Taking On The World Essay
How does Ellen MacArthur succeed in enabling the reader to appreciate the grueling and difficult nature of the incident described?
Ellen MacArthur became famous in 2001 when she competed in the Vendee Globe solo round-the-world competition. She later wrote a book about her journey and the troubles/dangers that she faced.
The moment that we start the extract, we are shown the first difficult situation that McArthur is faced with ‘it was the hardest climb to date’. Ellen goes on and tells the reader about about her preparations for the climb ‘worked through the night preparing for it’ and presents some of the equipment she has to take with her. The technical language she uses informs us that she is an experienced sailor and knows what she is doing. She also informs us of the risks of failure ‘not get caught as I climbed’. All of these things help to bring the reader closer to the story and gives you a good first impression on what MacArthur is expecting from this climb.
Paragraph two gives you a bit of insight into the character of MacArthur. You are shown through her thoughts that she is quite a sensible character ‘I knitted up my middle layer… wouldn’t be able to move freely up there’. She also (once again) states the possible danger of this task ‘it would not be difficult to break bones up there’.
In the third paragraph, she begins by recalling the preparations for her climb while still on deck. MacArthur then uses the metaphor ‘as if I was stepping on to the moon’ to describe the strange feeling. She also mentions that she is a ‘passive observer looking down on your boat some 90 feet below’ this shows how long she has been climbing her mast for and the actual risk she is taking by climbing alone. There is no one else to "attend to it" which increases her risk of injury or equipment failure.
Once Ellen has properly begun her ascent of the mast, she mentions the “increasingly heavy halyard" which shows the growing difficulty of the situation. MacArthur also
Ellen MacArthur became famous in 2001 when she competed in the Vendee Globe solo round-the-world competition. She later wrote a book about her journey and the troubles/dangers that she faced.
The moment that we start the extract, we are shown the first difficult situation that McArthur is faced with ‘it was the hardest climb to date’. Ellen goes on and tells the reader about about her preparations for the climb ‘worked through the night preparing for it’ and presents some of the equipment she has to take with her. The technical language she uses informs us that she is an experienced sailor and knows what she is doing. She also informs us of the risks of failure ‘not get caught as I climbed’. All of these things help to bring the reader closer to the story and gives you a good first impression on what MacArthur is expecting from this climb.
Paragraph two gives you a bit of insight into the character of MacArthur. You are shown through her thoughts that she is quite a sensible character ‘I knitted up my middle layer… wouldn’t be able to move freely up there’. She also (once again) states the possible danger of this task ‘it would not be difficult to break bones up there’.
In the third paragraph, she begins by recalling the preparations for her climb while still on deck. MacArthur then uses the metaphor ‘as if I was stepping on to the moon’ to describe the strange feeling. She also mentions that she is a ‘passive observer looking down on your boat some 90 feet below’ this shows how long she has been climbing her mast for and the actual risk she is taking by climbing alone. There is no one else to "attend to it" which increases her risk of injury or equipment failure.
Once Ellen has properly begun her ascent of the mast, she mentions the “increasingly heavy halyard" which shows the growing difficulty of the situation. MacArthur also