Comparing Krakauer's Thumb 'And Everest'

But I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams. And I lived to tell my tale.” (Krakauer, page 155) This passage is illustrative of Krakauer’s feelings about McCandless. He does not think McCandless is so naïve or arrogant as many, especially in Alaska, do, but he does see that he was young, and had many of the common misperceptions, and claims that that was really his main flaw.

Speaker:Jon Krakauer, An author and mountaineer. He is well known for his writings about the outdoors. As a young man his primary focus was mountaineering which eventually lead to him becoming a writer

The main character and protagonist, Jon Krakauer, is a United States client and journalist who is on an expedition to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest. He takes the reader through his horrifying experiences on the mountain, including the death of his team, lack of oxygen, and horrible weather. The conflict in this novel is an internal and external conflict. It is an internal conflict of man vs. himself. Jon Krakauer, had to go through mental states of giving up and dying on the mountain

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.

In those chapter’s krakauer tells us about his own adventure in the wild when we went to Alaska to climb “Devil’s Thumb”. Here, he talks about himself. I think he wanted to color in more of the picture he's painted of McCandless thus far; he was not only a wanderer, but he felt propelled due to his relationship with his father. Krakauer, like McCandless, went out on daring escapades in which his life was in danger (he fell through an 'ice bridge' once and nearly dropped into the ravine below!). Krakauer points out that McCandless was not "crazy" as some people had dubbed him, and he uses himself and several other "extreme" adventurers to make his point.

“A trans-like state settles over your efforts, the climb becomes a clear eyed dream.” Stated Krakauer in The Devils Thumb. Mountain climbing has become a popular interest for thrill-seekers in modern times. It is an immensely challenging activity, involving strength, determination, and the proper mindset. There are many accounts of mountain climbers heroically reaching the summit of mountains, but none more striking than that of Everest and The Devils Thumb. These are gut wrenching, first hand accounts of some of the greatest feats performed in mountain climbing history, although they are each different in their own way. Krakauer was climbing to find himself amongst the frozen rocks and chest deep snow, and Weihnmayer climbed to push his limits, and to accomplish what many thought to be the impossible.

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?

“As a youth, [Krakauer was] told, [he] was willful, self-absorbed, intermittently reckless, moody. [He] disappointed [his] father…. Like McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in [him]…confusing medley of corked fury and hunger to please. If something captured [his] undisciplined imagination, [he] pursued it with a zeal bordering on obsession, and from the age of seventeen until [his] late twenties that something was mountain climbing” (134).

He explains how he was torn between quitting his job, which was necessary for the income, or continuing to venture into the wild, searching for new places to climb. Krakauer “never had any doubt that climbing the Devil’s Thumb would transform his life. How could it not?”(135). This technique of rhetorical questioning requires the reader to think of Krakauer’s options and aims to make the readers predict where Krakauer his headed, leaving his job in search for climbing opportunities. After Krakauer clues the reader about his future plans, he then goes on to tell them of the day he quit his job. He writes the next few sentences in problem-solution format, noting “...after nine hours of humping two-by-tens and driving sixteen-penny nails, I told my boss I was quitting”(135,136). This concise problem-solution sentence format notifies the reader that Krakauer was sure of his decision to quit his job. He did not need much time to think about this life-changing decision, assuring the readers that he has been waiting for this lifestyle of adventure and freedom. Simply put, Krakauer and McCandless both operate on whims and are sure of their

In chapters 14 and 15, autobiographer, Jon Krakauer shares his experience on the Stikine Icecap attempting to climb the Devil’s thumb. The inclusion of his personal experience helps the reader see how he can relate to Chris McCandless’s motivation to go to Alaska without having ever met him. Krakauer's experience illustrates the similarities of both of their lives and personalities.Krakauer describes himself as a willful, self-absorbed, passionate, and moody child who had problems with male authority figures. In his late twenties he becomes focused on climbing and begins to undertake more dangerous climbs. After a few years, he is determined to make the climb in Alaska’s Devils Thumb. Much like Chris, Jon will do the climb alone. He quits his

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.

Krakauer is one of the many people that decided that Everest needed to be climbed. Krakauer couldn’t help but take the impossible mission.

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 conflict of Man vs Nature was very apparent as soon as the book began. By page 9 Krakauer reported, “moments after i dropped below the south summit it began to snow lightly, and all visibility went to hell.” This shows the instantly that mother nature was not on his side. The decreased visibility and lack of oxygen he reported are physical effects inflicted upon him, making the already cold climb up everest, even more difficult.

From the beginning of the novel, the reader gathers how McCandless was an independent man who defied odds and went against society. We soon learn how Krakauer was alike. Krakauer understood the hardships and troubles of McCandless’ journey. At a young age, Krakauer planned to make the treacherous ascent of ‘Devil’s Thumb’. He had massive motivation; not a single man had completed the climb before, which only made him want to do it more. Over the time of his travels, he had met many people along his way. Various short and temporary relationships that only