When examining Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer from a reader response perspective, I noticed the recurring theme of consequences versus reward. Into Thin Air follows the story of an extraordinary journey up Mount Everest from the perspective of a passionate mountaineer and the narrator of this novel. The book commences by describing how Jon has always desired to climb and travel since he was a young boy. Jon’s ambition drives him to fulfill his goal one step at a time through climbing smaller mountains. Now a journalist for Outside Magazine, he is offered the opportunity of a lifetime, the chance to participate in a grueling two-month expedition to the top of Mt. Everest. While there he meets a diverse amount of people from all parts the globe, that all have different personalities and skill levels. I now understand that everyone of them has invested their personal life, money and safety to reach the common goal: the Summit. Jon has a continuous somber emotion while retelling the events in this novel, this makes me think is something devastating coming around the corner?
While reading Into Thin Air, Jon describes how his dream to reach the top is constantly in jeopardy. Krakauer sheds some light on how such a breathtaking place can be so deadly. At this point in the book everything seems too good to be true, there are minimal issues; sickness, migraines because of altitude and one Sherpa is injured. I predict that at some point there is going to be something catastrophic that happens to the group. Since the weather is unpredictable when it comes to Mt. Everest, avalanches, frigid temperatures, snow storms can happen at anytime. These alarming possibilities keep me wondering why it is so appealing to mountain guides to make a living by guiding inexperienced individuals up Everest? When Krakauer digs deeper into his and his teammates lives it becomes apparent that relationships get tested with their loved ones at home. When travelling to such vigorous and isolated mountains around the world it can be quite time consuming, one could be away for months at a time. I personally do not have the issue of a loved one leaving for long periods, but in the television show One Tree Hill, Peyton is continually suffering from it. She is still trying to cope with her mother’s death and her father is travelling for work for many months at a time. Peyton is very much affected by the amount of time her dad is away, she has to support herself and tends to show emotional issues. There can also be a financial strain on a relationship, many expedition teams charge upwards of $65,000 per a person. Our love ones remain behind and live with the fear of if something goes wrong and the person becomes severely injured or even dies. I also predict as I get further into the novel that the novel the isolation will take a toll on some characters’ mental state. It seems to me that there is an issue between carrying out a dream as big as climbing Mt. Everest and how it affects people around that one person. I was constantly questioning myself, why do people put their lives on the line when it affects other people? If I knew that it was going to hurt my family emotionally and financially, I would be second guessing myself. Krakauer explains this further when mentioning his own relationship with his wife: “Linda would never have considered asking me to abandon the sport, but the announcement that I intended to quit had reinforced her decision to marry me […] Within a year I sneaked my rope out of storage and was back on the rock. By 1984, when I went to Switzerland to climb a notoriously dangerous alpine wall called Eiger Nordwand, Linda and I had advanced to within millimeters of splitting up, and my climbing lay at the core of our troubles” (Krakauer 126).
I realized that a very important factor when climbing is trust among teammates. They can determine whether you are celebrating a victory at the top of the mountain or mourning defeat. Krakauer says "In climbing, having confidence in your partners is no small concern. One climber's actions can affect the welfare of the entire team" (47). During the expedition, Jon and many others are concerned about the lack of skill the other groups have that are climbing the same route. He states how irresponsible it is to come without the proper training because it puts themselves and other individuals around them in danger. Jon says “there was a very real fear that the Taiwanese would suffer calamity that would compel other expeditions to come to their aid, risking further lives, to say nothing of jeopardizing the opportunity for other climbers to reach the summit” (Krakauer 138). The most vivid mental image that I formed was at Base Camp. Everyone was in the same spot on Everest and it was where interactions with other expeditions occurred. It showed togetherness and the diversity of mountaineers. It was mentioned that there were people there that are as young as twenty to people in their mid sixties, some were from the United States where others were from Australia and Africa. Even though the characters are very different from each other they all have a love for climbing and that is what has brought them to Mt. Everest. I can connect this to when I play soccer with my teammates. The game requires skill and physical strength but the most important of all is trusting what your other teammates are going to do with the ball. I find that trust is what carries a team forward.
I believe that thrill seekers are the intended audience of Into Thin Air. I also think that this book is Krakauer’s way to educate others about the consequences that they may face instead of the reward they are looking for. I think he is trying to incorporate fear to the novel to make climbers reassess their journey to Mt. Everest. Krakauer is telling the whole truth solely to reduce the numbers of fatalities of individuals attempting the mountain. My views are that one needs to be prepared for anything if they should even consider this treacherous climb; changing temperature, altitude, and unreliable teammates. In many cases people that attempt to climb to the Summit can have many different motifs, either for a passion of climbing or slightly more driven by fame and future. I believe that this can make it tempting to put oneself in danger in order to seek wanted publicity and financial reward. Throughout the novel I was constantly thinking is the commercialization of Everest a positive thing or a negative thing? Tourism helps out surrounding villages, but it disturbs the beauty and increases the fatalities.
All in all, Jon Krakauer was able to keep the reader intrigued with filling in the gaps from past expeditions. He presents rich history about mountaineers from then and now. I think he does this to give back and make people remember those who have died on Everest. I think I have learned a bit about being my own person while reading this novel. Krakauer shows that it requires a certain type of independence, feeling, and determination to reach a certain goal. Based on true events I decided to read Into Thin Air. I am not much of a reader because I tend to get bored quickly. When I read on occasion I tend to choose romance novels that are usually the same as the next one. The reason is I find it hard to visualize what the author is saying, so I tend to watch television or movies instead for a visual aid. I am glad I chose this novel since Krakauer has a descriptive and eventful writing style, which made it easy to envision the location and characters. My question is: is it really worth it to take such a dangerous journey to fulfill a lifetime ambition?
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