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“I’d think about my entire life, from all the things that made my life ridiculous. I’d find my strength again”

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“I’d think about my entire life, from all the things that made my life ridiculous. I’d find my strength again”

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This complex sentence shows how Cheryl’s self discovery is a journey of self reflection because we are the only people that realise this more fully. This highlights when we are alone and unfluncial by others. This also shows how people need to find their strength in order for them to escape their grief.

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Strayed's use of a simile, highlights to the auidence that Cheryl has begun to discover who she is and realising the importance of self discovery. Only once Cheryl discovers who she is, can she move on with her life and be happy. This makes the auidence feel relieved that cheryl is finally able to at peace with who she is and have respect for herself.

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Strayed utilizes parallel structure and minor sentences to describe the experience of being in the wild, “the silence was tremendous. The absence felt like a weight. This is what I came for, I thought. This is what I got.” The repetition of the minor sentence heightens the enormity and simplicity of being in the wild. Strayed is at the complete mercy of the wilderness which highlights not only the danger she is in, but also the space she has to work through some of the challenges she is facing in her life at home. While the wild can offer people a space for refection, it is also a place of brutality which can be confronting when we realise that we are only human.

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Cheryl strayed utilises the metaphor, "It seemed like my trip had just begun, like I was only now digging into whatever it was I was out here to do. Like I was still the women with the hole in her heart, but the hole had gotten ever so infinitesimally smaller."

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Cheryl strayed utilises the metaphor, "It seemed like my trip had just begun, like I was only now digging into whatever it was I was out here to do. Like I was still the women with the hole in her heart, but the hole had gotten ever so infinitesimally smaller."

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The connatations of digging show that she is unearthing and searching for something. In conjuction with pairing this with her greif we can see that she is digging to rediscover herself. This reflects to the reader that cheryls trip is allowing her to isolate herself in order to come to terms with this grief.

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"I was a pebble. I was a leaf. I was the jagged branch of a tree. I was nothing to them and they were nothing to  me."

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"I was a pebble. I was a leaf. I was the jagged branch of a tree. I was nothing to them and they were nothing to  me."

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The author uses repetition and short sentences to make the audience see how Cheryl feels as if she has no worth and no matter what happens she is worthless to the world. This forces the audience to think about how they reflect on their self worth. Cheryl want us to understand that everybody has a purpose in their lives and everybody can make a difference to the outcome of society.

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Feeling the lightened-but-still-ridiculously- heavy weight of monster shift and settle

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Feeling the lightened-but-still-ridiculously- heavy weight of monster shift and settle

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Strayed’s use of internal monologue combined with symbolism, “feeling the lightened-but-still-ridiculously-heavy weight of monster shift and settle,” evokes a sense of achievement and satisfaction within the audience. The sense of achievement and satisfaction is significant because Cheryl has dealt with some of her problems while on the PCT. Cheryl looks onto her past and learns it was not her fault for missing her mother's last few minutes on the world. Which leads to her realising that her mother loved her more than anyone one ever loved her. Furthermore, developing the idea that we shouldn't blame ourselves for someones death or not being to stay with them for their last few minutes on the world as most of the time we are unaware of when the person will pass away. We can't dwell in the past and regret not being there. We must move on and cherish the times we have spent with them in the past.

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I had to change…Not into a different person, but back to the person I used to be… 

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I had to change…Not into a different person, but back to the person I used to be… 

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The quote used by Cheryl, I had to change…Not into a different person, but back to the person I used to be… The author used this quote to emphasis the point that we have all been good people in our lives at times, so we relise that in ourder  to look good to other people and feel good we need to start to act and feel the way we used to be when we were good people and when we were happy compared to actually trying to change ourselves because that can be very hard at times. Through this quote the audience understands that we all go through bad times in our life and we start to act and think differently but in order for used to become happy again we need to take ourselves back before things went wrong and changed us.

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 I only felt that in spite of all the things I’d done wrong, in getting myself here, I’d done right. 

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 I only felt that in spite of all the things I’d done wrong, in getting myself here, I’d done right. 

