Reflections On Into Thin Air By Jon Krakauer

Krakauer uses what some may argue is “excessive” detail throughout this nonfiction work; however, this means he never leaves the reader guessing on the details. Into Thin Air originally started out as an article written by Krakauer for Outside Magazine, but he felt he could not accurately write an article that truly displayed what transpired on May 10th with such a limited space and an approaching deadline. Krakauer wrote an article that was highly inaccurate and caused the anger of many of his fellow climbers, and the families of those who perished on the mountain. Krakauer took it upon himself to extend his article into a large nonfiction book, which he interviewed those who were on the mountain for, to make sure he could portray the events of May 10th as accurately as possible. With a total of twelve fatalities, he could not interview everyone and there are critics who claim Krakauer does not know what he is talking about, therefore should not write about it, but Krakauer felt the urge to warn everyone of the hazards that come with climbing Everest and attempt to rid himself of his survivor’s guilt was stronger than the voices of those

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

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

In the book “Into thin air” by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer sought to report and write about his climb up mount everest. He knew it wouldn't be easy, but he did not and could not have predicted the barriers and conflicts that were inflicted upon him, by the mountain and it’s atmosphere. Due to these barriers and conflicts, it would be naive to say that the main conflict wasn’t man vs nature. Nevertheless, Krakauer had the worst experience of his life, climbing and fighting against the physical and mental effects of Mount Everest.

Christopher McCandless was a man that could not stand to abide by other people’s rules. In the novel, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer documents his interview with McCandless’ sister, Carrie. She tells the audience that he always wanted to live by his own rules and despised restrictions. By saying this, he came to the conclusion that he had followed societies’ rules for long enough. He thought that the only way to escape their regulations was to begin a transcendental lifestyle. Transcendentalism is going above and beyond a belief system by experiencing life “outside” the normal range of experience. A tTranscendental lifestyle can be described as: detaching oneself from society, developing a spiritual connection to nature, and becoming self-reliant. Within five weeks, he was free from his parents and peers and a world that revolved around materialistic objects. Throughout his adventure, he read novels from other transcendentalists such as: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Chris McCandless can be seen as a good example to a transcendental life because he separated himself from modern society, was self-reliant, and immersed with nature.

Into Thin Air is a novel which provides a personal view from Jon Krakauer about a treacherous disaster on Mount Everest in 1996. After reading the novel, I can say the book came out to be much better than expected. Initially, I assumed that the book would simply guide a reader from Kathmandu to the summit, but the book held much more value within its pages. Although there is one component of the story that I disliked, I can still say that Into Thin Air is a very interesting novel which could both inspire people to climb Everest or stay away from it.

The book Into Thin Air, written by Jon Krakauer, explores the struggle of man versus man and man versus nature. The very different personalities proved costly to everyone involved on the expedition. The team of climbers that were hiking toward the summit of Mt. Everest on May 10, 1996, was oblivious to what lay ahead of them. No matter how advanced the hikers were, Everest on this day would test the will and endurance of everyone attempting to reach the summit. The one element that no one person could elude was pain.

On May 10, 1996, nine people perished on Mt. Everest. Jon Krakauer, a writer from Outside magazine, was there to witness the events and soon after write the book, Into Thin Air, chronicling the disaster. Jon Krakauer is not only the writer and narrator of Into Thin Air but is also one of the main characters. Originally Outside Magazine planned to send Krakauer to Everest in order for him to write a story for the magazine. The climb was completely financed by the magazine with one of the leading Everest guide groups led by Rob Hall, an elite climber. Krakauer divides the people on the mountain into two main categories, tourist and elite. The elite being guides and Sherpas like Hall, Harris and Ang Dorje,

Into Thin Air tells the story of the tragedy where in 1996, several climbers died on the slopes of Mt. Everest. This was all witnessed by Jon Krakauer, a journalist and one of the climbers who reached the summit that year. Krakauer and the team he climbs with becomes separated through a series of accidents and a change in weather resulting in five teammates dead. Scott Fischer leads an expedition as well, and in that expedition he also loses climbers on the storm, including himself. Krakauer narrates the affairs of the expeditions and attempts to explain how the climbers could have been caught on the mountain when they could have turned and remained safe. He also communicates how he played a role in the events.

In my opinion I believe the authors main point in this essay was to vindicate anything that Chris McCandless did in his life. When reading I could definitely sense Krakauers natural liking for McCandless. He was sympathetic to McCandless, based on Krakauers sense of a shared experience in their youth and up until McCandless eventual death and Krakauers perceived near death experience on the Devils Thumb.

Before reading this book, I had already been aware of the countless dangers of Mt. Everest. Last summer I read a book about Mt. Everest much like this one in the state that both were spoken through personal accounts, and both used constant detail to express the horrible and painful experiences that both authors had to go through. This prior knowledge helped better my understanding of this book because I was aware of the common occurrences that can take place while climbing Mt. Everest, and the gruesome circumstances that go with it. During the eighth chapter, readers become aware of a horrible condition that a character is dealing with. “By the time he arrived at the tents late that afternoon Ngawang was delirious, stumbling like a drunk, and coughing up pink, blood-laced froth” (Krakauer 113).

Happiness is not easily achieved in this life and sometimes it will make you pay high prices for it. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a book talking about an adventurer named Chris McCandless that lost his life looking for his happiness. Chris was a smart boy that had the potential to go to Harvard law school, but he left his family, friends and education to go to Alaska. Krakauer wrote about McCandless’ journey to provide clear the reasons McCandless went to Alaska and why he did it and what he went through because Krakauer saw In McCandless. Krakauer wrote about McCandless’s journey while including some detailed reasoning and excuses for McCandless actions. Krakauer’s purpose of writing Into the wild furnish to the writing style

Jon Krakauer is an American writer known for his writings about the great outdoors. After being introduced to mountaineering as a child, Krakauer devoted much of his life to mountain climbing, leading up to his 1996 expedition to Mt. Everest. In his Into Thin Air, Krakauer recounts the dangerous journey, in which four of his teammates had died. Krakauer’s love for adventure significantly impacted many of his literary works, including Into the Wild, which focuses on the value of life and death, especially when one ventures into the great outdoors.

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

Even though some believe extreme sports are meant to be calm, I believe that they are more like extreme risks. Author Clare Davison agrees with my claim and shows facts on accidents and deaths. Also in the article “With The Thrills Come Extreme Risks”, Author Jane E. Brody, also shows the true numbers of accidents and how people do it for the thrill.