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Comparing Everest And The Devil's Thumb By Jon Krakauer

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Comparison and Contrast Essay of “Everest” and “The Devil’s Thumb” Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, has had approximately four-thousand people go through freezing temperatures, breathe thin oxygen, and risk a painful death in an attempt to ascend to its uppermost point at 29,029 feet. Erik Weihenmayer was one of the six-hundred sixty people who has successfully done so and was the first blind person to do so. John Krakauer is another one of the six hundred sixty. Krakauer also pioneered a new route for a notorious mountain in Southeast Alaska called The Devil’s Thumb. These men have both written descriptive, intense, and genuine memoirs about their experiences. “The Devil’s Thumb” by John Krakauer and “Everest” …show more content…

Erik Weihenmayer has been blind since his teenage years, but he doesn’t let that stop him from climbing Mount Everest. Being the first blind man to climb the massive mountain, he has become sort of a luminary. He wants people to learn that one can overcome any obstacle to fulfill their dream, to always have a positive outlook, and accomplishing a dream can require help. He also didn’t want to set the precedent that climbing Mount Everest is easy. His outlook or perspective on climbing the tallest mountain in the world was pretty positive for someone who couldn’t see what he was doing. He always looked on the bright side. For example, “…brief moments when the eyes are exposed to the elements, corneas will freeze, and the intense rays of the sun… not once did I worry about these complications.” Wenenmayer focuses a lot on his other team members and what they do to help accomplish the goal of getting to the …show more content…

The tone of “The Devil’s Thumb” is also less than positive. At the exposition of the story, Krakauer is hopeful that he will be able to climb the mountain and the experience will change his life. The mood at the beginning is full of determination and he is focused on getting to the top of the mountain. However, as he continues to scale the mountain, the tone turns to anxiousness and frustrations as he faces many hardships. After he reaches the top, Krakauer says “the climb is over. The only place to go is down.” There is no feeling of triumph, happiness, or excitement. The story takes on a feeling of disappointment. When he reaches the bottom of the mountain he just defeated, the tone turns melancholy and has a tinge of regretfulness. Krakauer “embarked on an orgy of self-pity.” He realizes at the end that he went through a difficult hardships and it didn't change his life. He wants the readers to leave with message to limit dreams because of the fact that they aren't always what they seem to

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Jon Krakauer is looking to fulfill a childhood ambition by finally climbing Mount Everest. After being assigned to write a brief piece about the mountain for Outside magazine, Krakauer manages to convince his bosses to fund a full-fledged expedition to the top. Bold. Krakauer is climbing with Adventure Consultants, a commercial group led by experienced climber Rob Hall. The journalist befriends several members of his group, such as Andy Harris, a guide, and Doug Hansen, a fellow client and postal worker back home.

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Mason Moore Mrs. Vermillion Advanced Placement Language and Composition March 29, 2017 Ascent to Death Jon Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air” is an amazing book that describes the treacherous journey from the bottom to the top of Mt. Everest. Krakauer joins a large team of climbers led by Rob Hall to the top of the summit. They endure many hardships not just from the terrain but from the sheer effects of the high altitude on the body. This ultimately caused the down fall of many skilled and unskilled climbers on May Tenth.

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Into Thin Air Novelist, Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air, recounts the catastrophe that happened on Mount Everest, at the top of the world. There are many factors that led to the final conclusion of the tragedy on May 10, 1996. It’s impossible to know how different courses of action could have changed the outcome of those desperate hours, but there were things done that made the rescue more problematic. Rob Hall’s actions directly affected the success of the climbing expedition. Rob Hall was the head guide of Adventure Consultants, the climbing group that Jon Krakauer was assigned to.

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Krakauer describes his attempts at climbing the Devil’s Thumb when he was 23 years old and compares it to McCandless. The credibility it provides is the insight and thoughts that McCandless might have had on his odyssey as a young man finishing his own greatest achievement. To Krakauer, “the Devil’s Thumb was the same as medical school, only different” (Krakauer 150). To McCandless, it is likely his adventure in Alaska was the fulfillment he needed after following his parents’ wish of finishing college. Both Krakauer and McCandless had problems with their father’s falsehood and losing the innocence that they once had.

