Into the Mind of Jon Krakauer
Everest is the most substantial mountain in the world, filled with amazing views, and grave choices. Nonetheless, in 1996, Jon Krakauer climbed to the summit of this very mountain and wrote a detailed book about his time there, as well as other climbers’ stories he had encountered during his journey. Jon Krakauer’s novel Into Thin Air should be included in the Danville Community High School at the sophomore level due to the way it teaches young minds to be selfless and ambitious, and teaches students how to use their resources and make inferences.
Selflessness and Ambition
The theme of selflessness is shown over and over throughout Into Thin Air. In one instance a sherpa named Tenzing was climbing with a group of four others before stepping onto a thin part of ice on the mountain, causing it to collapse beneath him. He fell 150 feet down the mountain into a crevasse. The four other sherpas with him rushed to his aid and began lifting him out of the crevasse, they carried him approximately 3,000 feet down to base camp (Krakauer 57-61). Another instance tells of a climber named Beck, who was left by others for dead, twice. Another group had encountered Beck who would not give up and succumb to his injuries. Of that group were Athans and Burleson, who carried Beck approximately 4,000 feet until a helicopter was able to get to them to bring Beck to Camp 1 (Krakauer 273-274). The theme of ambition is also found many times throughout the novel. Scott Fischer, an Everest climber, is one of the best examples of ambition in the book as he would “push himself beyond any physical limitation”. He had a “burning ambition” to conquer Everest, working out till the point of sickness (Krakauer 67). Every mountaineer on Everest has had ambition, but Scott’s was a true show of relentless perseverance. On one expedition Scott and his team had run almost completely out of oxygen, trapped 28,000 feet up the mountain, and he just kept going even while “growing weaker and weaker”. He slid down the side of the mountain instead of taking the ropes, by the time he made it down he had taken off his mask completely, and he survived, making it back to base camp (Krakauer 240). Students at the sophomore level need to understand real-world choices that include selflessness and what it takes to follow their ambitions. Many sophomores aren’t fully aware of how to make difficult choices and are scared to follow their dreams. Reading books like Into Thin Air puts these things in perspective for the reader and helps them to learn how to overcome obstacles such as when to be selfless instead of selfish, and how to overcome fears of failure to follow their ambitions.
Krakauer was a mountaineer himself in fact, “his life revolved around climbing”. His father was a climber before him though, introducing Krakauer to the idea at just 8 years old. In 1996, Jon ascended Everest and reached the summit with 5 other climbers for the first and last time, but only he and another made it back. Many journalists claim Krakauer most likely wrote the book in hopes of “exorcizing his demons” and to “lay to rest some of the painful questions” around his climb of Everest (Jon Krakauer). In 1996 a civil war took over Nepal in a fight for freedom and a new government. The Civil War was caused by the debate over whether the country should be Communist or if it should remain to be a Monarchy. Extreme inequality led to many soon-to-be mountaineers to be denied climbing classes and even caused many experienced climbers to be stripped of the chance to climb Everest(Civil War in Nepal). Initially, Jon Krakauer never wanted to climb Everest, he was to make it to base camp and report about the commercialization of the mountain, but when hit with the opportunity to ascend the summit, he impulsively agreed. In a 2015 interview with CNN News, Jon shared that he hates Everest. He claims “I wish I’d never gone” sharing his struggles with PTSD related to the mountain climb. He follows by stating “I’m glad I could write a book about it, but you know, if I could go back and relive my life, I never would have climbed Everest”. He warns of how horrible the mountain leaves you to 11-year-old Tyler Armstrong, an avid climber who has climbed the tallest peaks in three countries and wants to climb Everest as he gets older. Krakauer warns Tyler to “think twice about it”, showing his hatred for the mountain and how he wishes no one climbs it. This sends a great message to sophomores to truly think about their decisions, as some can be life-altering like Krakauers(Jon Krakauer).
Krakauer has an interesting way of telling all the many different stories of Everest. Every chapter or two he switches the perspective he’s telling the story from. In one instance, he shares the story from Walt Unsworth’s point of view, in the next chapter he tells it from David Roberts’s experiences, Krakauer then switches to Thomas F Hornbein’s story and so on (Krakauer 140,152,167). He uses this to be able to tell the same story from different perspectives. Another way Krakauer uses his artistry to tell the story is by giving the reader a map of the mountain. He accompanies the map with an extremely lengthy list of every person included in the entire novel, even the less important individuals who get mentioned. He writes their full name, along with what team they were on and what country they were from. He also listed whether they were a client, sherpa, sirdar, cook, journalists, leader, climber, photographer, etc (Krakauer XX-XXV). Krakauer includes many perspectives to help the reader understand how certain moments went between different people. In one instance, a Japanese climbing group found a “Ladakhi climber laying in the snow, horribly frostbitten but alive after a night without shelter or oxygen”. From one point of view, it’s told the Japanese group didn’t have enough supplies to help him without “jeopardizing” themselves. But when explained by Hanada, a member of the Japanese group, to the Financial Times she stated “We didn’t know them. No, we didn’t give them any water. We didn’t talk to them. They had severe high-altitude sickness. They looked dangerous.” She also claimed that “Above 8,000 meters is not a place where people can afford morality” (Krakauer 153). Krakauer uses the map and list of Everesteers to make the novel easier to understand. It explains everyone’s jobs and reasons for being on Everest and where they belong among them all and uses the map to help you understand where climbers were on the vast mountain and show just how far these individuals went while climbing. It teaches them to use their resources and correlate the story to the real world.
I insist Krakauer’s novel Into Thin Air should be included in the Danville Community High School sophomore-level curriculum due to the many life lessons and skills such as making inferences and using their resources that the book teaches readers. Everest is one of the most high-stakes places on Earth, one wrong move could be fatal, truly showing the ambition of climbers and the selflessness of those who help.
Works Cited
Civil war in Nepal. casebook.icrc.org/case-study/civil-war-nepal.
Into Thin Air.
Into Thin Air Jon Krakauer. www.sparknotes.com/lit/thinair/context/#:~:text=Krakauer%20may%20have%20hoped%20to,the%20tireless%20and%20dedicated%20Sherpas.
Jon Krakauer. conferences.law.stanford.edu/thewayforward-title9/speakers/jon-krakauer/#:~:text=Author%2C%20Missoula&text=After%20graduating%20from%20Hampshire%20College,life%20revolved%20around%20climbing%20mountains.
Jon Krakauer: Climbing Everest. www.cnn.com/2015/08/18/living/jon-krakauer-everest-feat/index.html#:~:text=%E2%80%9CI%20wish%20I’d%20never,never%20would%20have%20climbed%20Everest.%E2%80%9D.
