Analysis Of The Devil's Thumb, By John Krakauer

Knowing that the wilderness can be extremely rough, people can understand that there is only a small chance of coming out alive after a long period of time of living there. McCandless and Ruess are examples of these instances; however, Krakauer lived to tell the story. McCandless suffered from starvation and natural disasters. He indicated all his struggles in his journal entries: “he’d written “4th day famine” in his journal” (164). After his ineffective attempt of leaving, he “turned around …back toward the bus” and died shortly (171). Although Ruess’s death was never confirmed, controversies revolved around the incident. Bewildering tales of his death included “death while scrambling on one or another canyon wall” and “[murdered] by a team of cattle rustlers” (94). Krakauer on the other hand, was the only individual out of the three to survive his expedition. In his narrative of his attempt at the Devil’s Thumb, he includes the phrase: “The climb was over” (144). This short sentence creates an artificial tone in which he expresses a very emotionless attitude after completing the harsh odyssey.

As for the first difficulty, himself, he is battling himself between doing what would be good for his father’s business, becoming the youngest to reach the peak of the highest mountain in the world, known as Sagarmatha by the Nepalese, or Mt. Everest as we know it. It was either him, or a boy called Sun-Jo, who was six days older

Olivia Parker Cuff Honors English 10 5 August 2018 Into Thin Air Journal Entries Journal #1 — Ambition The theme of ambition is shown throughout the book, Into Thin Air and the film, Into Thin Air: Death on Everest. One quote is, “I accept the assignment because I was in the grip of the Everest mystique. In truth, I wanted to climb the mountain as badly as I’d ever wanted anything in my life,”(Krakauer, 88). This quote shows how ambitious Krakauer is he set his mind into climbing the mountain and went with it.

5. Chapters 14 and 15 describe Krakauer’s successful attempt when he was 23 years old to climb the “Devil’s Thumb,” a mountain in Alaska. He also describes what he thinks are parallels between McCandless and himself. Do these chapters increase his credibility for writing this book, or do they undermine his credibility by making it seem like he has his own agenda and is not objective?

Despite his impressive record he had never attempted anything close to the scale of Everest, whose summit is at an extremely dangerous altitude. He even admits to his relative inexperience with high altitude saying, “Truth be told, I’d never been higher than 17,200 feet--not even as high as Everest Base Camp”(28). Krakauer also mentions how he has gotten out of shape over the years partially because of the lack of climbing in his life, making him even less prepared for the assent. Krakauer shows a definite fear of such a high mountain, referring to climbers who have perished in the past. He states that, “Many of those who died had been far stronger and possessed vastly more high-altitude experience than I.” (28). Even though Krakauer’s experience may be more relevant to the Everest assent than some of the other tourist climbers, it is nowhere near the level needed to be considered an elite climber.

Mount Everest is 29,092 feet tall. Imagine climbing this mountain with little to no experience. Would you survive? In the nonfiction novel Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer and his recruited crews try climbing this mountain. With many deaths along the way to the top, readers are quick to blame characters in the book. However, character stands out from the rest: Krakauer. In the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer is the most responsible for the other character’s deaths because he recruited and dragged along inexperienced mountain climbers, pushed them harder than they should’ve been pushed, and watched them suffer.

“The way to Everest is not a Yellow Brick Road” - Jon Krakauer. This statement derives from Krakauer's thoughts and takeaways from his disastrous climb up Mount Everest that completely upset Krakauer's viewpoint of his lifelong dream, to climb the tallest mountain in the world. Krakauer recounts his journey while scaling Mount Everest in his non-fictional book Into Thin Air, that supports his statement of why the climb is not a Yellow Brick Road. Jon Krakauer's countless mountaineering adventures are the foundation of most of his books, including Eiger Dreams, Into Thin Air, and Into the Wild. Krakauer also uses religion as a base of his book Under the Banner of Heaven.

“You can never tell who the mountain will allow and who it will not.” The novel “Peak” by Roland Smith shows you the thrilling journey of climbing the tallest mountain in the world. Climbing a mountain for several months doesn’t just take physical strength, but also mental strength. The story takes you through Peak Marcello’s journey to become the youngest person in the world to climb Mt.Everest. “Peak” follows a theme of love, family, and most of all survival.

