Analysis Of As Freezing Persons Recollect The Snow By Peter Stark

80°F And Freezing

Cold weather is the main cause of hypothermia. When hitting the road or doing any traveling or activity in the winter, no one ever really thinks to be ready for the worst-case possible scenarios. One should always bear in mind the consequences of being caught out in the middle of a blizzard or faced with a snowy cold front with none of the right equipment or proper attire. Peter Stark’s essay “As Freezing Persons Recollect the Snow” positions the reader into the driver’s seat of a cold, unthinkable, and traumatizing long night. The author Peter Stark uses a second person view to make the reader feel as if they were experiencing everything firsthand. What started as a getaway to catchup with friends, quickly turns into a nightmare when he finds himself stuck on the side of the road, with his car in the snowbank. With none of

Peter Stark describes the different stages of hypothermia, providing information with personal experience of the science behind the cold. When Stark loses a bail to one of his ski’s bindings, he is left with no choice but to search for it as it is his only way of making it to the cabin in a timely manner. Upon searching Stark references, the core body temperature “At 97 degrees, hunched over in your slow search, the muscles along your neck and shoulders tighten in what's known as pre-shivering muscle tone” (Stark 3). Starks vivid imagery allows the reader to feel this event indirectly. Bringing them emotion, as if they were frantically searching for this lost bail knowing it may be their only hope of survival. The reader begins to get anxious and feels for the stranded one. A long cold 45 minutes goes by when he surprisingly finds the bail and realizes from the amount of time it took and the heat he lost while searching that he’s not fit to keep going. Cold, confused, and on the brink of freezing to death he decides to start back to his