Biographical Narrative based on the video 8216Fatal Game8217
Arising lethargic and groggy after their sleepless night at camp six, Mark Whetu and Mike Rheinberger were slow to dress, melt ice, and get out of the tent at three o’clock in the morning. They should have left at one at the latest but the wind was too gusty. Unfortunately, by the time they loaded their backpacks, strapped on their crampons and were ready to leave, it was three thirty. Mark, an experienced climber knew they wouldn’t summit before one p.m. but he had only been hired as a guide for Rheinberger, who, after seven tries at Mount Everest had still not been able to summit. For Rheinberger, descent was totally unacceptable. Too much labour, too many sleepless nights, and too many dreams had been invested to not summit. He couldn’t come back for another try next weekend. To go down now, would have raised one big question: what might have been?
Mark was in front of Rheinberger and was growing impatient with his dismal pace. Ahead of them Mark spotted another team, returning unsuccessful from their summit attempt. As the other team passed, they chatted a little. It wasn’t until then that Mark realised how late it was. Twelve thirty. They were more than four hours from the summit, if they hurried. Rheinberger was not quitting now. Mark decided not to argue and the duo continued their ascent.
At five thirty, when the light was slowly fading, they were so close to the summit. Rheinberger was quickening his pace now as he knew victory was in his grasp. At six o’clock, Rheinberger had finally accomplished what he been previously unable to do for the last ten years. But even in this moment of triumph, he was weakening with every oxygen-deprived breath. Down to one knee, watching the sun disappear, he looked like this was what he was sent to earth to do. Alarm soon hit them both, as when they were only meters from the top the light disappeared altogether. “We’ll bevy.” Suggested Rheinberger. “It’s the only thing we can do.” ‘Unfortunately he was right.’ Thought Mark. And so, they bedded down for the night in the death zone. A height where the body is dying – starved, from life giving oxygen.
In the memoir Within Reach: My Everest Story by Mark Pfetzer and Jack Galvin, the author Mark Pfetzer is faced with an extremely amazing yet scary challenge of climbing Mount Everest. Each event is the story has something to do with the nature that is around them at that moment but Pfetzer shows the readers that nature can be a way of life.
The novel "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer, he writes about an experience that changes his life when Outside magazine asks him to write an article about the commercialism of Mount Everest, he knew from that moment that he needed to climb the mountain. But of course his expedition does not go as expected. On May 10th Krakauer reaches the summit after a extremely stressful and treacherous trek up, but only to have to scale down the mountain with his team in one of the most dangerous seasons in the history of Everest. Many things went wrong when they came down the mountain and throughout this book, Jon attempts to evaluate what exactly happened and how things went wrong. He researches and figures out every person actions on that mountain. He has speculations about the failures of the expedition, and blames the catastrophe due to a series of little
In the short story “The Most Dangerous Game”, there are two main characters, Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff. The story starts off with Rainsford and Rainsford’s hunting partner, Whitney, on a yacht heading to Rio de Janiero to hunt big game animals. Rainsford ends up becoming trapped on Ship-Trap Island, and that is where he and the reader are introduced to General Zaroff. Unfortunately for Rainsford, General Zaroff is not your normal General. General Zaroff and Rainsford are similar and different in many ways, and even though Rainsford believes that Zaroff is a sick individual, at the end of the story he becomes more like Zaroff than he realizes.
Imagine feeling guilty for making it out alive on a journey. In the nonfiction novel, Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, he documents his journey to the summits of Mount Everest and ultimately accuses himself for holding acquisitiveness responsibility for the disaster on the mountain. After realizing only one-fourth of the people that climbed to the summits on May 10, 1996, made it down back to base camp alive, Krakauer theorizes about why that was so. He attributes most of the reason for the disaster to the erratic weather along with hubris, he wanted for the thought of leading a group to the mountain. Despite those reasons, there is no ultimate reason for the deaths documented in the book, but bottom line the climbers that died didn’t thoroughly comprehend the danger they were going to encounter as a consequence that contributes to the disaster.
Krakauer attempts to figure out exactly what went wrong and what happened to whom. He does extensive research and painstakingly traces the actions of every climber on the mountain. He theorizes about the breakdowns of the expedition, and attributes the disaster to a series of small mistakes. He includes himself, and explicitly blames himself for at least one person's death. The experience affects him profoundly, and in addition to telling the story, the book focuses on how Krakauer is forever changed as a result of what happened. Krakauer has a multi-faceted role in this book. First and foremost, he is a character, the narrator of the story he tells. Secondly, he is the author of this book. Third, he is a mountain climber.
Everest is an unbelievable mountain that has taken the lives of a number of the greatest climbers in history. It was my job to ensure that clients make it up that treacherous mountain safely. My name is Rob Hall. I was the main guide and cofounder of a climbing company called Adventure Consultants. My friend, Gary Ball, and I used to be professional climbers. Together we succeeded in climbing to the highest summit on each of the seven continents in seven months. This was our greatest achievement. After this, we decided to start our own company guiding clients up large mountains. In May 1992, we successfully led six clients to the summit of Everest. Unfortunately, Gary died of cerebral edema in October 1993 during an attempt on the world’s sixth-tallest mountain. He died in my arms and the next day I buried him in a crevasse. Despite the pain that his death had caused me, I continued guiding for our company and eventually led thirty-nine climbers to the summit of Everest.
Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, proved the spring’ 96 expedition to Mountain Everest to be the most tragic in mountain history. I believe the storm, and a series of mistakes and the arrogance of human made the deadly result and which breakdowns of the expedition. Many of climbers died on Homologumena, including the very experienced guides Rob Hall and Scott Fischer. I truly believe the trip was not worth it, because they ended their life, and it was a pain losing their family. The unlimited desires of humans are horrible. Even thought, Rob and Scott had reached the top of Everest, they still wanted to challenge themselves as the water who drinks it will be thirsty again.
Considering the circumstances of the expedition, Jon Krakauer, the author, goes through significant character change. When contacted by Outside Magazine to write a story about Everest, Krakauer shows great enthusiasm toward the endeavor, saying yes “without even pausing to catch my breath” (26). When he reached the summit, Krakauer “just couldn’t summon the energy to care,” (5) showing his lost enthusiasm and eagerness to get off of Everest. At this point forward, Krakauer definitely changes. After going through many near-death experiences, watching nine die, and losing faith in everything, he turns into a “what-if” thinker, pondering all the possible outcomes and why the disaster happened in the first place. Krakauer “felt terrible for having survived while others had died,” (267) exemplifying his guilt toward the whole situation. He copes with his guilt in his hotel room by resorting to drugs; smoking a joint “down to nothing” (269) further epitomizing his emotions and proving the Everest expedition stuck with him and left him a changed man. (166 words)
While Hall was the better guide, both gentlemen held the respect of their peers for their individual climbing skills. Of the climbers on the mountains that day, they were considered the best. Yet despite their skills or their ability to guide, both succumbed to the tragedy on the mountain. Krakauer admired both Hall and Fischer for different reasons, yet he uses them as examples to show us that no matter how good, passionate, or skillful a person might be, the tragedy on the mountain was a cascade effect beyond human control.
When it comes to survival, one can prove that with determination, the middle and lower class can succeed and triumph over the high class. “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell, is about a hunter Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff on Ship Trap Island. Sanger Rainsford finds shelter on the island and is greeted by General Zaroff. He created a dangerous game which was to hunt humans and Sanger Rainsford was forced to play the game in exchange for his freedom. Frightened and sleep deprived, Sanger Rainsford tried to survive and was able to escape. In conclusion, middle class Sanger Rainsford was able to succeed and triumph over the powerful General Zaroff. Sanger Rainsford proved that with hard work and motivation, one can succeed. The
The next job was an early firefighter, whose only equipment was a man-powered helmet that had fresh air pumped into it by a contraption called a bellows from outside the building so that the wearer could breathe. The firefighter helmet was very heavy, bulky, and awkward and the wearer couldn’t see the ground due to the rectangular eye windows that didn’t allow sight below eye level. There were two more jobs that went along with the firefighter. One job was the Pumper, who stood outside and pumped on the bellows with their foot in order to pump air to the firefighter helmet. If they stopped pumping, then the firefighter would suffocate and die. The next job is the climber, who’s only equipment was a long ladder that...
Into Thin Air begins with author Jon Krakauer being hired to write for a magazine about the commercialism on Mount Everest. While researching, Krakauer’s curiosity and courage gets the best of him, and he decides to climb the mountain. After staying at the Base Camp for weeks, Krakauer and his group still have difficulty adjusting to the altitude and living conditions. Little do Krakauer and his teammates know, but the original adjustment to the mountain is going to be the least of their problems. During the journey up and down the mountain, the weather, altitude, physical exhaustion and climbing mistakes get the best of the group. In an effort to keep everyone safe, the climbers established a “turn around time” stating that any climber that
...to wherever they were and make sure they were treated. He also ignores his own disease and ill condition to insure the clients have a shot at the summit. This may be viewed as foolishness but this type of self-sacrifice is something rare and admirable. In conclusion, both men have a usual connection to climbing.
By 4 PM we had conquered most of the peaks. As we were climbing what we thought was our sixth peak, Big Red, a storm struck. It was a cold driving rain that froze us as we struggled up the mountain. We reached the top jubilant, but exhausted. As the crew tried to get a bearing I came to the slow realization that we were not on Big Red, but another peak. We had two peaks to climb, and in freezing rain! With no options, we hiked on.
Have you ever wondered if violent video games can cause aggression in children? Thousands of children all over the world engage in violent video games for a large amount of time during their day. According to ProCon.org 60% of middle school boys and 40% of middle school girls who played at least one Mature-rated (M-rated) game hit or beat up someone, compared with 39% of boys and 14% of girls who did not play M-rated games. I will be using naturalistic and case study research methods to determine if violent video games cause aggression in children.