“one Mile of Pain” one Mile of Ice Short Story Analysis
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Chris McGale
ENG 3UC – 03
Jan 18, 2017
One Mile of Pain
Almost everything we do is governed by emotions. Some of the strongest and most compelling emotions can convince us to do things, which in a rational state we would never even think about doing. Fear and pride are some of the most dangerous emotions; when left unchecked, they can convince us to purposefully harm those around us, and even ourselves. Men in particular are subject to the risk created through rivalries and the belief that it is their duty to protect the women in their lives. Many characters in literature demonstrate these emotions in their attempts to cling onto what is theirs despite the consequences. In his short story “One Mile of Ice” Hugh Garner uses characterization, foreshadowing, and point of view to explore the themes of fear and masculine pride.
Characterization is used within this short story to show the power fear and pride has over our lives, through the character of Ralph. Garner characterizes Ralph as a standard man; he is married, works a job the same as “everybody else in this part of the world”, and is a “father of eight”. From the uniformity in how Ralph lives his life, the reader can see the commonness of Ralph’s pride. The necessity of crossing the river at that time, and putting their lives at risk, comes from the line “I’ve always wanted to be first”; not some life or death situation, simply due to Ralph’s desire to be first. From an early age all people, but in particular boys, are taught to be competitive in all things. The desire to be first can be seen in all forms of competition, not the desire to improve or the desire to do the best possible, but to win completely, sometimes regardless of the costs. Our society awards almost no difference in attention between the second person to do something as the hundred and second person to do something, while the first person to do something is generally drowned in praise. The feeling of being “satisfied” when they discover they were “first any way” leaves ralph that night when he decides he doesn’t want his family “alone at night.” This fleeting satisfaction could suggest that Garner believes that the egos of people know no bounds. Becoming the first to cross the river something Ralph has “always wanted” to do becomes an afterthought to what he sees as his real duty, protecting his family. Neglecting all rational fear of the cold, Ralph sets off onto the river and tests Pete’s masculinity by numerously asking if Pete is “coming or not,” and despite feeling the “nameless dread of the ice cold river” forges into it. Like the desire to come first, men tend to express pride towards accepting cowardice and have an inability to back down. Ralph’s characterization of pride constantly forces him to wait to see if Pete will give in and not take a risk so he has the ability to back out himself without fear of shame. Through this characterization, Garner seems to suggests that the unwillingness to accept the shame of cowardice can lead us to convince ourselves to ignore fear and run blindly into what we meet. The setting of these events supports this, the characters deciding on their actions in between a bright town and the dark wilderness. The dark wilderness symbolizes the unknown and danger Pete and Ralph are accepting, while the bright town symbolizes the safety of rationally thinking and letting ones pride go. During the ride back Ralph is characterized as having his pride slipping away into fear. He realizes it isn’t the “cinch” he thought it would be and realizes they must “keep moving.” The characterization of Ralph as a prideful masculine figure, who conforms to societies expectations, leads him to ignore all the foreshadowed signs of danger.
The themes of fear and masculine pride are explored through the use of foreshadowing, and how the characters react to it. At the beginning of their journey Ralph states that they are likely to have “a big blow today”, and even someone outside for only a couple of minutes thought she should go back inside “before I freeze,” and yet, besides a few remarks confirming Pete’s willingness, Ralph continues without waiting for a better day. From this, we see a belief of Ralph that the possibility of dying is either not important enough to worry about, or completely impossible. Through this use of overconfidence in one’s life Garner could be commentating on how mankind sees ourselves as inherently special, too special to die. This belief is heavily promoted in all of us; the heroes we celebrate in film or literature usually die heroic deaths if at all; a large portion of them simply go on and never die. Even without our stories confirming our immortality, the fear of death is a taboo topic, especially for men. Death is synonymous with weakness; if the person who died simply were stronger they could have lived longer. This is continued through the constant mentioning of “pools” in the ice and the precautions to take “if she’d have broken through”, and finally the advice to “keep your heads.” In our lives not all dangers can be avoided, and sometimes risks are worth it, but Garner’s use of Ralph neglecting these warnings makes the reader consider what is important enough