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Shelby Talley
Mrs. Crichton
AP English Language, period 5
December 2, 2014
Krakauers Personal Writing Abilities
Both novels, Where Men Win Glory and Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer, capture their
readers undivided attention when adding emotions into a unique writing style. In order to appeal
to his readers, Krakauer adds a personal touch within his writing that enhances the emotion of a
chapter or an event; the anecdotes. From personal anecdotes of events from his own life to using
an individual characters personal anecdotes, he finds a way of using similar, yet contrasting,
sentence structure, diction, and objectivity within and surrounding each short personal story to
deepen his messages in the novels. His objective of one story to the other differs as he describes
in depth two completely different topics. Like his objectives, the personal anecdotes he
incorporates differentiate from each other as one of Krakauers books talks about himself and the
other covers the life of Patt Tillman. His diction and sentence structure support his specific
objective of each novel.
Within the novel, Where Men Win Glory, Jon Krakauer stresses Pat Tillmans life story
and personal opinions through specific sentence structure and diction within and surrounding the
person anecdotes of the character. As described by Jon Krakauer, Tillman, a reknowed NFL
Football player was seen as a complicated and complex hero as his life took an unexpected turn
after 9/11. Throughout the story, readers learn and assimilate facts about his life, as the personal
anecdotes indicate his true feelings and opinions of being apart of the NFL. Because Krakauer
involves so much of Tillmans early life, grasping what type of character Pat truly aspired to be,
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it was helpful in moving the story along. At a young age Pat found it advantageous to flaunt his
toughness, and when larger kids perturbed him, he would aggressively respond by instantly
going on the offensive(Krakauer, 3). Each personal reference to his early life helps the readers
better understand his involvement in the NFL and how it came about. In this novel, similar to
the the novel Into Thin Air, Krakauers ability to write with such elevated diction helps him
provide more elaborate explanations throughout the story. Unlike his diction, his sentence
structure hinders the flow or movement of the read as it imbeds confusion and can lead his
readers astray of the actual topic at hand. His sentences are either factual based on the political
history he and Tillman are invested in or short, simple simple sentences that can throw off the
long factual sentences. Though Krakauers sentence structure can hinder the flow of the story,
his objective throughout the whole novel, to create a persona of Tillman, a person who he utterly
glorifies and admires, is made apparent throughout the novel. Being in the NFL was not
significant to Pat; joining the war was. As Krakauer indicates specific personal input of Pat
Tillmans character, he clearly illustrates how appalled Tillman was of the historic 9/11 and how
many people were recorded dead that day. This provoked him to join the war; and through the
truth and controversy of his story a deep message of Tillmans bias opinion on the war and NFL
was inevitable to find.
Into Thin Air, a personal account of the Mt. Everest disaster, is developed as the author
personally illustrates and documents the happenings of this thrilling story . Unlike Where Men
Win Glory, this novel uses documentations of personal events to convey the objective. Through
Krakauers novel, he provides many cumulative sentences which suggest that he is very
passionate about writing every little detail because of the often occurrences in events. Like
Where Men Win Glory, he provides elevated diction around his anecdotes to create a more
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precise, elaborate understanding of his objective. Krakauer includes his personal anecdotes to
show character changes or consistent changes throughout the story which are relevant. These
anecdotes bring a sense of completion to the story; by bringing in personal account, it illustrates
the type of person he is and what contributed to what he accomplishes. In most of his cumulative
sentences he says something to state a point or personal opinion and then adds a colon added by
a description. He is valid when it comes to making assumptions or points within his novels and
backing them up with valid reasons. Like its title Jon Krakauer takes his readers with him
through his journey into thin air. Ascending into the sky the climbers were going to keep
climbing as long as they were still able to breathe(Krakauer 171). This sentence structure is
easy to get captured by and envision the imagery it provokes. Both his diction and sentence
structure surrounding his informative anecdotes invites his readers to join him in experiencing a
thrilling, breathtaking adventure.
There are many contrasting and similar factors of Jon Krakauers writing style in both of
his novels. His diction can hinder a reader who wants a simple plot journey, but his elavated
writing is a deep message. As both of his novels describe in depth life altering decisions made by
himself personally in Into Thin Air and his character Pat Tillman in Where Men Win Glory, the
individuals paths are to achieve their ultimate purpose in life. There are different objectives
made apparent though Krakauers books, one being to describe an individuals life changed and
affected by the traumatizing facts of 9/11 and another being to illustrate a personal life tested by
death throughout a terrifying adventure. One story to the other differs as he describes two
completely different life adventures, but all in all his personal anecdotes from both himself and
his character bring his story to life and their purpose clearly apparent.