Comparative Essay: “Pressure Due” and “Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journey”

In the two passages “Pressure Due” and “Carrying the Fire: An Astronauts Journey” the emotions used are similar in many ways while also differing. In the passage “Pressure Due” by James Cameron the emotion used was eagerness, in the passage Carrying the Fire: An Astronauts Journey” the emotions used were anxiousness and excitement. I believe this because both of the passages showed how the men were excited and eager however one passage would also show some signs of anxiousness. In Pressure Dive, James Cameron would show eagerness to do his task he would show this by his choice of words, In Catching the Fire Micheal Collins show his excitement and anxiousness by his choice of words.

My first piece of evidence to help prove my claim is, In “Pressure Dive” James Cameron states “ After a lifetime of dreaming, seven years of developing the sub…I’m finally on my way” (P7, L3-6). As revealed by this statement, James is eager to begin his journey to Challenger Deep. In “Carrying the Fire” Micheal would say “ It is simply that, unlike the simulator, this measurement is not activated until just before launch. I should have known this” (P4, L22-23). This shows how Micheal was feeling anxious. While these two quotes are similar they have completely different meanings and emotions behind them. James is feeling very confident or eager to begin his journey and he cannot wait to set off, he had planned this for years! Meanwhile, Micheal is making mistakes right before he is about to take off, he is not thinking straight from the worries he is having and on top of those, he believes he made a fool of himself for not knowing that the ignition would not turn on until directly before take off. This shows how the emotions in the passage differ.

Secondly in “Pressure Dive” James states “ The whole team is running on adrenaline” (P2, L3). This is a clear example of eagerness. In “ Carrying the Fire” Micheal states “Did they see me before I disappeared indoors again” (P3, L3-4). Undoubtedly this shows how James and Micheal are both eager and excited. This is shown because James speaks about his whole team running on only adrenaline, meaning they are all thirsty for the adventure ahead of them. Micheal speaks about how he hopes someone saw him disappear inside, showing just how anxious he is about the whole process. In comparison, these two quotes are inevitably different. One quote is about how excited a diver is, and the other speaks about how anxious an astronaut is making this a clear difference.

Lastly In “Pressure Dive” James states “ Storm season was rolling in and time was running out” (P1, L1). This shows how badly he wanted to go on this dive. In “Catching the Fire” Micheal states “ We are moving out!” (P6, L8) This shows that he is excited. Although the last 4 quotes have been different these two are actually quite similar. Although they will set off to completely different places they both share the same emotion. James speaks about how time was running out for him to go on this dive and that proves he is excited to get down in the Challenger Deep, meanwhile, Micheal talks about how they are moving out, this once again proves he is excited to take off and go to space. Not only are the emotions the same but they are also doing things they have never done before. What I mean by this is James has never dived into the Challenger Deep, and Micheal had never experienced taking off into space. They are both experiencing something new and exciting making them similar.

In conclusion, the two passages are similar while they also differ. I know this because James and Micheal speak about how they are excited to take off and experience something new, James speaks about how he had waited for years and prepped his sub to be able to do the challenge while Micheal speaks about how he is messing up and not thinking straight. James speaks about how his whole team is merely running on adrenaline while Micheal speaks about how he hopes no one saw him going inside. These reasons show how similar but different the passages are.