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Natalie Lopatowski
Mrs. Baione-Doda
AP Literature
23 October 2008

"Morning comes like a scream through a pinhole. Rita is staring at the concentric circles of bamboo that comprise the hut's round conical roof. She is lying still, hands crossed on her chest — she woke up that way — and through the mosquito net, too tight, terrifying, suffocating in a small way when she thinks too much about it, she can see the concentric circles of the roof above and the circles are twenty-two in number, because she has counted and recounted."

This short story was the first that went from start to finish, it had a believable character and a normal conflict of man vs. nature narrative. It had a beginning, a middle and an end. This short story uses imagery, syntax, and diction to reveal her superhuman triumph which only is brief because she basically come tumbling back down to earth which is ironic because the title leads you to believe the opposite. The mountain was a symbol of her struggle, syntax changed when describing personal things about Rita, for example, "Her name is Rita. Her hair is red like a Romanian's and her hands are large. Eyes large and mouth lipless and she hates, has always hated, her lipless mouth. Her father had been a pastor." The sentences become shorter. Tone is also used throughout the short story as to try and make you symapthize for Rita. At the end of the story the author does not bash her or call her a failure but takes into her account for her effort and this tone is portrayed throughout.