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Krakauer is said to have an "ability to recreate its effects with a lucid and terrifying intimacy." (Krakauer, Student). Jon Krakauer is a noted writer among the young and mountain climbers. An American nonfiction writer and mountaineer best known for his works and the outdoors and mountain climbing (Krakauer, Student). The intention of this paper is to review his life by focusing on biographical information, his literary background, and a brief summary of his major works and critiques of those pieces.
"It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough it is your God-Given right to have it" (Krakauer, Eiger Dreams). His birth place was in Brookline, Massachusetts but moved to Corvallis, Oregon when his was two years old. He was an athletic child since he was young, was a "competitive tennis player at Corvallis High School"(Krakauer, Student) where he then graduated in 1972, who there after enrolled into Hampshire College and took up Environmental Science. It has seemed that Jon Krakauer has a busy life from rock climbing, mountain climbing, writing books, being an editor-at-large for Outside magazine yet he has had time for friends, family, and for death. Rob Hall of New Zealand and Scott Fisher of the United States knowing of Krakauer passion for rock climbing decided to recruit Jon, and a few others, to climb Mountain Everest. This gave Krakauer a chance to write an article for Outside magazine, without knowledge of such experienced mountain climbers to face death, but what made them face a bigger challenge was the "unpredictability of nature" (Krakauer, UXL). It seemed from the start of his life to where he is now that ...
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...ure is the key to life, the window to beauty, but sometimes the destruction of man yet it is used by man for richness, shelter, but Krakauer, he uses nature as a distract of the current inhuman world. His life is full of understanding of the world around him and the pain it can cause; he used this in his books, and has allowed others to see through his eyes what is inevitable to see by those who crave the real harsh world that people decline to acknowledge.
Works Cited
Krakauer, Jon. Eiger Dreams. New York: Lyons and Buford, 1990, Print.
Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: 1996, Print.
"Krakauer, Jon (1954-)." Student Resource Center. Detroit Gale, 2008. Student Resource Center - Gold. Web. 9 Mar. 2010
"Krakauer, Jon (1954-)." UXL Biographies. Online ed. Detroit: UXL, 2003. Student Resource Center - Gold. Web. 9 Mar. 2010
Bode, Carl. Emerson. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography Vol III. New York: McGraw-Hill Inc., 1973. 572-574.
Chapter 7: In chapter 7 Krakauer talks about how Everest has changed from a professionals trek to anyone's trek. He explains that many inexperienced people have climbed Mount Everest with the help of sherpas and guides. He also mentions about the determination of Everest and how in some instances in history people who weren't allowed into Tibet or Nepal but they snuck in and managed to climb and summit Everest
Krakauer also adored what nature had in store for his yearning for intriguing natural events. In is youth, he “devoted most of [his] waking hours to fantasizing about, and then undertaking, ascents of remote mounts in Alaska and Canada” (134). Shown by the time he spent dreaming, people can infer him as a person who deeply admires nature. At the age of eighteen, Ruess dreamed of living in the wilderness for the sake of fascination. He wandered to find events that could surprise him until his near death, in which he decided to find the more ...
characters. This is most likely since Krakauer was living Everest first hand, as opposed to Capote who put himself into the environment years later, picking up details here and there instead of relying solely on memory and friends.
The epigraphs presented by Krakauer before each chapter of the memoir Into the Wild dive deep into the life of Chris McCandless before and after his journey into the Alaskan wilderness. They compare him to famous “coming of age characters” and specific ideas written by some of his favorite philosophers. These give the reader a stronger sense of who Chris was and why he made the decision to ultimately walk alone into the wild.
The most important part in writing a novel is to enable the audience to understand what is being communicated. Krakauer did so by clearly communicating his message to his audience. He wanted to share the story of McCandless, a young man who dreamt of conquering the wilderness alone. This conquest ultimately ended in failure and cast a feeling of sorrow upon his family and friends. With the exception of a slight difficulty to understand the story during certain chapters, Krakauer’s novel was full of thrill of emotion and life-lessons.
On the other hand, in great contrast to Harris’ perception of morality, there are the ascenders from the Japanese expedition. It is written in chapter 18, “Not wanting to jeopardize their ascent by stopping to assist him, the Japanese team continued climbing toward the summit”. Such line refers to the Japanese climbers’ refusal to assist the dying alpinists from Ladakh and their decision to instead, continue the summit ascent. Believing morality should be non-existent under the harsh mountain conditions, they express selfishness and care solely for themselves. Aside from these 2 cases of morality, Krakauer also questions the actions of Anatoli Boukreev, a guide on another team, a friendly business competitor of Krakauer’s party. In chapter 15, Krauaker writes, “......he moved very rapidly down the Southeast Ridge without waiting for any clients - despite telling Fischer atop the Step that he would be going down with Martin Adams”. Through this line, Boukreev actions are criticized and indirectly, deems him as an irresponsible guide. However, Boukreev defends himself saying that his rapid descent was good for the team as he could be ready to carry oxygen up if the clients run
The New Republic, Vol. 210. (1994): May, pp. 39-42. Wattenberg, Daniel.
Wiesel, Elie, and Marion Wiesel. Night. New York, NY: Hill and Wang, a Division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. Print.
Heinrichs, Jay. Thank You for Arguing. 1st ed. revised. Three Rivers Press: New York, New
Krakauer, Jon. Into the wild. New York: Anchor Books , a division of Random House Inc.,, 1997. Print.
Krakauer, Jon. The. The “Into the Wild”. New York: Anchor Books, 1996. Print.
In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer explores the human fascination with the purpose of life and nature. Krakauer documents the life and death of Chris McCandless, a young man that embarked on an Odyssey in the Alaskan wilderness. Like many people, McCandless believed that he could give his life meaning by pursuing a relationship with nature. He also believed that rejecting human relationships, abandoning his materialistic ways, and purchasing a book about wildlife would strengthen his relationship with nature. However, after spending several months enduring the extreme conditions of the Alaskan wilderness, McCandless’ beliefs begin to work against him. He then accepts that he needs humans, cannot escape materialism, and can never fully understand how nature functions. Most importantly, he realizes that human relationships are more valuable than infinite solitude. McCandless’ gradual change of heart demonstrates that exploring the wilderness is a transformative experience. Krakauer uses the life and death of Chris McCandless to convey that humans need to explore nature in order to discover the meaning of life.
6th ed. Ed. X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. New York: Harper Collins, 1995. 118-29.
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