Analysis of Extract from chapter 1 of "Touching the Void"

The book Touching the Void is an amazing book written by Joe Simpson. It is a book that revolves around his experiences and his journey climbing a Brobdingnagian mountain in Peru called Siuella Grande. In this book, specifically the 1st chapter 24th page, there is great use of emotion and emotive language. The author uses many emotive vocabulary to express the emotions felt at the given moment.

At first we are introduced to the idea that the characters are in astonishment and absolute wonderment at the glorious landscape ahead of them. This is shown to us through the certain wording and phrases such as “All lethargy was swept away.” This shows us that the characters are mesmerised by what is ahead of them and has influenced them to continue their journey. Furthermore, there is also the phrase “God, it’s fantastic.” Which supports my statement.

On the other hand, we are also given the sense of some form of foreshadowing of what the future may hold for the characters and we are given some form of perception of what problems may occur further in the story.

This is presented to us through the phrase “there would be no one to intrude or to come to our rescue…” This phrase gives us the idea that something terrible will occur. The use of ellipses really helps emphasise this idea as it leaves the phrase on a sort of cliff hanger and we are presented with suspense.