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- a declarative statement is used here to show that Cheryl had made a good decision by getting to the PCT. This helped the audience understand that Cheryl is in a good state and we a feel a sense of relief for her as we was worried that the past would affect her from moving on in her life. This was Cheryl's way of showing us that she knows her strengths and that she has made a good decision by spending time to discover herself.

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‘I’d gotten myself to this place on my own two feet’ - declarative

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‘I’d gotten myself to this place on my own two feet’ - declarative

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This declarative statement proves that Cheryl only needed herself for help. We find out that we do not always need external help for success. To find ourselves, sometimes we have to be alone. we have no expectations to meet and no one to try to be. we will not be judged, so we can display our worst, understand it and work on it to find our best.

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That my complicated life could be made so simple was astounding

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That my complicated life could be made so simple was astounding

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“I was amazed that what I needed to survive could be carried on my back. And, most surprising of all, that I could carry it. I could bear the unbearable.”

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“I was amazed that what I needed to survive could be carried on my back. And, most surprising of all, that I could carry it. I could bear the unbearable.”

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This quote is used to show the audience how through Cheryl overcoming her grief she has become a stronger person and is able to move on with her life.  This portrays how Cheryl wants us to learn how only once you deal with grief you can move on with your life and avoid these consequences later on in life.  When people do not confront their grief they lose control and self-destruct. By overcoming our grief we can move forward with hope for the future, not letting our past dictate our future.

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“The sun stared ruthlessly down on me, not caring if I lived or Died”

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“The sun stared ruthlessly down on me, not caring if I lived or Died”

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This allowed the audience to see their belief that their mom can now be free and move on with her life. The audience responds by feeling the grief of Lady just as much as the grief of Bobbi, through the fact that they know that through Lady's death, Bobbi can finally find her peace and ride into the darkness with her horse, as they have both passed. Their deaths are connected, but it contrasts the fact that Bobbi died a really painful death, but they put Lady out of her misery. The purpose was achieved because it allowed us to know that Cheryl, Leif, and Karen are able to finally move on with their lives knowing that their mother is happy and no longer in pain.

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“He hadn’t loved me well in the end, but he’d love well when it mattered,”  evokes a sense sympathy in the audience as it allows us to see that Cheryl is finally realising that she had always been loved, but she had been blind to it because she couldn’t even love herself. This allows us to understand that by having even just one person who loves you can impact and change your life for the better but you need to be able to love yourself to love others. Sometimes you just need to focus on making yourself happy and forget about the world. Once you’ve realized that no one is going to take care of you quite like you can, loving and appreciating yourself becomes so crucial to a genuinely happy existence. I believe that love given to oneself is a gift that we shouldn't overlook. Through loving oneself, we can discover who we truly are as humans which allow us to be proud of who we are and what we have become.

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 There were so many other amazing things in this world. They opened up inside of me like a river. 

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 There were so many other amazing things in this world. They opened up inside of me like a river. 

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- Strayed's use of a simile helps the audience relate to how Cheryl was feeling as she compared her feelings with a river. This helps the audience understand how she was feeling as she continued on with her journey through life.

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Stayed utilizes internal monologue in the quote “The death of my mother was the thing that made me believe the most deeply in my safety. Nothing bad could happen to me, I thought. The worst thing already had.” Strayed has done this how much Cheryl cared for her mother, Bobbi, and that her mother was the most important thing in her life. This gives the audience a sense of sympathy for Cheryl as we come to understand the effect Bobbi’s death had on Cheryl. The quote achieves its purpose as it has demonstrated the love Cheryl felt for her mother, especially after her mothers death as Cheryl come to understand that she cannot imagine a life without her mother.

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Stayed utilizes internal monologue in the quote “The death of my mother was the thing that made me believe the most deeply in my safety. Nothing bad could happen to me, I thought. The worst thing already had.” Strayed has done this how much Cheryl cared for her mother, Bobbi, and that her mother was the most important thing in her life. This gives the audience a sense of sympathy for Cheryl as we come to understand the effect Bobbi’s death had on Cheryl. The quote achieves its purpose as it has demonstrated the love Cheryl felt for her mother, especially after her mothers death as Cheryl come to understand that she cannot imagine a life without her mother.

