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Comparing The Devil's Thumb, By Jon Krakauer

1031 Words5 Pages

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. With those words, they created visual images for the reader and enhanced their imagination of the journey.
In “The Devil’s Thumb,” the author’s prospective in the story is determination. Throughout the story, Krakauer explains the importance of making it to the top. Krakauer stated, “Most of all, I couldn't stomach the thought of having to endure the …show more content…

As the author writes, it comes clear to the reader of how much completing this climb means to him and how determined he is to go through with it and conquer the climb, but he also shows his excitement throughout the journey. “Wind and horizontal snow takedown our suits and covered us with a layer of ice,” one example stated by Weihenmayer that the climb was very difficult, but the team had to push through with determination. Throughout the story, Weihenmayer explains every tough situation of the climb, like this one, that he had to struggle to overcome. He continues to push through to complete the climb because of his determination and with every obstacle conquered his excitement is visible. As Weihenmayer stated, ‘“We’re on the top. I can’t believe we’re on the top,’” is an example of the excitement showed after completing the climb. By saying this, the reader can feel the joy and excitement of the

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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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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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Many of them are inexperienced and would undoubtedly never make it to the top without a guide. The one unifying characteristic shared by all of the climbers is that they have money—enough to shell out $65,000 a piece for their shot at the top. Krakauer spends long chapters giving his best, most educated guesses about why climbers made certain decisions, and what happened to the people who disappeared. This is an exercise that must result in major frustration, as no one can be entirely sure what took place. Many mistakes later, Krakauer manages to piece together an outline of what happened to whom and when during the climb, but the questions he struggles with in almost every situation are "why" and "how".

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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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79) (Simile). "The wind kicked up huge swirling waves of powder snow that washed down the mountain like breaking surf, plastering my clothing with frost." (pg. 125) (Simile).These smilies really compare, and show the reader the harsh conditions the climbers faced everyday. The main paradox in the book is that experience and preparation ultimately means nothing on Mt. Everest. In particular, no one thought that such a tragedy could occur on an expedition guided by Rob Hall, the most celebrated Everest guide dog of the decade.

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Peak loves to climb and is doing it for the money, the publicity, and his passion for climbing. There have been small conflicts like how josh came into into an argument with George about his heart problems. But there has been a much bigger picture of survival this book has

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I believe it is this because Jon Krakaeur flashes back to before the climb, during the climb, and after the climb. In the book, Krakaeur shows examples before the climb like on page 156, “At 1 a.m., thirty miles east of Rawlins, the strain of the day caught up to me.” He shows examples during the climb when he says “For two days I slogged steadily up the glacier without incident, congratulating myself for discovering such a clever path to the Thumb.” And he also shows examples of after the climb when he says, “ The euphoria, the overwhelming sense of relief, that had initially accompanied my return to Petersburg faded, and an unexpected melancholy took its place.” on page

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(130 Krakauer). This adds more to the story. It also helps the reader understand his decision to climb the

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The story “The Devil and Tom Walker” takes place in a stagnant, lonely and treacherous forest. The author, Washington Irving, while writing was also a satirist and a lawyer. He made short fiction popular and was a very original writer. The characters in this story include Tom Walker, Tom Walker’s wife, and the devil. The conflict in this story is when Tom Walker realizes that he does not want to go to hell, so he makes a deal with the devil.

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He gripped the nearest rock and held on tight . After he started climbing once again , Howard remembered his mission , and the more thought he gave it the more energized he felt . He began to climb faster . Howard reached the top .

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When completing a long climb, one first experiences dizziness, disorientation and shortness of breath due to the high altitude, but once you become accustomed to the climb, your mind opens up to the tranquility of the triumph" (Bozeman, par 4 and 8). Bozeman describes the 3 challenges that the graduating class had to overcome in order to reach the hilltop, using vivid language to create a visual image of the physical struggle involved in the climb, highlighting the idea that great struggle is required to achieve enlightenment. he concludes by highlighting the rewards of the climb, suggesting that once the graduates become accustomed to the climb, their minds will open up to the tranquility of the triumph. He appeals to the audience's logical thinking to encourage and inspire the graduating class to persevere in the face of challenges and to strive for greatness. Both speakers use logos effectively to make their arguments appeal to the audience's rationality.

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And in subjecting ourselves to week after week of toil, tedium, and suffering, it struck me that most of us were probably seeking, above all else, something like a state of grace." ( Krakauer 136) This quote shows that reaching the top of Mount Everest is a goal or achievement for many of the climbers despite the fact that this experience is also painful and dreadful. Not only is the experience not enjoyable, but also the outcome of achieving the mountain isn’t clear. In this instance, it was seen as “state of grace”, or maybe free of

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Indeed, I felt a sense of triumph reaching the place where I never thought I could with fatigue and stress of knowing that I have to get back over the same rough trail. My legs were severely sore and my lungs were congested but today when I look back on it as an epic expedition, a wide grin appears on my face and I believe it will continue to do so over the rest of my life.

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Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. Knowing that any person in the world can climb Mount Everest is amazing. In the novel Into Thin Air written by Jon Krakauer, climbers climb to the highest point of the world. Some everyday people like Jon Krakauer, who is an author hired to write an article about Mount Everest for an adventure magazine and Doug Hansen who is a postal worker climbing Mount Everest for the second time.

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I was on top of the Devils Thumb.” (Krakauer, 153) However, when he got off the mountain no one believed that he climbed the mountain. He tried telling several people about his trip and none of them would take him seriously. He soon lost his happiness he soon went back to his same old life.

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