Touching the Void- Courage?

Throughout Joe’s journey he has a great deal of courage. Courage is needed in such environments to succeed. His courage is always maintained but presented in different ways especially after his injury.

‘If you succeed one dream, you come back to square one and its not long before you’re conjuring up another, slightly harder, a bit more ambitious- a bit more dangerous’.

When joe is injured his courage is driven from his inner voice. He represents the voice as a force telling him what to do and when to do it. The voice seems to control and have a great deal of power over Joe, ‘then the voice interrupted’. He is being interrupted from his own thought process to listening and following the voice. We could conclude that Joe has given into the voice, however he puts faith and relies on it. This is a representation of courage because he is scared and still has the bravery to trust the voice. Joe sets himself smaller aspiration which are achievable, ‘Reaching the glacier was my aim’. This allows him not to get frustrated and give up because his small objectives are being met filling him with hope. The aims tend to come from Joe and not the voice therefore he can feel content with himself. ‘An urgency was creeping over me, and the voice said “go on, keep going…. faster. You’ve wasted too much time. Go on, before you lose the tracks’. When joe begins to become urgent and emotionally unstable the voice is there to command him. When Joes thought process becomes weak the voice starts. The instructions are clear and strong which is harsh on Joe considering his injuries, but Joe carries on going.