Of Men and Mountains

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Essay- "Of Men and Mountains" One literary element used within the short story, "Of Men and Mountains" by William O. Douglas was conflict. There were many examples of conflicts that the characters in the short story had. For example, internal and external conflicts. Many of the conflicts were concerning their lives. The example of external conflict was human versus nature. The two main characters, Bill and Doug had to face the traitorous lava rock called Kloochman Rock, while climbing it. They were trying to conquer the rock, which was almost fighting against them. Many times there lives were put in serious danger and almost taken away from them. One example of internal conflict from the short story was when Bill was holding on to the rock for his life and his mind was racing. This is what his mind was saying, "Hang on? You can't hang on. You are a weakling. The weaklings die in the woods. Weakling? I'll show you ... I'll hang on" (Douglas). Bill didn't know if he was going to live because he was hanging from the cliff, so he tried to convince himself that he could hold on. His body was telling him that he couldn't hold on because it cried out from pain, but his soul was telling him that he could hold on because he had to live. Multiple times in "Of Men and Mountains" Bill and Doug faced really difficult and frightening conflicts that led to near death experiences. After this they see life differently because death had passed so close to them that they realized how wonderful it is to be

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