The largest aspects of a story's exposition include the introduction to conflict, characters, and setting. Select one of these elements from your text so far. Discuss, in depth, your understanding of the element, and how you believe it will continue to develop and transform throughout the reading.
For example: Focus on one specific character you have been introduced to. Discuss their description and character traits, as well as your opinion of the character so far. Then, share any predictions you may have for the character's future.
After posting, continue the conversation. Add detailed analysis to at least two other classmate's posts made. Continue responding until you feel the conversation has reached a point of resolution.
“Demarcating the Nepal-Tibet border, towering more than 12,000 feet above the valleys at its base, Everest looms as a three-sided pyramid of gleaming ice and dark, striated rock.”(Pg. 17) The first setting we are introduced to is the Nepalese side of Sagarmatha, better known as Mt. Everest. Instead of the narrator detailing his climb of the mountain the novel starts out with our narrator taking pictures at the top and beginning his dangerous descent. As we move further I foresee the setting staying the same as far as being on the mountain just getting closer to sea level, but I predict that a storm will roll in and make the already dangerous decent even more treacherous.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the beginning was interesting, when he got to the top of everest he said " I just couldn't summon the energy to care". I thought this was strange because he had just acomplished a life long goal. Shouldn't that make you fell acomplished? It's hard to beleive that he was just so tired he didn't care.
DeleteThe conflict was hinted at the beginning of the story. The main character, Jon Krakauer, explains the background of his childhood. His father climbed mountains along with his friends, and their father. Jon became so addicted to climbing as he grew older that he continued his passion by living paycheck to paycheck to afford each climbing trip. He eventually took on the biggest climbing challenge in the world by going to Mt. Everest. The conflict that will grow throughout the story is the challenges that him, and his crew will face during the expedition. Namely, the avalanche that traps the crew in danger. There are so many different challenges that come with climbing a mountain, and each one adds fuel to the fire for the main conflict. The conflicts in this story are man vs self, man vs man, and man vs nature. Jon will have to overcome his mental fatigue to save himself and the others. The mountain is the physical aspect of nature that presents the challenge to the climbers. “We had forgotten that the mountain still holds the master card, that it will grant success only in its own good time,” pg. 7. How will Jon and the rest of the climbers be able to communicate and work as a team to save their lives? How will the diversity of the team affect their survival?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the fact that this climb is going to face many challenges throughout the book and answering your question i feel like they are going to have a hard time working together to all stay alive as a group.
DeleteA conflict that is occurring in the beggining of the book is when the narrator John Krakuer looses air because one of his climbing partners turned his tank all the way on draining all of his oxygen. So he had to climb down the mountain a ways so that he could get another tank before he would pass out. It says on page 10 “Instead of turning my oxygen off, Harris in his hypoxically impaired state, had mistakenly cranked the valve open to full flow, draining the tank”. This is a problem in the book because they need to make sure they have the proper equipment and that everything is going well or they could end up getting injured.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the narrator running out of oxygen foreshadows future problems of unpreparedness. I also think that unpreparedness will only become more life and death scenarios as the storm gets worse.
DeleteI agree with Blake because this is a problem because they need the proper equipment to keep going and with that mistake Harris did can lead to him doing more mistakes as the books continues leading to characters in this book to possibly getting injuries or possibly getting killed.
DeleteThis type of problem is minor and major in its own way. Luckily they can retieve a new tank of oxygen at the next camp but that doesn't mean this type of problem is minor. There are many risk that will come along with climbing Mt. Everest and I think this is just the start and many more problems are on there way. A man almost fell over because of too much oxygen what will happen next?
DeleteThe conflict of the this book “Into Thin Air” starts out the main character getting a magazine in March 1996 called “Outside” for the main character to participate in climbing Mount Everest. Then when he gets there the book then really gets into it. Nine climbers from four expeditions are dead, and three more lives will be lost by the end of the month. So far in the story the climbers are dealing with very bad snow storms on Everest and are trying to keep going. The Main character is hiking with an oxygen tank because him and the climbers are not getting much oxygen as they are climbing higher on Mount Everest We also get what equipment the character has with him hiking. I have a feeling as the story goes on the snow storm will get worse on there climb.
ReplyDeleteI would agree with you that the dangers of climbing have killed several people do you think that it is going to affect them later on
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ReplyDelete“The two climbers failed to return to their tent that night, however, and neither Malloy nor Irvine was ever seen again” (Pg. 18). From early in the story you get a clear description on how dangerous climbing Mt. Everest is. Two members of 1924 british team were never seen again due to the last stretch to the top of the Mountain. Jon Krakauer elaborates on how these aren’t just two lonely men that have nothing to look for when they return. George Leigh Mallory was thirty-eight with three young children. At this point you realize how dangerous climbing Mt. Everest is and how much of your life you are putting on the line to make one last climb. I predict this won’t be the only time someone is going to lose everything because the weather conditions weren't perfect on the last stretch ending in a sad cold death. Krakauer did a good job on evolving a background from the first climbers to the climbers in our time now. It helps you understand the heritage of Mt. Everest and what it takes and possible outcomes to attempting the climb.
