"Ascension in the Moonlight" Response

After completing "Ascension in the Moonlight," I found the primary theme of the piece to be kindness, or more specifically, the belief that kindness is the virtue of greatest importance in our lives as humans. The majority of the story hints at this idea in more subtle ways that may not initially stand out to reader, namely through the actions of Reverend Paul Wilson and his wife Angela. For example, they open their home to author and complete stranger Simon Winchester and provide him with food and friendship in a place where he would otherwise be utterly alone. The piece's concluding paragraphs display the theme most clearly. Winchester deliberately references kindness upfront: "And that state of grace had all come about purely and simply because one man and one woman...had decided to offer me, for one unrewarded moment, no more and no less than their kindness" (Winchester 270). In addition to effectively delivering his overall message, Winchester's detailed description keeps readers engaged. One example of this is his development of a beach scene through the metaphor of snow, describing the sand as "like snow" and the sky above as a "blizzard of stars" (Winchester 268). The piece also succeeds in getting across the emptiness of the island. Winchester signs his name "in what must be one of the least-used visitors' books on the planet" and felt at one point "so lonely that (he) almost shuddered" (Winchester 266, 267).