To the South Sea Islands- part two: Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl. Diction

"Then the great wave reached them, and we had all one single thought- hold on, hold on, hold, hold, hold!" After the Kon-Tiki drifted away from Angatau, the crew decided to sail to the next closest island, which unfortunately was surrounded by two great coral reefs. And, although the crew tried desperately to steer clear of the reefs, the wind pushed them directly toward the Raroia reef. Without any other choice, the crew braced themselves to cross the reef, which was a dangerous task. In the quote above, Heyerdahl expresses the difficulty and danger of crossing the reef, as well as the desperation to survive crossing the reef. All the members of the crew were holing tight to the raft for dear life. The crew must have had an extremely strong desire to finally make it to land, but an even stronger desire to make it to land alive.  After fighting their way through the coral reef, the crew waded their was across the water to land. This must have felt like heaven to the crew who had been at sea for 101 days. The crew probably felt relieved, safe, and proud for accomplishing something that so many people told them would fail. This crew gives a perfect example of staying firm in your beliefs no matter what life throws at you.

 This picture is that of the Kon-Tiki after it crossed the Raroia reef.









When Heyerdahl wrote, "hold on, hold on, hold, hold, hold!", the diction he used was to put emphasis on the importance of holding on to the raft in order to preserve the crew members' lives.