Sunday, September 30, 2007

Reading Section 2: Into Thin Air

Loaded Words
(41-84)
Swampy- page #43- It is loaded because it has a very strong meaning. The author uses it to describe a climber's voice.

Trance- page #48- It's loaded because it is more hypnotic than just state. It is what Jon's feeling as he is traveling.

Wailed- page #54- It's loaded because it is a more depressing way of crying. The author uses it to describe what Kima Rita's mother is feeling after he has fallen to his death.

Ailment- page #57- It's loaded because it is a terrible sickness. The author uses it to show how some climbers felt after a weary trip up Everest.

Vacated- page #58- It's loaded because it has an emptier feeling than just empty. The author uses it when he is entering a tent that was vacated.

Mishaps- page #62- It's loaded because it is a more frightening word than just mistake. The author uses to describe a climber's close-to-death experiences.

Absent- page #65- It's loaded because it is an empty feeling of being gone. The author uses it to describe what a climber's life and family relationship are like.

Crooked- page #70- It's loaded because it has two meaning in it's context. His smile was physically crooked but also his expression was crooked as well. The author uses it to describe Hall's smile when Jon confesses his doubts.

Ingenuity- page #74- It's loaded because it doesn't just mean intelligence, it means his vast knowledge on the subject. The author uses it to show how much Hall really knew about climbing mountains.

Labyrinth- page #78- It's loaded because it is not just a place, it's a puzzling place. The author uses it to describe the Icefall Jon's team was climbing.

Summary

Jon's team begins their journey on Everest. They start to realize that this is gonna be a hard trip. Jon begins writing about guides and how good they can be. He writes about how both young and old guides can have troubles on Everest with specific examples. They continually struggle their way atop the mountain as some of them begin having doubts including Jon. They begin climbing an icetrap and they have difficulties climbing it.

Personal Reaction

The story is getting interesting and foreshadow is very clear in these pages. It appears that something bad is going to happen. At the beginning it was still setting up the story, but as it got farther the story begins. It seems that trust and confidence will be an issue for some people.

Reading Section 1: Into Thin Air

Summary
(1-41)

The story begins on the summit of Mount Everest. Jon Krakauer takes photographs of his team on the top of Everest as he recalls that they had found 6 dead bodies. His team begins their descent with very little oxygen. He waited as more climbers passed by him. Andy Harris, teammate, tried to turn off Krakauer's oxygen mask so Jon could save oxygen, but instead turns the valve the wrong way till he has no more oxygen in his mask. Begins talking about the history of Everest. Edward Norton was only 900 feet from the summit before collapsing and would have been the first to climb it. People are unsure if Mallory was the first to reach the summit. A British team began their journey in 1953. Hillary and Tenzing were the firsts to reach the summit in 1953. Hornbeing and Unsoeld, 2 Americans, reached the summit by the West Ridge. They were Jon's heroes, they made him want to climb Everest. Later on he describes how he lost interest in climbing it. In 1995, Krakauer was offered a story to write while being at the base camp. He turned down the offer and instead suggested to climb it a year later. About one year later, Jon arrived in Kathmandu from Bangkok to begin his trek. He meets Andy Harris, one of his guides, as they wait for another climber in the airport. Jon meets his guide to the summit of Everest, Rob Hall. He writes about Hall's experience as a climber and how he met his best close friend and fellow climber, Gary Ball. They both scaled the highest mountains in the seven continents in seven months. Hall later had two things that left him ashamed and sad after having a very successful trip to the summit of Everest. First, Sir Edmund Hillary criticized him for charging so much money to guide people on top of the mountain. Second, during a climb in 1993 his close friend, Ball, died in his arms. Jon Krakauer boards a helicopter that will lead him close by Everest. He introduces his team that he will be climbing with. He talks about his instant connection with Doug Hansen. Krakauer describes how important trust is for climbing. How one small thing can affect the whole team.

Journal

I think that these pages are very descriptive. I think Krakauer is trying to open the setting of the story and lead us to the actual story. In these pages, the reader meets lots of people that in some way are important to the memoir.
I like the story so far, he really has done a good job setting up the real action. He uses some foreshadow to indicate a little bit of what's to come.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

This I believe

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7572601

By Flaming Lips lead singer and guitarist, Wayne Coyne

Creating Our Own Happiness

His belief is that humans have extraordinary lives, humans do the real magic in this world.

He saw 2 people huddled together outside in the cold, and they were laughing when he was warm inside his car. He thought to himself that they dont really care that he's warm inside the car, they were happy outside.

Wayne was talking about how he used to work in Long John Silver's for 11 years. He didn't think he would like his job, but in about 2 weeks it allowed him to dream about what his life would become.

"Try to be happy within the context of the life we are actually living. Happiness is not a situation to be longed for or a convergence of lucky happenstance."