Into Thin Air is a non fiction book written by Jon Krakauer which shows the dangers and challenges of climbing this almighty mountain known as Everest. In this extract, he emphasizes on the uncertainty the mountain offers and how the higher you go, the more fatigue will start hitting in. Jon Krakauer’s emphasis on the dangers and difficulties on climbing Everest, purposeful use of diction as well as also contrasting the dangers with beauty, deeply portrays how even in the toughest of times, people should always see the positives and in this scenario he admires the beauty Everest brings. Krakauer reiterates the difficulties/dangers of climbing Everest and how you have to adapt to any obstacles that might come your way. Krakauer expresses the …show more content…
Additionally, Krakauer describes the glacier as a “three dimensional phantasmal beauty” which emphasizes how attractive this glacier can be even though the crevasses caused problems with the ladder earlier. Krakauer gave us a better insight on the mountain by employing visual imagery as he incorporated descriptive details to describe the characteristics of the mountain such as: “meandered through a vertical maze of crystalline blue stalagmites”. Instead of just saying I passed blue stalagmites, Krakauer expanded his description to give us a better understanding of the stalagmites and our viewpoint on his description changes. Just saying “blue stalagmites” portrays how dull the situation is whereas “vertical maze of crystalline blue stalagmites” fully describes the scenario well as we can really imagine Krakauer admiring the scenery. Furthermore, Krakauer chose to structure his writing this way so that, he’s reminded of how beautiful the mountain can be even though it’s dangerous. Lastly, the beauty he describes in this extract is apparent as it contradicts the dangers and obstacles he faced before, which forms a balance between the positives and negatives Everest