1. Contrast is used in chapter 7 of the text “Touching The Void” by Joe Simpson to show what Joe is going through and his emotions and feelings towards it. The contrast of what Joe is thinking while in the crevasse shows his emotions as his mood swings a lot from thinking he could survive to accepting that he is going to die to the darkness below him. This is shown when he says ‘the stark blackness of the drops, too deep for the light to penetrate…the black space held untold horrors….staring at the black hole in front of me….the dark spaces menaced’ and this is contrasted by ‘small hole in the roof, where the sky was cloudless, packed with stars, and moonlight was adding its glow to their bright sparkle.’ the quotes of him seeing the darkness and unstoppable fall below him show the reader that he is accepting his fate of death and knowing that he will never get out whereas when he’s looks up at the hole above him he gets hope an believes that he will get out and home to safety, this makes us notice that his mood is swinging a lot from positive to negative then giving the effect of how dramatic and serious the situation is that Joe is in as we know that there is very little chance of him surviving but we still have hope that he can get out.

2. The rope in the book “Touching The Void” by Joe Simpson is represented as the connection and sense of accountability between Joe and Simon and this changes when Joe pulls the cut rope over the edge of the crevasse. It changes because throughout the book they have been connected by the rope and have come to rely on it therefore relying on each other to not fall off the mountain and if they do then the trust that the other will catch them. When Joe sees there is no connection he becomes detached he has to rely upon himself for survival having to think for himself and not having Simon to help make the decisions. It also makes Joe lose hope at first as without that connection he believes there is no other way out on his own with a broken leg. This is shown in the quote ‘I saw the rope flick down and my hopes sank. I drew the slack rope to me, and stared at the frayed end.’ this shows how quickly he loses his hope and feels detached from Simon as his hope full relied on still being attached to Simon to pull himself up the crevasse, therefore showing the reader that his connection and sense of accountability disappears dramatically when he sees there is no connection between him and Simon anymore.

3. I believe that Joe lowered himself into the crevasse as it was his only hope. Joe by this time had tried everything to climb out of the crevasse but he couldn’t as he was severely dehydrated and crippled by his broken leg and he knew from his experience and knowledge of mountaineering that by lowering himself there was a chance he could reach the bottom and follow the crevasse until he found a way out. But he also knew that he may never reach the bottom and would have to let go and allow himself to fall to his death. As I explained In Answer 1 Joe had accepted that he was most likely going to die so he make a calculated decision and by the little bit of hope left in him that he could survive to risk his life to escape the crevasse and if he never reached the bottom he would let himself die.