I agree, it really shows how much these people want to accomplish their goals and how much they are willing to risk. even though many people have now made this climb, it doesn't take away from how dangerous it is.
DeleteI agree Max, because I don't think the setting will change either. We know that the main character will eventually run into a storm that will strand them on the mountain. We know this because on page 11 it states, "every minute would matter."
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ReplyDeleteFor Jon Krakauer's whole life he had been inspired to climb mount Everest. “A subsequent ascent of the mountain helped establish the trajectory of my life.” (Krakauer, 21) . This shows that he is very motivated to climb. Wanting to accomplish this also means he is adventurous and not afraid to take risks. With this mindset it could lead him into danger, Jon is smart enough to know this but too motivated to let danger stand in the way of his goal. We already know that there is a major disaster but how will this happen and who’s fault will it be? Along with physical disaster what kind of mental disasters will Jon face on his climb/descent?
I don't think it will be any of the climbers' fault. I think it will just be the storm alone that will cause the disaster for the team. You could also argue that the climbers didn't take action when they were supposed when they first began to see snow starting to fall.
DeleteIt will be a climbers fault if one of the climbers is trying to get up having help with other climbers grabbing one of the climbers hands to pull him/her up. I would think it would be not exactly the climbers fault if it was due to a snowy blizzard on the mount if it pushed one of the climbers off.
DeleteI agree with you Eric that Krakauer is extremely motivated to climb but, I think his extreme motivation and perseverance may out weigh looking at what risk that come along with his climb.I am afraid the motivation is very powerful and that the climbers are so motivated to accomplish the climb they will stop at nothing as in bad weather conditions that could fault in death or severe injuries.
DeleteIn the first seventy pages of the book most of the pages are filled with topographic, statistical and biographical information on the region Jon is in and the people he is with. This information is filled with death and danger, which I think is to elude to dangerous events soon to come in his team's journey, not to mention Tenzing, a sherpa that fell into a crevasse already. You can see this in the text when Jon writes, “Throughout his climbing career, but especially during those early years, he survived a number of frightening mishaps that by all rights should have killed him.” (Page 66). Also when he writes, “While working as a junior instructor on a NOLS course in the Wind River Range he plunged 70 feet, unroped, to the bottom of a crevasse on the Dinwoody Glacier.” (Page 67). Not only does this trip seem dangerous, but deadly. This begs me to ask: Why would someone like Jon, 41 with a wife and kids, want to pursue something so terribly dangerous? What I know from my life is that I have done many dangerous things, but not anything near as deadly as climbing a nearly 30,000 foot high mountain across the world with people that he’s never met before. In my opinion, the only reason of which he would do it, is because he had given up on his childhood dream in the past, and regretted it ever since.
ReplyDeleteInto Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is about Jon Krakauer and his expedition to Mount Everest. Throughout this first part we had to read we see how he prepares for the trip and how he is telling us the story of how he meets all the guys he climbs with. He has currently landed and is taking a bus to the hotel in preparing for the trip. We also learn about how meeting the people he goes on a climb with last second is risky. Jon states that “In climbing, having confidence in your partner is no small concern. Ones climber’s actions can affect the welfare of the entire team”(Krakauer 40). In my opinion it seems like a lot of courage for a man to just get up and go do this and trust strangers with his life. What would you do if you were in his situation would you trust the group that easily? In my life trusting people is hard so doing this might be a great experience you might learn to trust people, that’s if you make it out safe. My question to the author is why didn’t you climb Everest beforehand why did you bail out on your dreams when you were younger? I predict that throughout his adventure he’s going to run into some issues with the team and who these characters are.
ReplyDeleteIn response I definitely can say that I would not be able to trust random people, and it would keep me shook throughout the climb.
DeleteI agree with your prediction of coming across issues with the team further along, However if each member of the team has the same understanding as Jon in the quote you provided I feel that will that decrease the room for error. I feel like I would not trust the other members 100% but would have some trust in them, due to the fact that they have to have some trust in you as well.
DeleteI agree with you that it seems to take a lot of courage to trust strangers like that. These people must want to climb Everest badly enough that they are willing to disregard this. However, from what I've read so far I don't feel like Jon has to rely on any of the inexperienced people in his group. It seems as though he needs the help and guidance of the guides, and especially Rob Hall, but because they were never connected by rope to eachother, I don't think there is too much riding on this inexperienced companions. I also don't understand why he gave up on his dream before. I don't think he ever let it go, but I wonder why he chose to turn away from it in the first place.
