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Symbolism In Into Thin Air

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“Once Everest was determined to be the highest summit on earth, it was only a matter of time before people decided that Everest needed to be climbed” (Krakauer 16). In the novel Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, Mt. Everest itself is a symbol for the journey to achievement. It symbolizes a man's passion and determination to achieve great things. The symbol works to provide evidence for Jon Krakauer's theme of human nature to pursue success and that if there is a challenge, men will take it. People naturally want to explore the unexplored and achieve great things, so when Everest was calculated to be the tallest mountain in the world in 1852 by India’s surveyor general, Sir Andrew Waugh, almost immediately, people wanted to climb it, “After …show more content…

Krakauer explains how following the discovery of Everest as the highest mountain in the world, the journey to the top would take the lives of 24 men, the efforts of 15 expeditions and the passage of 101 years before someone would finally reach the summit. This demonstrates how all though the expedition to the top was not easy, and would require the lives of many men, people would not stop trying because that is human nature. Not all people climb Mt. Everest in their lifetime, but most people, if not all, work hard to achieve something or be successful. Whether that success may be in their professional life, their personal life, or anything else, Mt. Everest can symbolize all of it. It symbolizes a journey to success and relates to the theme of humans natural drive and passion to pursue what they want. The many men that died on the journey to the summit of the mountain, and the many failed attempts to reach the top represent the failures people experience when trying to accomplish something, yet people still push on because, again, that is human nature. If there is uncharted territory, it’s only going to be a matter of time before someone feels compelled to explore it, no matter how hard or how deadly, and if there is something to achieve it’s only a matter of time before someone does it, no matter how many challenges to

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