Cliff Hanger

The three quotes I found most interesting are:

“Joe had smiled as I let him slide away from me. It wasn’t much of a smile. His pain twisted it into a grimace. I let him go fast and ignored his cries” (Simpson 100).

Joe already had broken his leg and Simon was faced with the responsibility of getting them both down. The tone Simon has in his passage “I let him go fast and ignored his cries”
Simon really had to separate himself emotionally at this point he was going into command mode. Seems he was just trying to get them down alive. I think he did not have time to really care if he was hurting Joe, he knew he needed to get them both down and an overwhelming sense of responsibility for both of them making it down alive. This seems like a decision Simon had to make about survival.

“Place – lift –brace-hop… Keep going... look how far you’ve gone. Just do it, don’t think about it” (Simpson 163).

This passage really is telling of Joe’s struggle to stay focused on his main goal, to survive! Joe was not going to just lie around and die, his instinct was that of survival and he had to tell himself, sometimes even out loud over and over again how to move. The natural instinct was gone he had to verbally command himself. Joe was unable to even limp, crawling was not going to work .This act of “Place – lift – brace-hop...” was Joe’s only way of survival. I think that this really shows the mental state he needed to be in and his capacity to survive. Joe was able to push himself physically beyond what he ever thought he could go.

“They were the last obstacle which could kill me” (Simpson 165).

Seeing the last of the cliffs, Joe has a sense of accomplishment, he realizes that he has gotten through so much already. Just this one last hurdle then he will be out of danger. Unfortunately he finds himself getting too confident almost sarcastic in his attitude. He ends up losing all focus and is almost throwing away yet another chance at survival. Joe really stops thinking survival mode and relaxes in his thoughts and determination, unaware of his surroundings he had his eyes set on just getting to Bomb Alley. This seems to be a turning point in his survival. Again he has to re focus himself to his earlier way of thinking staying focused on where he is going but also aware of how far he has come and how long it took. I found myself feeling so sorry for him at this point. He seems so defeated. Yet he has accomplished more than he thought he would the day before. The courage Joe shows is unbelievable.