DeleteThrough the first two days of our reading, we were introduced to many different characters as Krakauer also covered their backgrounds and the history of Mt. Everest. I think that the reason the author gave us such a deep insight into the lives of the people who would be making the journey with him is because many of their lives will be over by the end of the story. By the end of the expedition, these lives that had been so interesting and fulfilling would be erased. I still wonder why Krakauer included the historical coverage of Everest? The main character of the story is Jon Krakauer, a news journalist for “Outside” magazine. Born in New Zealand, Krakauer loved to climb ever since he was young. He wrote, “Secretly, I dreamed of ascending Everest myself one day; for more than a decade it remained a burning ambition. By the time I was in my early twenties climbing had become the focus of my existence”(Krakauer, 23). I think that Krakauer still wants this just as bad as he did then, even though he’s a long time removed from his extreme focus on climbing. In my experience and knowledge of other people I have known in my life, passions don’t just go away after some time. However, I am predicting that after his experience on Everest with all of the deaths involved, Krakauer will be unnerved and he will lose his love for climbing.
ReplyDeleteI think he covered the history of Everest in the text for multiple reasons; because it was interesting to him, because it held loads of information on the risks of his journey and because it helped set the setting of the story. Also, I agree that the reason he is climbing is because he had always wanted to as a child and passions just don't go away after some time.
DeleteYour idea of why the author includes such depth into each of his characters is very insightful. I never would have thought that these characters would be the ones that would not make it through till the end. But in sense, this is actually the right thing to do for the people that you want to remember, and for others to know more about.
DeleteI also agree with Hunter on the reasons why Jon added the context of Everest, Especially to show the importance and risk of the trip. I disagree and agree with your prediction due to the fact that if the adventure is a positive experience that that will deepen his love for climbing and vise versa for if the results were negative.
DeleteInto Thin Air by Jon Krakauer is written in first person, and reveals details of his climb to the top of Mt. Everest. The conflict is not surprising when you realize Krakauer is attempting to climb approximately a 29,000 foot mountain. One detail mentioned is “Weeks of violent coughing had left me with two separate ribs that made ordinary breathing an excruciating trial” (Krakauer 8). Krakauer being a 40 year old man, with three children back at home, perserververed trying to make it to the top. He also told of how he lost oxygen on the mountain, nearly losing consciousness as he made his way back to base to retrieve a new tank. The trip to the top is extremely risky and is tough for even the most experienced climbers, this is why it’s hard for me to understand the point. I love adventure, but risking my life knowing my family will be waiting for to come home is not a risk i’d be willing to take. In the book krakauer states “The two climbers failed to return to their tent that night, however, and neither Malloy nor Irvine was ever seen again” (Krakauer 18). Including this in the story was crucial in showing how easily the mountain could take you life from you. It’s tragic weather and low oxygen levels can be too much to many. I wonder how people are able to make it to the top without using a mask, because I heard that method was also quite common. I predict in the future of the story that something significant would happen to the group he is trekking with and will make him rethink this journey. Within my life I have had the same thing occur, questioning why I made the decisions that I have because their outcomes were poor. You never truly know what you have until you're so close to losing it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your prediction and I can definitely see something significant happen to the plot that will change the plans they all had for this Trek. By the way people can make it to the top without the use of oxygen by taking it extremely slow and getting acclimated to altitudes.
DeleteI also would agree that it would be very difficult for me to pack my bags and leave my family by choice, knowing that I may not return. I also think that after the journey is over Krakauer is going to lose his love for climbing and rethink the choices he has made in his life.
DeleteIn The book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer within the first two chapters he explains factual information about Mount Everest providing information about the mountain, and successful/unsuccessful trips of previous climbers. So far he has arrived to the hotel and is getting ready for the trip with the several others that are attending. Jon says that “Nevertheless I didn't have much in common with any of my teammates except Doug. (Krakauer 39) My thoughts from this sentence were how this could be problematic for Jon. Due to the fact that having things in common with others builds trust and connections. This could also lead to a closed mindset for Jon with his other teammates. I predict that this may affect his teamwork skills and mindset as well during this trip. A question that came across was did the author include the idea of not knowing other peers on this trip to show a negative effect or positive effect in the future of this book?
ReplyDeleteI think that the authors choice to add the part about how he didn't know the other climbers was to show both positive and negative aspects of the future. I think it will lead to show how he over comes the others personality and he becomes friends with most of the climbers even if they have negative attitudes or affects on the plot. I also agree with your prediction and can see some spots where they might fall apart and struggle.
DeleteI agree with you in the sense that the mindset of the people around you and your team will determine whether you are successful or fall short of a goal. However, In my life, common interests are not always the best way to work with others. With a range of different personalities and ideas, this will cause more discussion and although arguing, will end in a result that everyone agrees on. This is why I feel it is actually beneficial that he does not have the most in common with his other teammates.
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