Silent Witness – Chapter 8

Passage 1

“I stared at the mountain rising over me. Empty. It was a pointless thing to have done – climb up it, across it, and down it. Stupid! It looked perfect; so clean and untouched, and we had changed nothing, It was beautiful, immaculate, but it left me empty. I had been on it too long, and it had taken everything.”
I think the mood shown in this piece of the text shows Simons regret, he regrets him and Joe trying to scale Suila Grande because he thinks it has taken Joe’s life. Simon is reflecting in this passage, reflecting what has happened and how insignificant it seems to the mountain, and how even though he had been through so much the mountain looks so peaceful and untouched.

Passage 2

“If I hadn’t cut the rope I would have certainly died. Looking at the cliff, I knew there would be no surviving such a fall. Yet, having saved myself, I was now going to return home and tell people a story that a few would ever believe. No one cuts the rope! It could never be that bad! Why didn’t you do this, or try that? I could hear the questions, and see the doubts in the eyes even of those who accepted my story. It was bizarre, and it was cruel. I had been on to a loser from the moment he broke his leg, and nothing could have changed it.”                 In this extract from the text, Simon is trying to justify what he did and why it was right to cut the rope. He mentions how the situation he was in would have resulted in his and Joe’s death, whereas the decision he made resulted in only one death. He says that the moment Joe broke his leg he knew that something would go wrong and he is worrying about what people will say when they hear his story and whether they would believe him and doubt him

One Reply to “Silent Witness – Chapter 8”

  1. Valid answers, Ben. Remember to select specific words/combinations of words to use as evidence in your answer. I.e. This is shown through “….”
    * Also, what do these details from the text teach the reader about human nature?

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