Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Nonfiction | Autobiography / Memoir | Adult | Published in 2004

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 4

Chapters 5-8

Chapters 9-12

Chapter 13-Epilogue

Key Figures

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Symbols & Motifs

The Chockstone

A chockstone is a rock that gets caught between two opposing walls of a canyon. The most important one in this book is the boulder that traps Aron Ralston in the canyon after dislodging while he’s maneuvering over it. As it falls, it hits his left hand and then pins his right arm against the wall as it settles into place. As the immediate cause and symbol of his captivity, the chockstone is the focal point of Ralston’s anger and frustration; he feels incredibly unlucky that it moved exactly as it did. For most of the narrative, it represents an immovable, insurmountable obstacle, larger and more devastating than any he has faced before.

His epiphany about using the boulder to break the bones of his arm, allowing him to free himself, turns the boulder from an enemy to a tool. By the time he returns to civilization and completes his recovery, the boulder is no longer the enemy; rather, it’s a key player in an experience that has shaped him for the better.

Colorado’s Fourteeners

A few years after moving to Colorado, Ralston sets a goal to climb each of the state’s fourteeners—peaks of 14,000 feet or more—solo during the winter. As a recurring motif, at first, this goal simply consolidates several of Ralston’s interests and priorities, including pushing himself to his physical limit and connecting with nature. As his work and responsibilities take him elsewhere during the mid-1990s, this goal represents his unfulfilled desires and the continual pull of Colorado’s rugged terrain. This pull proves too powerful for Ralston to resist, and he leaves his job, allowing him to continue his project.

By the time Ralston becomes trapped in Bluejohn Canyon, he has ascended 45 of the state’s 59 fourteeners solo during the winter. While he faces the prospect of death in the canyon, his then-incomplete project suggests the suddenness of his predicament as well as his potential for future accomplishment should he survive. In the aftermath of his unlikely survival and recovery, his continuation of the project demonstrates his resilience. In the years following the book’s publication, Ralston completed the project, making him the first person to climb all of Colorado’s fourteeners solo during the winter.

The Camcorder

While trapped, Ralston records several messages to his friends and family on his camcorder. He brought it primarily to capture footage of nature. However, his purpose shifts as he realizes that the camcorder may hold the key to communicating with others in the event of his death. His recordings, all of which are transcribed in the narrative, begin in a documentary vein, as Ralston explains his situation, but they take on a confessional quality as he reflects on his life and relationships (and plans for his death) and leaves what he thinks will be his final messages to others. The camcorder thus symbolizes Ralston’s connection to others. After he recovers, he watches the footage with his mother and it serves as a painful reminder of the experience as well as a reminder to cherish his relationships in the present moment.

The Raven

Ralston repeatedly takes note of one or more ravens who live in the canyons near the site of his entrapment. During his initial descent through the canyon with and Kristi, the three of them pause to pick up raven feathers, which they stick into their hats before taking photos; though no doubt intended as a frivolous gesture, this could also signify Ralston’s feeling of closeness, stated elsewhere, with a wide variety of living things.

While trapped, Ralston notices a nearby raven that passes overhead each morning at about the same time. For the first few days, as he becomes accustomed to the passage of the raven, it merely provides a sense of routine as each new day begins. As his condition worsens, the bird takes on additional meaning; on Wednesday morning, he begins to “seethe with envy for the bird’s freedom” (241). On Thursday morning, however, he notes the bird’s absence and feels abandoned. Later, following his amputation, Ralston wishes that he were a raven, capable of flying to the care and safety he craves. Weeks later, after his recovery, when Ralston’s friend Dan returns his rappelling equipment, which he retrieved, he mentions a dead raven in the pool that Ralston drank from, suggesting that the raven, once a symbol of freedom, ironically died while Ralston survived. The implication is that survival in nature is never a guarantee, making Ralston’s survival and recovery seem all the more miraculous by comparison.