How Does Krakauer Create Tension In Into Thin Air

Here, it is highly recommended to to use supplemental oxygen at this altitude, because the less oxygen you have, the more your brain cells die off. This means that you do not think as well and you cannot perform your best, which could mean life or death in this situation. The climax of the novel is when the team reaches their goal of making their way to the summit on May 10, 1996. The guide, Rob Hall, told the team before the climb that they had to be at the summit no later than two o’clock, and if you are not there by then, they must turn back. Around two o’clock, a massive storm begins to close in. The team must make it down to the lower camos soon or else it will be almost impossible for any of them to get back alive. Some of the climbers have not made it to to summit yet and go against Rob Hall’s judgement, and go the rest of the way themselves. Unfortunately, Jon Krakauer , Rob Hall, and all the other climbers get caught up in the storm. Jon Krakauer by a miracle gets down to the lower level camps and he has been out of supplemental oxygen for a while now. He stumbles upon one of the climbers of his team. His name is Beck Weathers. Beck eventually gets to a camp and they finally get him to the doctors at the Base Camp. When he gets to the doctors, the doctors say that he has the worst frostbite that they have ever seen.

Summary: Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer follows his personal account of one of the Mt. Everest disasters, which occurred over the course of 24 hours. The author is a climber and a writer, who was invited on this trip so it would be written in a magazine. A few of the climbers in the group had climbed Everest before, causing them to become a little overconfident. Therefore, they didn’t always follow all of the safety precautions, endangering both themselves and the rest of the group. Not long before they got to the top, a devastating storm hit.

In Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into Thin Air, the quote “It is the unforeseen struggle in every journey that teaches us what it is to be human “ (Anonymous), is illustrated through the unexpected severity of the physical challenge and through the emotional challenge of seeing death firsthand. The quote is illustrated through the unpredicted physical challenge because the climbers were so weak, they barely felt like humans. Although most of the climbers knew what the effects of the altitude would be, and many had climbed tall mountains before, the altitude sickness was much more severe than many had expected. The altitude also drove the climbers to such conditions that many would consider barely human. Jon Krakauer writes, “My appetite vanished

The story is told in past tense, therefore, the narrator is looking back on what was happening at that time. “There was a summer in my life when the only creature that seemed lovelier to me than a largemouth bass was Sheila Mant.” (Wetherell 1) The narrator would do anything to impress Sheila Mant but has not yet realized what was coming. While they were on their date, the narrator decided to do something extremely risky that could damage his chance with Sheila Mant. He decided to set down a fishing rod because he was interested in what possible things could happen. Needless to say, he caught something quite extravagant. “Four things occurred to me at once...that it was the biggest bass I have ever hooked...Sheila Mant must not know.” (Wetherell 3) Initializing that Sheila Mant thinks fishing is dumb, the narrator did not want her to know about his fishing secret. Here was when the narrator must choose between the bass or Sheila Mant. After the loss of both Sheila Mant and the bass, the narrator realized that he cared more about the loss of the bass than the loss of Sheila Mant. Since then, the narrator never forgot about what he had done that summer. “The memory of that lost bass haunted me all summer and still haunts me.” (Wetherell 4) The narrator was having mixed emotions throughout the whole story but as the years went past, he realized that he lost something he loved greatly, and it was not Sheila Mant, it was the largemouth bass. Even if he did not realize it that night exactly he realized it further on in his life. All things considered, flashback has an extensive impact on what the theme came to be in the end, that no one should change for someone and be true to who they

The story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce uses techniques such as flashback and ethos, or emotion, to show that life isn’t as fair as some believe. Bierce uses flashback when Peyton Farquhar, the main character of the story, is being hanged. His

Written by Jon Krakauer, “Into Thin Air” tells the story of a Mt. Everest expedition. Doug Hansen, Yasuko Namba, Rob Hall, Mike Groom, and Beck Weathers were on a mission to reach the summit of Mount Everest; the highest point on Earth. Doug Hansen and Rob Hall passed away early in the journey, when Rob valiantly attempts to save his partner, Hansen. When the group split up, Groom got word that Weathers and Namba were in need of help. Groom left Beck and Yasuko for dead. Weathers and Namba stuck together, but only Weathers survived.

