Lizzie Gilmartin September 22, 2017
Green Summer Reading
The Effects of Selfishness in Peak
“What?” Sun-Jo was appalled at the fact that Peak had decided not to conquer the summit of Mount Everest. How could he give up such a glorifying moment? Peak would have been the youngest boy to ever reach the summit, however, he realized he didn’t want the fame. Sun-Jo was only a few days older than him, and if Sun-Jo reached the summit and Peak did not, he would be the youngest person to summit Everest. Also, Sun-Jo’s family was living on the other side of the mountain and he needed to get to the other side so that he could reconnect with his family. Since Peak avoided his mother’s advice to think of himself and only himself, he did not make it to the top. Many other characters, unlike Peak, were selfish and although it helped some, others were less fortunate.
Josh, Peak’s father, was the most selfish of all. Peak and Josh never had much of a connection. Josh had always been focused on his business, Peak Experience, until he had a window of opportunity. Peak’s arrest was the perfect time for him to promote his company. Josh’s plan was to have Peak summit Everest and break the world record as the youngest person to ever reach the peak of Mount Everest.
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He was the sherpa that led Peak, Sun-Jo, and Holly up the summit. Although Zopa seemed straightforward, he could be an enigma at times. Zopa never did anything without multiple reasons, but most of the time, those reasons were not evident. For example, it seemed like Zopa was helping Josh because they were good friends. It seemed like he wanted Sun-Jo to see what working as a sherpa was like for his father too. Later in the climax, it became obvious that Zopa had a plan, and he was motivated to make it work. His selfishness allowed Sun-Jo to summit Everest and descend down the other side into freedom. So although he had his own ideas, his intentions had always been
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
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.
One part where the author really gets to this idea is, “I didn’t even have time to think about what I was going to do next, which was just as well. I started scrambling sideways across the wall toward the gear, rope, thirty feet away. Zopa continued to shout encouragement to Sun-Jo. He was climbing the wall as fast as he could, but he had to know that no matter how fast he went, it wouldn’t be enough to save his grandson. When I reach the rope I gave it a tug. It seemed solid enough”. This is significant because, Peak could of passed the opportunity and let his friend die but he wanted to be a hero.“ Mr. Wood, how much time have you spent with your son
Everest in 1996. This became the deadliest expedition to ever climb with 15 people losing their lives. Krakauer explains his intrinsic motivations to accept this challenge and many of the mistakes that helped lead to the disasters of that day. 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. All of the clients have difficulty adjusting to the altitude, tiring easily, losing weight and moving slowly. The climbers' experience in mountain climbing and at high altitudes varies some of them are quite qualified, others very inexperienced and highly reliant on the
As promised, his father took him to Mount Everest. As a result, Peak is given the opportunity to bury his past and emerge as an innocent boy. Though, when his father revealed why they were in South Asia, Peak embraced his father’s decision by wanting to climb Mount Everest, no matter what the cost. This lead one to believe that he was intrigued by this new opportunity. Peak’s journey was not easy and he faced opposition from his father’s group who did not want Peak to be first at the top of Everest. As a result, Peak’s selfishness had grown by him being kicked out of the group, as it states in the text, “This was when I realized Sun-Jo wasn’t with us. I was so mad he didn’t also get booted out of camp.” (Smith page 194). However, it was all just a hoax to please the entire group, which resulted in Peak and Sun-Jo trying to reach the summit
While Peak and his group are climbing a steep icewall, one of the climber’s ice axe broke. Peak decides to climb down and help the fellow climber. This act could have killed Peak, yet he would risk his own life for a friend. “Got him! I shouted down to Zopa”(202). This quote reveals that Peak saved his fellow climbers life. Also, when Peak is less than 10 feet away from the summit of Everest he lets Sun-Jo reach the top. Even though Sun-Jo was having issues up the whole mountain and Peak saved his life. Peak and Sun-Jo are both 14. They both would be the youngest to make it to the Summit of Everest. Sun-Jo is poor and all Sun-Jo wants to do is go to school. Peak lets Sun-Jo reach the summit and get all the money and fame. “I don’t have a reason for being here. I’m heading back down the north side”(230). This quote shows Peak is letting Sun-Jo to the summit, and Peak just climbs down the mountain, not even reaching the summit after Sun-Jo. Too often in life, criminals do not change to kind people but, Peak’s actions show readers that 1 little thing can fix up someone's
Throughout the novel, the protagonist encounters many difficulties when trying to reach his goal of climbing Mount Everest. He encounters problems, from illnesses to deaths but most affectively the catastrophic weather. When Krakauer’s 5 friends die, including Rob Hall, Krakauer takes responsibility of the other climbers and helps them get through the tough weather safely. When they arrived to the base camps, many of the climbers gave up but Krakauer kept trying, he was motivated by Halls death to reach the top of Mount Everest. Krakauer finds ways to get around
Both A “Brave New World” and events from our own world disprove the statement that individuality is seen as a threat to a harmonious society. In the book Huxley introduces the characters Bernard, Helmholtz, and John as outsiders. They do not fit into the societies that they are a part of which threatens the system Mustafa Mond and the other world leaders have instilled into the society. The accusation above is flawed and incorrect. Individuality was seen as a threat to a harmonious society however it is not a threat. It is important for civilization to keep moving forward.
With the development of modern society, many people say that the society has become miserable, and people only care their own profit. The self-interest is becoming the object of attacking. Thereupon, when we mention self- interest, people always mix up the concept of self-interest with selfishness. As we all known, the idea of selfishness is, “Abusing others, exploiting others, using others for their own advantage – doing something to others.” (Hospers, 59) Selfish people have no ethics, morals and standards when they do anything. At the same time, what is self – interest? Self- interest can be defined as egoism, which means a person is, “looking out for your own welfare.” (Hospers, 39) The welfare people talk about is nothing more than
Selfishness is evident in “Barn Burning” by William Faulkner and “Hills Like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemingway. Both stories have a character that only thinks of their own interests. It does not matter what those around them think and feel. This selfishness causes each character to control those around them, the American in “Hills Like White Elephants” does so more subtly and Abner in “Barn Burning” is very abrupt and obvious. How the affected character reacts to the selfish individual is also in contrast between the two stories.
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 of holding responsible 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 back down to base camp alive, Krakauer theorizes why that was so. He attributes most of the reason for the disaster to the erratic weather, along with hubris, who wanted 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 contributed to the disaster.
The obstacles Peak faces are serving a sentence, betrayal, climbing Mount Everest, and people who are helping him for their own purposes like his father. Peak has to overcome the obstacle of serving his sentence for climbing a skyscraper. The sentence was something along the lines of he ...
My last trip to the summit was a journey filled with danger and hardships. The group of people that I was to lead up Everest included Doug Hansen, Sandy Pittman, Jon Krakauer, and Beck Weathers. Doug Hansen had attempted the summit on a guided expedition by me a year earlier, but we had to turn back. All and all the beginning of this trip was similar to many of my other commercial expeditions. We started at Kathmandu and worked our way to Phakding, where I picked up my crew of Sherpas. The Sherpas are very important to our expedition, so I told the team to appreciate their hard work. We then continued to climb until we stopped at Lobuje. This overcrowded village was disgusting and caused many of my clients to become ill....
The behavior of altruism in an individual is when it brings more costs than benefits for the benefit of another individual. Altruism comes from the Latin word "Alter" which means "the others." This translation of alturism describes it relatively well. Another great definition of altruism can be found in a statement of Edward Osborne Wilson, an American biologist. According to Wilson, "Altruism is defined in biology, as in everyday life, as a self-destructive
...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.