Connection: The Icebound Land

        I really admire the way the author, John Flanagan, uses personification to describe the sheer force of the wind on the Viking wolfship during the storm. "This was a savage, living, primeval force that wrapped around him, deafening him, blinding him, punching the breath out of his lungs and preventing his taking another: smothering him as it tried to claw his grip loose." Just the adjectives he uses makes the wind seem like it really is a savage creature, alive and out to get Will, the main character. Showing no mercy to him, and doing whatever it can to get him to let go of the mast. This segment of the story isn't just a great sample of personification, the sensory details make me feel like I'm really on that ship, holding onto the mast for dear life, trying not to get swept overboard by the powerful wind and waves. I can taste the salt water. It's in my eyes and I feel like I'm struggling to breathe.  The wind is so loud that if I call for help, I can barely hear myself. I visualize this scene in the book so vividly and it gives me a real sense of what it felt like to physically be on that ship, just before you experience the fierceness of a raging storm at sea.