Krakauer has a straight-to-the-point, concrete writing style. I tend to favor abstract writing with a great deal of figurative language. I had a hard time finding trope, but My favorite simile in the book is on page 96. It said, “Like a super villain in a Marvel comic book, he seemed to be endowed with the ability to absorb the mightiest blows his enemy could deliver, draw energy from them, and become more powerful as a consequence.” This quote is comparing Osama bin Laden to a villain in a comic book because it seemed like no matter what attempts the U.S. made to take him down, he always came back stronger. If there had been more similes like this, the book would’ve been better. Also, Krakauer’s excessive use of acronyms left me feeling frustratingly confused. Nevertheless, not all is bad about Krakauer’s writing technique. I was pleasantly surprised to find that he included actual entries from Pat Tillman’s journal and statements from Tillman’s friends and family. In doing so, Krakauer made me easily connect and empathize with Pat Tillman and his loved ones. This made a powerful impact on the book and reader.

Krakauer begins the novel in medias res, which causes an interruption in the organization and lack of information about McCandless, in which case, he must use syntactical permutation to give all the information necessary and mirror the unknown thoughts of McCandless. Throughout the novel, Krakauer changes points of view to gain different perspectives of McCandless as well as jump to a different point in time as he does by starting chapter two with a narration and description of setting of the Stampede Trail, but then switches in the middle of the chapter to “Thompson made it to the far bank” (Krakauer 11). In addition to chapter two’s deduction, chapter three begins with describing Wayne Westerberg as a “hyperkinetic man with thick shoulders

By connecting the flashback and present, O’Brien highlights that the chapters are from his own memories, and builds credibility of the

In Three Day Road, flashbacks allow the reader to fully understand the novel and make the novel unique. For example, when Niska is talking about the letter she and Joseph Netmaker wrote, it solves a mystery. “It says that God understands if you must kill Elijah” (pg. 318). The flashback allows the reader to see what the mystery is and laugh at the fact that Joseph did not translate what Niska says carefully, even though he claims to have. Flashbacks allow the reader to obtain a better understanding of what trench warfare is like. ”The bottom of the trench is covered in duckboards that keep our feet out of the mud and water

Krakauer uses research about the life of McCandless in order to establish his ethos and convey his thesis of the novel. When Krakauer presents the information concerning McCandless’s death, he quotes directly from the moose hunters who found him dead and describes the exact setting of the situation. Krakauer beings by explaining the scene at which the moose hunters found him, “A few hundred yards beyond the river the trail disappeared” (Krakauer 12). Krakaurer’s use of description enables readers to visualize the scene better and create a major sense of trust between the author and reader. Krakauer then imbeds a quote directly from the moose hunters that found McCandless’s body who explains that there was “a real bad smell from inside” (Krakauer12). Appealing to the reader’s sense of smell, and also using the perspective of the exact people that found McCandless’s body, establishes a more ethical appeal to the audiences trust in the information the author is presenting. Also, Krakauer cites an exact note found on the bus where McCandless was discovered which states that he is “Near death” (Krakauer 12). The note displayed in the text is written in a different font, implying that the proceeding text is written by a different author, and is also signed by McCandless himself. The research Krakauer did is directly shown here because of his factual evidence. The use of factual information from the scene of the death provides a

In “Heroes” by Robert Cormier, Francis, the main character, is out on a mission to kill his enemy, Larry LaSalle. “Heroes” uses flashbacks consistently to develop the plot and keep the reader’s attention. If it were not in the story, the story would be bland and boring overall. Foreshadowing plays a huge role in the story and creates suspense throughout the book. For example, in the beginning of the book, Francis states, “Then I am filled up with guilt and shame, knowing that I have just prayed for the man I am going to kill.”

The author heavily focuses heavily on memories. The half the book consists mostly of Ove’s memories. If it were not for the flashbacks one would not understand Ove. We

Towards the middle of chapter two, Krakauer incorporates a vivid sense of imagery when describing the dead body of Chris McCandless. He describes in detail how, “The remains were so badly decomposed that it was impossible to determine exactly when McCandless had died, but the coroner could find no sign of massive internal injuries or broken bones. Virtually no subcutaneous fat remained on the body, and the muscles had withered significantly in the days or weeks prior to death” (Pages 13-14 Krakauer). This usage of imagery helps convey the significant decay in McCandless’ body, and the true sense of fear of the people. Through this description, Krakauer is able

Vulnerability impacts any individual throughout each new and interactive experience. To become vulnerable is to open up to the consequences of frantic outcomes. Individuals will lead to vulnerability to cope with a trauma that has created a solemn change to a lifestyle. Jon Krakauer explains how the trauma of Mt. Everest changed his outlooks on reality, through different coping mechanisms. Krakauer uses his writing in his book, Into Thin Air, to cope with the guilt of surviving the terror that occurred upon Mt. Everest, as well as to understand what actions caused each outcome. Within an excerpt from Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer is reflective towards his audience of how vulnerability shaped the experiences upon Mt. Everest to cope with the