Trapped

            If you are anything like me, getting trapped in a closet, Ferris wheel cart, or even an elevator is a long-standing fear. The idea that you may be forever confined to the place you are trapped carries with it daunting emotions. Think about being trapped half a mile below the Earth’s crust in a small shelter with 32 other men. Placing yourself in that situation would be equivalent to the circumstance that 33 Chilean Miners were forced to undergo. In his book, Trapped, Marc Aronson details this unforgettable rescue of 33 heroes from beginning to end. Marc Aronson’s experiences as an American author, editor, publisher, speaker, and historian make him a credible author to attack this story.

            Marc Aronson wrote this novel a year after the Chilean Mine incident in order to take readers beyond the simple headlines of this story, and into the minds of those involved. However, rather than writing this story for the purpose of providing readers with an interesting tale, Marc Aronson writes this novel in hopes of detailing to his audience how the WORLD rescued these men, not just the workers on the mine. Individuals and companies from, “Australia, Austria, Canada, Japan, South Africa, South Korea, the United States- everyone from experts on undersea and underground to outer space- helped out” (Aronson 92). This rescue would not have taken place if all corners of the Earth did not lend a helping hand in whatever way possible.

            In order to attract the global audience of all ages, Marc Aronson utilizes various rhetorical devices to keep his audience engaged from page one. Significant devices that aided the purpose of the story were theme and point of view. Theme is simply the central or dominant idea of the work. The author constantly reiterates the theme of this novel to emphasize the global effort to rescue these men. Aronson makes the point to connect every action, whether seemingly significant or not, back to the overarching theme to emphasize the global picture. In doing so, Aronson achieves his center purpose. Additionally, Aronson employs an effective third-person point of view to assist his purpose. By telling this story from the outside looking in, readers get a sense of this story from the miner’s perspective, the rescuers perspective, the family’s perspectives, and the world’s perspective. Using this point of view, again, made this a story that branched beyond the mine in Chile. It made it a story about the world pulling their talents together to contribute to the cause anyway possible.

            Overall, I do believe the author was able to successfully show how the WORLD rescued these men, not just the people on the work cite. Through the use of a repeated theme and an effective point of view, the author achieved his purpose fully.