In order to continue climbing Everest, many aspects of climbing need to be improved before more people endanger their lives to try and reach the roof of the world. The guides have some areas that need the most reform. During the ascension of Everest the guides made a plethora mistakes that seemed insignificant but only aided in disaster. The guides first mistake is allowing “any bloody idiot [with enough determination] up” Everest (Krakauer 153). By allowing “any bloody idiot” with no climbing experience to try and climb the most challenging mountain in the world, the guides are almost inviting trouble. Having inexperienced climbers decreases the trust a climbing team has in one another, causing an individual approach to climbing the mountain and more reliance on the guides. While this approach appears fine, this fault is seen in addition to another in Scott Fischer’s expedition Mountain Madness. Due to the carefree manner in which the expedition was run, “clients [moved] up and down the mountain independently during the acclimation period, [Fischer] had to make a number of hurried, unplanned excursions between Base Camp and the upper camps when several clients experienced problems and needed to be escorted down,” (154). Two problems present in the Mountain Madness expedition were seen before the summit push: the allowance of inexperienced climbers and an unplanned climbing regime. A third problem that aided disaster was the difference in opinion in regards to the responsibilities of a guide on Everest. One guide “went down alone many hours ahead of the clients” and went “without supplemental oxygen” (318). These three major issues: allowing anyone up the mountain, not having a plan to climb Everest and differences in opinion. All contributed to the disaster on Everest in

Jon Krakauer tells the events of his story while he shapes his resilience that guides him through the challenging obstacles that he faces. His resilience demonstrates that difficult moments can be overcome. Jon Krakauer and other members went on their journey to climb Mt. Everest. The. They faced many challenges when climbing, and this task was more dangerous than anything else.

Title: “Into thin Air”, by John Krakauer Date of publication: Published in 1997 Mt. Everest during the 1996 Mt. Everest Disaster in a dangerous rogue storm (April –May) Characters: John Krakauer: narrator of the novel, Outside Magazine helped paid for his journey and was one of the members who ascended Mt. Everest. Rob Hall: part of the Adventure Consultants, helped guide Krakauer up the mountain, very strong climber, and is always there for others, no matter what. Ang Dorje Sherpa: likes Rob Hall, helps anyone who is in need, even when it is at his expense.

In contrast to Devil's Thumb, Everest had a jaunty and inspirational tone. Occasionally, there were words and expressions that signified moments that inspired and showed enthusiasm. Inspiring many people, Weinhemayer accomplished his dream and he was the first blind man to climb Mount Everest. Near the end, Weihnemeyer says, "His voice tried to say more but quaking words dissipated in the wind. Then he leaned in against my ear. "Big W"-his voice gave away tears, then struggled out in an immense effort-you're about to stand on top of the world". Then he quickly let go and hurriedly moved down the slope". Inspired, that is what the reader should feel after reading those sentences. Emotionally charged, that is what this is, these men finally

Krakauer’s first person point of view shows his thoughts and his experiences as he climbs the Devil’s Thumb. “The climbing was so steep and so exposed it made my head spin” (142). Krakauer can easily show his encounter with the wild and what runs through his mind. His first person point of view also symbolizes how McCandless could have felt during his hike on the Stampede Trail. “My eyesight blurred, I began to hyperventilate, my calves started to shake” (143). Krakauer’s experiences were similar to that of McCandless’s because the Devil’s Thumb is abreast to the Stampede Trail and they went through comparable weather conditions. Not every day does McCandless write in his journal, so Krakauer must show what may have happened to McCandless using his first person view of his past. If Krakauer did not share his

In Jon Krakauer’s Memoir Into Thin Air, Krakauer uses a variety of elements to make his story more effective. Prevalent in Into Thin Air, are Krakauer’s uses of both logos and imagery to convey his experience on Everest. The facts and descriptions in the memoir tie the story together and captivate the reader.

Regionalism is a key element throughout this novel. Mount Everest is one of the only actual settings in the book, and is crucial to the storyline. It is important to know that the mountain is the tallest on Earth; this will help the reader understand how treacherous the climb will be for the author and his crew. From this passage, we learn that although Krakauer always thought that climbing Everest would be one of the biggest and accomplished moments of his life, but his experience was completely destroyed by what the reader assumes as a sort of tragedy. This gives the reader a negative view of the mountain throughout the book because of the disaster that will eventually occur on