Take the Plunge

Gloria Emerson was foreign correspondent for the New York Times from 1965 to 1972,
reporting on Northern Ireland, on the Nigerian Civil War, and, from 1970 to 1972, on Vietnam.
She received the 1971 George Polk Award for excellence in her reporting from Vietnam, and the
1978 National Bank Award for her book about the Vietnam War, Winners and Losers. During
her long career, she wrote four books as well as articles for Esquire, Harper's, Vogue, Playboy,
Saturday Review and Rolling Stone.
Gloria Emerson was born in Manhattan, to wealthy bluebloods William B. Emerson and
Ruth Shaw Emerson on May 19, 1929. According to a 1991 Washington Profile, Emerson's
parents had been wealthy but lost their fortune (much of it derived from oil) through alcoholism.
On her application to the Times in 1957, Emerson described herself as a widow, giving
her married name as Znamiecki. She was married to Charles A. Brofferio from 1960 to 1961.
Emerson was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2004. Unable to contemplate a future
in which she could not write, Emerson committed suicide on August 3, 2004.
Her notable work for New York Times were (war correspondent) Winners & Losers
(1976), Gaza: A Year in the Intifada (1991), and Loving Graham Greene (2000).
‘Take the Plunge’ was a fantastic essay with the message that ‘Determination is the key
to success’ by Gloria Emerson. It meant acting in a way that was very difficult or dangerous and
that could not be reversed or changed. In the essay, Gloria Emerson jumped in the air from the
plane with a parachute on her back. Thus, after parachuting from the plane, she could not return
even if she had wished. The jump was final and irreversible, dangerous and risky. (“plunge”
literally here sudden downward movement).
Gloria Emerson wrote this essay to describe her plan of her parachuting, her work,
physical condition, her training and her jumping. She also wanted to tell why she decided to
parachute. She worked in a newspaper office as a journalist, when she was preparing to jump out
of plane by parachute. She felt that she was not very fit for this purpose. She thought that she
was not properly smart, bold or confident. Her back ankles troubled her. She could not drive
fearlessly with proper distance understanding.
Gloria Emerson’s colleagues at the newspaper office joked about her forthcoming
parachuting. She has such a poor physical condition that everybody used to take pity on her and
thought her worth nothing. So, she decided to do something extra ordinary to wash the mark of
pity off her. She thought about many adventures but the only one suited with her bad back and
uncertain ankles was to dive in the air with parachute from aero plane.
Gloria could not run fast or any other energetic physical performance. Only jumping off a
plane looked perfect to her. No special ability or continuous physical effort was required in it.
She also wanted to have the exciting of parachuting with a strange parachute weight on her back.
She liked taking long steps in black army boots.
Gloria wished to take the plunge from a tiny plane. She wanted to feel, as she jumped, the
blow of the wind with her hands on the back straps (leather strips). She also wanted to keep the
white silk (of the parachute) above in her view while jumping. She really had all these
experiences when she parachuted to the ground to her supreme joy and feeling of grand
achievement.
Gloria Emerson’s unexpressed desire of becoming one of the most successful American
skydivers laid at the basis of this essay. Her desire to parachute from the plane was fueled by this
ambition.
You tell me it is dangerous,
My heart welcomes dangers
To fall from dizzy heights
Then to send compatriots to moony delights.
Gloria Emerson went with her friends to the first U.S sports parachuting center. She was
to perform there with Jacques Istel’s newly designed parachute. She was given brief but intense
instructions about how to do it.
She boarded a Cessna 180 with her instructor and another man. She felt very strange due
to her helmet, boots, equipment and the jump suit. She could not sit, stand or bend normally.
She wanted to do a lot of things but could not do because of too many straps around her.
At twenty-three hundred feet the other man jumped silently, making a thumbs-up sign. In
fact, she developed a disliking for that person because he was not as nervous as she was. He was
eager and composed.
When her turn came, she suddenly got frightened and wanted to back out. She wanted to
hold some object or lie down to avoid the jump, but she was tied to a static line that made it
difficult for her to do so. She started to shout but her instructor did not pay any heed to her. He
knew what was going on in her mind. He brought her to the door, made her sit down and yelled
something. She was not clear whether he said, "Go", “Now" or “Out”.
She was in the open sky now. She tried to hold on to her line, moved her feet violently
but she was helpless and all alone in the sky. The strong rush of air knocked the spit out of her
mouth. Her eyes and nose were also leaking. In that way she started her amazing and superb stay
in the sky.
When the plane had gone away with its noise and wind, she was in a domain of sweet
stillness. She saw the universe in a new way. She saw the earth in so many colors and textures.
The sky looked endless. She viewed the earth and sky with a new vision and new thought. All
of that had never been described by anyone before. It was a uniquely personal experience for
her. Being in the sky became a passion and a fever to her. Parachute itself seemed to her as an
easily controllable toy with its wooden knobs to change the direction. She wanted to remain
there forever and stop the earth from coming closer.
Her target was a huge arrow in a sandpit. She did not want to land but she had to. She
landed on her feet and sat down for some time. She had successfully completed her parachute
fall and thus her aim was materialized.
Later she was introduced to General James Gavin who had led the 82 Airborne in the D-
Day landing at Normandy during Second World War. He praised her for her courage and
tremendous dive. It was another story that she couldn’t walk steadily in her clumsy heavy boots
and fell in front of the General. Mr. Istel’s mother wrote a charming letter of congratulation to
her. All were pleased at the successful completion of her task. In fact, they were surprised and
could not believe it. In that way Gloria surprised her friends and colleagues.
Gloria Emerson described her experience of the parachuting in a detailed way. She had
masterfully narrated the events as well as the changes in her emotions in the course of her
experience. She started the essay with description of her motives in deciding to do an adventure.
She enumerated her mental restlessness when she mentioned her desire to "feel reckless". The
reaction and comments of her friends also showed her mental process. She had a sense of
insufficiency as regards her physical abilities, that’s why she decided to prove her worth in
physical terms.
In that way she constructed her feelings gradually. Her feelings underwent a tremendous
change in the course of her experience. The feelings of insufficiency in her mind compelled her
to take the decision and then to carry it out practically. The emotional element in the essay
showed Gloria's grip on human psychology. It also indicated that she was aware of everything in
her mind before, during and after the jump. It proved that women are equal to men in all
respects. Emerson was the least suitable person for a parachute jumping. But she did that and
made everyone surprised. She was a bold and courageous woman. No doubt that during all her
venture, she could not focus on her feelings but overall, she enjoyed it.