Into Thin Air Blog #2

"...It took a little more than an hour to descend back to Base Camp. By the time I removed my crampons to walk the last hundred yards to the tents, the sun felt like it was boring a hole through the crown of my skull. The full force of the headache struck a few minutes later, as I was chatting with Helen and Chhongba in the mess tent..." pg. 85.
This quote is not positive, but it's well-written. I love how this quote uses hyperbole and simile in it. The author uses hyperbole to over exaggerate the pain of the headache, which makes the memoir more interesting. The quote explains in detail how the author felt, and it entertains the reader. In class, we've been doing a lot of work focused on detail and imagery, specifically slanted imagery. This quote contains both good detail, and imagery with feeling (slanted imagery). By saying "...boring a hole..." and "...full force of the headache struck...", the author really shows how bad the headache was, as opposed to being ambiguous (YAY AN SAT WORD :)) about his feelings. These lines suggest a negative connotation. For example, if the author had said, "my head hurt", you wouldn't get the idea about how much it actually hurt. "My head hurt" only suggests that it aches a little bit. Also, the author's sudden drop in mood causes an effect of the reader. At first, the author seems happy and fine, but suddenly he drops in with "...the sun felt like it was boring a hole through the crown of my skull..." To me, this change of tone creates some irony, and takes me by surprise. I'm especially shocked because just before the quote, everything was happy and in fact, the author was describing how he was being praised for the good work he had done. Overall, this quote uses great detail, imagery, and sudden contrast in mood to not only inform, but entertain readers.