A Deeper Look Into Jon Krakauer’s Hit Novel

This life threatening condition brought on by high altitudes was diagnosed to Ngawang Topche

After being introduced to all of the characters in Jon Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air” you’ll quickly begin to make a solid profile for each one of them. Ngawang Topche for example, is a Sherpa that is helping with Scott Fischer’s expedition when he soon begins to experience the tall tale signs of HAPE or high altitude pulmonary edema. Due to his rebellious nature he ignores Mr. Fischers recommendation of going down to camp one and instead makes his way on up to camp two (Krakauer 109). Since Ngawang was pushing the limits by going up in elevation, he got burned in the end as his condition continued to worsen. From this situation I couldn’t help but to think of another rebellious character such as Gollum in the famous movie franchise, Lord of The Rings. This unique character disregarded the words of the two main characters, Frodo and Sam, and continued to pursue them even after heeding their warnings. In the end, Gollum achieved his goal of taking the ring but subsequently it costed him his life. This leads me to believe that Ngawang Topche will also come to an end after pursuing his goal of reaching a higher altitude. These two characters to me are classic rebels as they throw caution to the wind and defy orders meant to restrain their freedom.

Jon Krakauer exhibits similar determination to George Mallory who famously replied “because its there” when reporters continuously asked him why he wanted to climb Mount Everest

Another character that is worth mentioning is Jon Krakauer who is displayed as the explorer throughout his own novel. Repeatedly Jon is pushing himself to see/ experience new things despite the repercussions it has on his frame. Climbing Mount Everest is no small feet as Jon explains the toll it has had on his body, “the dry hack……had gotten so bad that I’d torn some thoracic cartilage” (Krakauer 141). Yet despite this punishment, Jon’s will to reach the summit pushes him through the pain, which makes me believe that he is a very determined induvial. His drive to explore has become his number one priority “I wanted to climb the mountain as badly as I’d ever wanted anything in my life” (Krakauer 84) even over his wife and kids. This will to explore brought back old memories of a novel series that I heavily enjoyed (and still do to this day) called “Young Samurai” by Chris Bradford. Similarly, the main character, Jack Fletcher, had to leave his family who resided in England to pursue his ambitions of discovering and establishing new trade routes between England and Japan. Both of these characters put their mind and body on the line all in hopes of exploring difficult terrain.

Rob Hall the leader and hero of Jon’s “Into Thin Air” who passed away on Mount Everest in 1996

Speaking of Jon Krakauer, his journey to the top of Mount Everest is very similar to that of Rob Hall, the hero of the novel “Into Thin Air”. Both of these mountain climbers have a lot of experience in conquering the bluff however, Rob has many more years of high elevation experience. It was because of his experience and guidance that allowed 3/8 of his clients to reach the summit including Jon who expressed his gratitude “Rob Hall appeared…. I thanked him for getting me to the top of Everest” (Krakauer 186). However, how their paths differ is the method they use to get off the mountain as a snow storm is right on top of them. Jon was able to maneuver through the storm and reach base camp four while “nineteen men and women were stranded up on the mountain by the storm” (Krakauer 195) one of the 19 being Rob Hall. Unfortunately, Rob did not make it and presumably perished on the South Summit. If the snow storms signs were heeded sooner, Jon and Robs journey would’ve been identical as both would be able to tell the tale of how they conquered the infamous Mount Everest.

After reading Jon Krakauer’s novel, I believe his writing style does not receive enough credit in terms of conveying the most information across to the reader. Continuously, Jon goes back in forth in time to provide valuable insight on certain characters background albeit can be confusing at times. I feel if Jon portrayed all the information about one character the moment they were introduced it would be more convenient and would reduce confusion. All in all, “Into Thin Air” is a great account of the tragedy that happed on Mount Everest in 1996.