From Taking On The World

From Taking On The World

Paragraph 1 and 2:
MacArthur narrates about her preparations for the climb ("worked through the night preparing for it") and introduces some of the equipment she has to take on the climb. Also, she vaguely highlights the risks about equipment failure ("not get caught as I climbed"). She also states the risk of injury ("thrown against the mass"...."not difficult to break bones up there").

Paragraph 3:
She describes the preparations on the deck of the Kingfisher. Also, she describes the risk of running out of energy and not finishing the climb. She also mentions that she is a "passive observer looking down on your boat some 90 feet below" - this shows how high she has climbed her mast and the actual risk she is taking by climbing alone. There is no one else to "attend to it" which increases her risk of injury or equipment failure. The tone here is very fearful and doubtful she would make it.

Paragraph 4:
She narrates about the "increasing heavy halyard"..."nearly 200 feet of rope" which shows how much she has climbed, again. She refers to the risk of injury and how to avoid "smacking back into the rig". MacArthur talks about her physical drain - "clinging on" - which shows the fear in her mind. When she talks about waves smashing into the boat and the motion being too much for her, she refers to the boat and herself as "us". This only highlights how…