Commentary On A Prose Passage From Into Thin Air By Jon Krakauer

Throughout Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, there are many details that help give the reader a deeper, more profound, meaning of the book's intended purpose. Krakauer is one of the most renowned American writers, publishing many books focused specifically focused on nature, and people’s struggles in nature. Through much of the book, Krakauer incorporates many examples of diction and imagery to help the reader grasp the essence of the book. By using a wide range of literary techniques, Krakauer is able to communicate the events that transpired throughout the book.

Into Thin Air is a spectacular novel written by the well-celebrated author Jon Krakauer from his true experience. This account on the 1996 Everest tragedy is described through Krakauer’s perspective as events leading up to the tragedy unravels around him. Due to his hysteric state on everest, Krakauer later took much time and effort into interviewing

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

Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air has shown me different aspects of survival, differentiating from the ones on T.V or fictional books. It has made me realize that not all good guys live, not all bad guys die. It has changed the way I look at things, for better and worse. And now that, having established what Krakauer’s story has meant to me, comes a time post-epilogue to his book to think and reflect on a simple question: What does Into Thin Air mean to

Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, describes the adventure of Christopher McCandless, a young man that ventured into the wilderness of Alaska hoping to find himself and the meaning of life. He undergoes his dangerous journey because he was persuade by of writers like Henry D. Thoreau, who believe it is was best to get farther away from the mainstreams of life. McCandless’ wild adventure was supposed to lead him towards personal growth but instead resulted in his death caused by his unpreparedness towards the atrocity nature.

“My compadres dallied to memorialize their arrival at the apex of the planet … using up precious ticks of the clock. None of them imagined that a horrible ordeal was drawing nigh. Nobody suspected that by the end of that long day, every minute would matter” (Krakauer 11).

In the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer portrays a story of Chris McCandless and his journey to create a new life for himself though isolation and self determination. While connecting momentarily with people McCandless meets on his expedition, he is determined to cut off all connection with his family and previous life, to create a new one through his own actions. Krakauer depicts McCandless’ yearn for isolationism in relation to his excursion through specific utilization of rhetorical devices throughout his book.

Each human is significantly different from the others in every aspect. The world outside of us operates on various different perspectives. The social beings that we are, it seems only acceptable that we understand those perspectives for better connections with not only others but also have a better understanding of ourselves. Jon Krakauer had a reason for which he pursued the life story of Chris McCandless. He also had a distinct purpose for sharing all his discoveries with the rest of the world. He wanted to the world this kid who decided that he would only do what he wants to do, which led him to Alaska, and ultimately his death. All through the glorified ‘story’ of Chris McCandless’s brave and strong-minded

Adventurer and journalist, Jon Krakauer, in his novel, Into the Wild, shares the story of McCandless’ journey. Krakauer’s purpose is to convey that McCandless was in fact an idealist and not insane to his Outdoor Magazine readers. In chapters 1-7, McCandless encounters several people as he goes along his journey. Krakauer uses the rhetorical strategy of characterization to explain McCandless’ personality to the readers.

Author V.S. Naipaul once said, “What I felt was, if you spend your life just writing fiction, you are going to falsify your material. I thought nonfiction gave one a chance to explore the world, the other world, the world that one didn’t know fully.” John Krakauer’s Into the Wild is a biography that covers a man’s attempt to live life off the grid and stray from the societal norms of mid nineties America in order to achieve enlightenment. Throughout the story, the readers follow Chris McCandless as he travels across the country, discovers new locations, and encounters new experiences in search of happiness, peace, and solitude. As the reader approaches the middle of the story, they realize an important relationship beginning to manifest between

We were all encouraged to choke down as much food as possible. Any kind of energy was essential. A melancholy atmosphere hung heavy as the journey progressed. Minutes walking slowly progressed into hours, the sky seemed to darken steadily. All of us were oblivious to the danger shrouded by the dim evening. Only moments after scaling a rather steep ledge did nature dice to turn sour. A deafening rumble made each climber perk up. Snow began to descend at an alarming rate. Thunder began to mic the steady beating of a drum, causing more concern among the ranks of climbers. The powdery snow became more of a risk than ever, climbing under pressure and leaving nothing to stand on. Third base was more than three hours away. Three hours wasn't possible at the rate. Snowfall this bad could be detrimental to the climb’s success. Snow obscured vision and numbed faces. Shouts and orders deemed lost in the screaming wind; people’s figure became shapeless blurs frantically shifting, hoping if they struggled against the wind hard enough, they might find someone. Of course, this was to no avail. Not a single person doubted their demise would come at this point: the stakes were high and no-one could play too well against Mother Nature. The snow crept up to knee-level, making it harder and harder to travel. Death and I were face-to-face. To some, they couldn't bare the idea of dying up here; they had families and friends, children who need parents and

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

29,028 feet into brain-altering thin air at the top of the world. Imagine being 29,028 feet on top of mount Everest in weather below 0 degrees celsius in life threatening situations. That is what is in store for the mountain climbers in this book. Through-out this book tensions and suspense are used. Tension is a state of feeling anxious and emotionally strained. Suspense is a state of feeling anxious or excited. Into thin air is a book creating tension and suspense.

The same author who wrote “Into the Wild,” Jon Krakauer, is the same mind behind, “Into Thin Air,” which is about eight climbers who ventured into the quixotic attempt to reach the zenith of the Mount Everest. Both books have become bestselling non-fiction works, both books are about survival, well, sort of. In the end, spoiler alert, the protagonists are always defeated by mother nature and expire in the midst of extreme cold weather. And now, both books have been adapted into a film adaptation with “Everest” premiering late Sept.

It’s inconceivable how many lives Everest has taken, yet numerable bodies still remain on the steep, snow muffled, rocky slopes of the mountain. The following lines really emphasize how lucky a climber would be to climb everest and live to tell the tale; ‘And the summit ridge was fanged and cruel, Fanged and cruel, bitter and bare.’ These lines use repetition to emphasize and get the picture of how dangerous the journey is. Here are another pair of lines from the poem; ‘And now with a sickening shock, They saw before them a towering wall’ The poem continues on about how hard the climbers worked to maneuver across the dangerous ridgelines only to find a ‘towering wall’, the last obstacle before the summit. Hillary and Tenzing eventually overcome