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Technique -   Metaphor                                "Still trying to balance the burden

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Technique -   Metaphor                                "Still trying to balance the burden

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The author uses this metaphor to show how the backpack represents cheryl's burdens and that she was still learning to balance and carry the burdens of her life.
The audience responds emotionally as they realise that Cheryl's mothers death had a huge impact on her and that by carrying the backpack she is learning to deal with the burdens in her life. The purpose of the quote is to help us to understand Cheryl and how she is dealing with the grief of her mothers death. By her learning to balance the backpack it shows us that she is getting her life on track and learning to live without her mother

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"Not enough chicks do that, if you ask me—just tell society and their expectations to go fuck themselves. If more women did that, we'd be better off."

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"Not enough chicks do that, if you ask me—just tell society and their expectations to go fuck themselves. If more women did that, we'd be better off."

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Strayed’s use of the monologue "Not enough chicks do that, if you ask me—just tell society and their expectations to go fuck themselves. If more women did that, we'd be better off." helps to highlight the issues that we have in today’s society. These issues mainly consist of the lack of gender equality and the high expectations society withalls. Strayed is trying to break down the walls about these issues and by doing this she is creating a better relationship with the audience, this is because most females can relate.

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"Alone had always felt like an actual place to me, as if it weren’t a state of being, but rather a room where I could retreat to be who I really was"

The author uses this metaphor to portray that being 'alone' is an actual place, making it feel as if it is somewhere we can retreat to. This makes the audience feel relieved as it suggests there is always a place you can go. Shows that even in the hardest times you still have yourself, a place you can be who you truly are unaffected by the rest of society because at the end of the day we are our own person and choose the life decisions that change who we are for good or bad.

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"I ran my hand along her bold spelled body, she was still warm, just as my mother had been, when I walked into the hospital room and she was dead"

Audience creator relationship:
In the middle of the text Strayed utilizes graphic language. She quotes “I knelt beside Lady’s body and ran my hand over her blood-speckled body” This evokes a strong sense of traumatisation within the audience. This is significant as it gives the audience a small sense of what Cheryl has experienced throughout her life. This  occurs within the middle of the novel, while she is walking the trail. This reminds the audience of why Cheryl started the trail, by giving the audience a small taste of the trauma Cheryl has experienced throughout her life. This further develops the idea that while Cheryl has made it through the upward turn, in the seven stages of guilt, she still has remembrances of the pain and traumatic Cheryl had to go through before the trail.

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"I ran my hands over her blood speckled body one last time"
This quote evokes a sense of trauma in the audience. It is significant because it allows the audience to feel for Cheryl and share the devastating effects of losing a loved one. It is apart of us humans to be protective and become emotionally attached to animals as they cannot speak for themselves and are ultimately dependent on us. Interestingly, the graphic and vivid language further engages the reader to feel the grief Cheryl is feeling, similarly to when her mother unexpectedly died of cancer.

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“I was amazed that what I needed to survive could be carried on my back. And, most surprising of all, that I could carry it. That I could bear the unbearable”

This makes the readers think about what Cheryl has been through in her past and how the unbearable is what made her want to start the journey. Interestingly, as the book goes on her backpack gets lighter, this quote represents how she is moving on with her life and coming to terms with all the grief from her past.   She is losing all the burdens that she had when she first started the trail and beginning to move on with her new life.

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"I could feel myself disintegrating inside myself like a past bloom flower... every time I moved a muscle, another petal of me blew away." - grief & self discovery

Audience Creator Relationship:
In the middle of the text Cheryl Strayed uses the simile. Cheryl quotes, "I could feel myself disintegrating inside myself like a past bloom flower... every time I moved a muscle, another petal of me blew away." This makes the audience think about how broken Cheryl feels at this stage and how her life is slowly "disintegrating" into nothing. This happens when Cheryl is still on the trail and reflects her inner feelings as she walks through the path. This is relevant because it makes the audience understand that Cheryl is still in the process of getting over the grief she feels about her mother and we know that she can get through it as she has proven her strength. This further develops the idea of self discovery because Cheryl has reached rock bottom and there is only one way to move forward which is up and to carry on reflecting her true feelings about her mother.