Have you ever wonder what it would feel like to have your arm entrapped by an 800 pound boulder ( I am guessing that it isn’t the greatest feeling)? When Aron Ralston an outdoor fanatic sets out on a hike in the remote Utah canyon-lands at the Blue-John Canyon, far away from any civilazation the unthinkable happens. An 800 – pound boulder tumbling’s loss and heads to crush Aron’s arm and learns that “If you want to get to Heaven, you have to go through hell”(88).
In the rising action of the novel Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Aron has endure 72 hours (Three days) of having his arm entrap in the boulder and is near the brink of death. With most of his water and food supplies gone, Aron has only three options left. Trying to wait for rescue (Very unlikely to find him alive), commit suicide, or amputate his arm off. With temperatures slowly dropping-leaving Aron exposed to wrath hypothermia, which is slowly killing him. Hardly having any sleep at night, Aron is affect by sleep deprivation and is very slowly losing him mind. Throughout his entrapment, Aron has finally understood that “It’s me. I chose this. I chose all of this-this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. I’ve been moving towards it my whole life.” There is no one to blame for what has happen to him.
Much like the my recent independent novel, Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, both Aron and Jon face a constant Human vs. Nature conflict. Jon sets out to climb one of the most challenging mountains of all. Mt. Everest. Many have died trying for this ultimate accomplishment and have gotten lost in the mist of their overconfidence. As many climbers begin the final ascent to the summit, many forget the unstoppable power of mother- nature. Above the ‘Death Zone’ a blizzard comes out of nowhere and changes the lives of many of the climbers forever.
In Between a Rock and a Hard Place, Aron sets out alone, without telling any of his friends where he is heading off to. He is confident that he will make it back in time to Aspen Colorado, his home, just how Jon was sure that he was coming back from Mt. Everest alive. But this time all of Aron’s experience and confidence of not running into any trouble was wrong. “You’ll never find your limits until you’ve gone too far,” (206) however, this time Aron gone way too far from his set limits, and like what Jon did in the novel Into Thin Air, got over- themselves. Aron entrapped both in his mind and body and “longs to see his family again, but he knows that he has entered the protractedly dismal final countdown to his death” (213). Will he ever see life again?
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