which keeps them in the correct mindset to tackle their challenges.

in “into the wild” by Jon Krakauer, internal dialogue is uncommon often making it more difficult and then impossible for him to survive. this is shown at a few key points throughout the text. into thin air by Jon Krakauer talks about a young man called Chris McCandless how goes of on his own after finishing university and travels around the united states of America and never contacts his family he travelled around the USA with many near-death experiences before deciding that he wanted to try to survive on his own in Alaska so he travelled up and attempted to survive for a spring to autumn time frame.he later died through his experiences as he was not able to cross back over one of the rivers so had to wait it out. as his sister noted to Jon when being interviewed. “now, of course, they second-guess the decision, even though buck was really badly hurt..my parent’s can’t help wondering how things may have tuned out differently if Chris had taken Buck with him. Chris didn’t think twice before putting himself in danger but he never would have put Buck in any danger.” this shows to the reader that Chris’s sister thinks things could have turned out differently if Chris had taken Buck.  so if Chris had taken buck then perhaps he may have not taken anywhere near the risks that he did end up taking in order to protect the dog buck. if Chris had taken the dog he would have used the internal dialogue effectively meaning he would be able to make sure that he didn’t succumb to an unfortunate disaster leaving Buck on his own. however he did not end up taking the dog and because of this, he chose mostly to ignore his internal dialogue in most situations. as a result of this, he ended up in a hopeless situation and died. from this, a reader can conclude that those who use there internal dialogue will have a significantly greater chance of survival because of this they are in a much better place for survival.

in comparison with touching the void by Jo Simpson  into the wild shows none of the important internal dialogue moments that help with survival in extreme situations because of a lack of internal dialogue Chris ends up dying while Joe and Simon both survive using internal dialogue to help their motivation and because of this they are able to survive through the calming and reasoning of internal dialogue. this shows the reader that it is essential to have internal dialogue in extreme situations and also highlights how important it is to listen to it and those that don’t listen to it run the risk of death through there decisions being unregulated without the voice. 

a person survival is dependent on the quality of decisions that they make and the attitude they approach these decisions and carry the way they carry out there answers. this is shown to the reader through the books “into thin air” by  Joe Simpson, “touching the void” by Jon Krakauer, “between a rock and a hard place” by Aron Ralston ” and “into the wild” by Jon Krakauer all display to the reader how internal dialogue is an absolute necessity for survival when people are in extreme situations. through the different representation of the voice and what happens when the voice is ignored we learn as readers what the voice is what it is trying to achieve and how we can best use it and how it can affect the characters in the extreme scenarios .  as humans we are faced with many decisions some more important than others with the crucial decisions we must make it is important to listen to internal dialogue when making decisions.

One Reply to “1.8 significant conections”

  1. Laurie, you have made some mature judgments about your theme in places – well done. Your specific examples are also very good and work across your texts.
    1) Read through this essay and strengthen the technical accuracy (spelling, punctuation and grammar) and overall sense. You may need to read through this work out loud to find all of the necessary changes.
    2) I would have liked to have seen your “connections” imbedded into your text discussion, rather than attached to the end of it. You may wish to edit down some of your text discussion and spend more time talking about the similarities and contrasts between texts; the “connections” are a vital part of the assessment.

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