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, it is important to note that the characters portrayed in this book are real people. The unique conditions and the weather of the setting forced the climbers to make choices that they could not have made in a different situation. The tough choices made by the climbers and the setting influenced the result of the story. Krakauer’s tone for the most part is respectful toward the guides and climbers, and he narrates as objectively as possible, while including his own concerns and doubts. His tone in the beginning expresses excitement and nervousness, but later turns into

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He is also the narrator. He has to battle his way back down the mountain side of the antagonist, Mt. Everest. The whole trip on Mt. Everest was a huge conflict, but mostly on the descent down. Jon Krakauer has to figure out a way to survive and make it back down alive. The mountain is not forgiving, and there is no easy path on the way down the mountain side.

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[…] I got it into my head to climb the mountain called the Devils Thumb. […] I decided, moreover, to do it alone,” (Krakauer 134-135). This mirrors Chris’ dream to live in the Alaskan wilderness.

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Mountain climbing is a very tough activity that includes years of training before someone is ready to complete an exhilarating climb. Looking around the world, there are many amazing places to climb. Although two of the most difficult and intense climbs include the Devil’s Thumb in Alaska and Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on earth. “Everest,” by Erik Weihenmayer and “The Devils Thumb,” by Jon Krakauer have some similarities and some differences in terms of the author’s perspective, organization structure, and tone and word choice. As the two authors wrote, they showed their struggles and feats of every situation through words.

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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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Krakauer’s first person accountancy of the disaster puts forth the argument that trust and loyalty are the key elements and perseverance, and the key to survival. Through his own personal experiences, Krakauer highlights the intended purpose of the novel and sets numerous tones. Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled countless people, including himself, to ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer 's eyewitness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular

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Krakauer also sees some climbers who have paid as much as $65,000 to join a guided group that would lead them to the summit. Krakauer makes the point that high-altitude climbing is dangerous even for the most veteran of climbers let alone for any novice group member. The author outright states that some of the novices were not qualified to climb Mount Everest. Because of this situation, Krakauer witnessed experienced guides taking on more responsibility than usually would be necessary. As the climb on the way to the summit the author as well as many of his group mates experience the painful experience associated with climbing such as agonizing headaches, loss of strength, and loss of brain cells.

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John Krakauer wrote the Devils Thumb as a story but with bits of flashback to add depth to the story. In doing this he explains why he chose to climb the mountain. “Although my plan to climb the Devils Thumb wasn’t fully hatched until the spring of 1977, the mountain had been lurking in the recesses of my mind for about fifteen years ... the occasion was my eight birthday. When it came time to open my presents, my parents announced that they were offering me a choice of gifts: … either escort me to new Seattle World’s Fair to ride the Monorail and see the Space Needle, or give me an introductory taste of mountain climbing…”

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Krakauer’s story begins when he is offered to write an article on Mt. Everest and accepts. Once in Nepal, Krakauer joins Rob Hall’s expedition team known as Adventure Consultants. Another expedition trying to reach the top of Everest on the same day and closely linked to Hall was Scott

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This book takes the reader through in-depth history like first explorers at the base of the mountain and famous climbers who summit. He also writes with extreme detail about the Sherpa culture, for without their skills and adaptations, the attempt to summit would be inconceivable. But along Krakauer’s journey to Mount Everest’s peak, he adds how much more accessible the mountain has become as a result of commercialization. Into Thin Air is most known for its precise structure of the storm in the Death Zone. Although many disagree and criticize his memory of the blizzard, Krakauer recalls specific locations and struggles of the other climbers.

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Chapters 14 & 15 explained Krakauer’s personal expedition to Devil’s Thumb. I learned a lot about Krakauer’s personal life and the factors contributing to his journey. After reading his personal experience, I understood his compassion for Chris McCandless 's life and journey and why he wrote Into The Wild. Krakauer explains how he had such devotion to climb Devil’s Thumb, but I interpreted this as him being type of guy who sets his mind to a task and then is extremely driven to accomplish it.

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