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Certainty In Night, To Kill A Mockingbird, And Into Thin Air

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Certainty is a firm conviction that something is the case. This is one of the many luxuries in life. Knowing gives a person power and allows for a feeling of security and control to be present in their life. Along with this grand luxury comes the harsh truth of reality. It is impossible to be certain of anything in life. There are countless times this is proven to be true. Four novels that correspond with the idea of impossible certainty are Silas Marner, Night, To Kill A Mockingbird, and Into Thin Air. Silas is certain he will never be happy again. Elie loses all hope and is certain death will come to him in the camps. Scout is certain of her safety. Lastly, death is certain to those on Mt. Everest. All of the characters in these tales learn all too quickly that certainty is unattainable in life. …show more content…

After being cast away by the people he loves, he is certain that he will never find happiness again. Believing people are cruel and unfeeling, Silas finds solitude in his riches. “Moral certainty is never more than probability” (Giovanni Battista Beccaria). With that in mind he soon loses his money and goes further into depression. Before he can fully be certain of unreachable happiness, he discovers a gift on his doorstep. Silas is now a loving parent to a beautiful little girl; additionally, he is an active member of the community. Silas was a man so certain that the darkness around him would never leave, that he believed light would forever be unattainable. He is not the first to live by this nor will he be the last. Next, a boy’s certainty in his faith is taken into

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All in all, the author manages to balance out his appeal to emotion with the intense sequences of his journey up Mount Everest. Describing how sad he was when he saw his teammates buried in the snow ice cold, and also rescuing one of his teammates, only to see him die a few minutes later from severe

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From Krakauer’s letter to the reader, we have a basic understanding of his immense personal grief as the result of a tragedy on Mount Everest and the reason for writing the book. Then instead of jumping right into the narrative from the very beginning, Krakauer starts in the middle– the time and day when he reached the peak of Mount Everest and returned, and how eight others couldn’t do the same. This interlude first shocked me but also prepared me for what was to come. Most are unaware of what occurs at Mount Everest but this book awakens those who are oblivious, including myself. The book was incredibly informative, starting right from the beginning when the author gives the complete history of those attempting to reach the top of the world.

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This thought of certainty is very

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After being subjected to the many risky features, climbers continue to ascend Everest. Many question why clients would ever want to climb with such risks, but they say the need is too strong. They ignore their logical thoughts about turning back, and are adamant about reaching the top. Clients shouldn’t continue climbing Everest if there is a risk of death.

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Only 6.5% of people who climb Mt. Everest don’t make it back down. But that was not the case for Jon Krakauer in his group. In total, nine lives were lost on the mountain, and three more lives were lost in the following month. These tragic events led to many changes in the character of Jon Krakauer. In Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into Thin Air, Ngawang’s choice to refuse to get treated for HAPE, Beck Weather’s choice to stand on a big rock and let the wind blow him off, and Rob Hall’s choice to not abandon Doug Hansen and save himself led to Jon becoming a wiser, more respectful, and mentally stronger individual.

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Response #7 Burke is explaining how rhetorical writing needs to be identified first to be understood. Depending on the rhetorical writing and how the author changes up what happens with the main characters, the writing is not intended to persuade. When the main characters within the text are understood then it's decided whether the argument is on that person. Since humans are divided in the way of thinking and how they have different personalities the identification of motives helps them believe that they aren't divided and that they are connected somehow. Everyone is his or her own individual but through identification, through rhetoric, we can think that we see ourselves in another person or group but even if we don’t the fact that we still

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