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Into Thin Air Analysis

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Into Thin Air, written by Jon Krakauer, details the author’s expedition to Mt. Everest along with his teammates and many fellow climbers, in 1996. Through straightforward and in-depth details described by Krakauer, readers are able to imagine what it’s like being on Mt. Everest, which is further enhanced by Krakauer through his selection of details. Krakauer also uses diction and syntax to emphasize the major theme of the book, which is teamwork. As for Krakauer, he also lets out parts of himself that reveal who he is and what kind of person he is like in real life, a kind and hardworking person. In mountaineering, more than once, one needs to be able to entrust their teammates or guides, which means it is crucial that he is a team player. …show more content…

The text states: “By the time I was in my early twenties climbing had become the focus of my existence to the exclusion of almost everything else” (Pg. 23). From this, it is clear that climbing has always been a part of Krakauer’s life, which is an obvious driving factor for Krakauer’s expedition to the highest mountain on Earth. Besides being brave and determined, Krakauer is also compassionate, as proven when he says: “I wanted him to reach the summit almost as badly as I wanted to reach it myself” (Pg. 130). At this time, Doug is retreating back to his tent as he has frozen his larynx after inhaling snow-filled air, and Krakauer feels bad for him since they have bonded. Near the end of the book, after the disaster, Krakauer suffers through survivor’s guilt, even though he isn’t at fault. He blames himself for not being able to help his friends more, especially with Andy Harris’ death, made evident by the quote: “My actions-or failure to act-played a direct role in the death of Andy Harris” (Pg. 283). The disaster has forever changed Krakauer, as stated by Krakauer more than once with the quotes “But such moments were tempered by the long penumbra cast by Everest, which seemed to recede little with the passage of time” (Pg. 282) and “The stain this has left on my psyche is not the sort of thing that washes of after a few months of grief and guilt-ridden self-reproach” (Pg.

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Krakauer begins the book in the middle of the story where he has reached the top of Mt. Everest. He is cold, wet, and facing many medical issues including lack of oxygen and separated ribs from his journey to the top. Then he

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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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In the beginning of chapter 8, Krakauer blatantly states all these strangers’ opinions about McCandless’s death to the reader. These honest and blunt opinions that were stated against McCandless causes one to realize that McCandless’s peril was one hundred percent absurd and puerile. After reading others opinions on his death, it made me resent McCandless even more than I did. “Personally I see nothing positive at all about Chris McCandless’s lifestyle or wilderness doctrine.” (page 71) another opinion states, “McCandless had already gone over the edge and just happened to hit bottom in Alaska.”

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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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Like Chris, Krakauer went through harsh and difficult situations and did not feel as confident during his adventure as he did before it. One of the reasons Krakauer adds his experience to the story is to do away with the thought that Chris McCandless was suicidal. Krakauer did not believe that Chris was because he was so similar to Chris when he took his journey, “…had i not returned from the Stikine Ice Cap in 1977, people would have been quick to say of me - as they now say of him - that i had a death wish. Eighteen years after the event, I now recognize that i suffered from hubris, perhaps, and an appalling innocence, certainly; but i wasn't suicidal.” (Page 155, paragraph 5) Krakauer shares this because he wants people to look at Chris as more than a kid who had a death wish.

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The details and sentencing helps you picture the image in your head. After this chapter Krakauer’s book talks about the rest of his expedition to the top of the

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Krakauer left a note talking about his desire to kill the false being within, somebody who managed to starve to death in a deserted bus not far off the George Parks Highway, and made the guy into a celebrity”. Medred further asserts that Krakauer simply wanted to write about McCandless and spin him as a misrepresented hero because it would sell books. Regardless if he decided to take his own life or he simply

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Guilt is an emotion that weighs the heaviest, and lingers the longest. Those who have encountered it in the past may recall that it is a devoid expanse that seems to permeate every part of your being. It’s only natural that Jon Krakauer felt such traces of guilt, because it once was all he knew, and that's hard to forget. He was a climber at heart, and the sprawling snow-capped mountains will always be burned into his memory. Even from the introduction one could tell that he was simply another mountaineer who loved climbing, and was put in a devastating situation.

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This is how the last stage, return, manifests for him. In many stories, the hero receives a powerful token or a trophy of some variety. Unfortunately for Krakauer, his trophy or token is major PTSD and trauma. He goes on to write his book, shares his experiences and lessons he has learned, but he ultimately does not see his time on the mountain as positive or a prize

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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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