Into Thin Air

Foreshadowing

The story begins with a flash forward of Jon on the summit

Imagery

"And then I found myself atop a slender wedge of ice, adorned with a discarded oxygen cylinder and a battered aluminum survey pole, with nowhere higher to climb. A string of Buddhist prayer flags snapped furiously in the wind. Far below, down a side of the mountain I had never laid eyes on, the dry Tibetan plateau stretched to the horizon as a boundless expanse of dun-colored earth." (Jon, 1997, pg. 180)

Bias

Into Thin Air is a first person account, so it is expected of Jon Krakauer to have wrote with some bias

Conflict

Man vs Nature

Tone

Ominous tone, the readers never feel a sense of safety

Heroes

Lt. Col. Madan

Saved two climbers by flying a helicopter above Camp Two

Anatoli Boukreev

Rescued a group of lost climbers all by himself

Lopsang Jangbu

Attempted to save Scott Fischer

Mike Groom

Rescued Beck Weathers by guiding him down the mountain

Mentor

Rob Hall

Guides to success

Antagonist

Mount Everest

Causes a lot of harm and distraught

Protagonist

Jon Krakauer

Narrator and main character of the story

Main goal is to reach the top of Mount Everest

Many bumps in the road like the climbers health deteriorating and the massive storm

Climbers begin going missing and getting lost

Many rescue attempts are made

Few people from Rob Hall's expedition make it back down

Mount Everest

Base Camp

Camp One

Camp Two

Camp Three

Camp Four

The Summit

The Sherpas

Assisted in the expeditions

Camps 1-4

The climbers adjusted to the altitude by climbing to each camp one at a time and then sleeping at each one before summit day.

Inexperience

Some climbers have never climbed a mountain before

Sandy Patterson

Experience

Some of them have climbed Everest more than once

Rob Hall

Andy Harris

Mike Groom

Doug Hansen

The Summit

Symbolizing completion

Base Camp

A safe haven

Oxygen

Symbol of survival

Ropes and knots

Loyalty and teamwork