Into Thin Air- Chapters 8 & 9

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            In chapters 8 and 9 of Into Thin Air, I decided to focus my attention on the culture of the Sherpas. The definition of Sherpa is “a member of the Himalayan people living in Nepal and Tibet who are famous for their skill as mountaineers.” On page 108, we are introduced to Ang Dorje, the well-respected sirdar (head Sherpa) of the Adventure Consultants expedition. Krakauer says that Rob Hall “considered Ang Dorje’s role crucial to the success of our expedition” (110).

            Krakauer makes it very clear that the Sherpas play a very important role in climbing Mount Everest, but it seems like they are not always treated so. Hall makes a comment about Fischer’s consideration for Ngawang’s illness in which he says, “If it had been one of Scott’s clients who was this sick, instead of a Sherpa, I don’t think he would have been treated so haphazardly” (117). Not only did Fischer not make a great effort to save his life, but Ngawang himself resisted treatment.

            Ngawang’s refusal to accept his own dire situation was interesting to me, but it is just the way of the Sherpa culture. Krakauer explains this by saying, “But there is an element of machismo in the Sherpa culture that makes many men extremely reluctant to acknowledge physical infirmities. Sherpas aren’t supposed to get altitude illness…Those who do become sick and openly acknowledge it, moreover, will often be blacklisted from future employment on expeditions” (113). What do you guys think? Are the Sherpas willing to risk their lives because it is part of their culture? Or is it that moreover they feel pressure to secure their jobs with Western society?

-Amanda

Into Thin Air Chapters 6 and 7

Like Shane talked about in the last post, neither race, ethnicity, and religion are common themes or issues throughout this text. But in trying to relate big overarching themes of some of these categories, what Krakeaur and his team led by Rob Hall, experiences in their excursion fall into them. One of the themes that relates with religion along with something that was an issue when they prepare to climb the mountain is faith. Faith is probably one of the most important things to posses when one is going to experience an extreme feat, and during chapter 6, Krakeaur seems to have been lacking faith. He is climbing with people who he is unfamiliar with, and when he sees that some of the climbers put on new and unused boots in begining to climb it he loses a lot of faith as well, and before the reader even gets to the part where everything goes bad, the lack of faith he has plays a huge foreshadow of things to come. Faith is one of the key aspects of religion, if one has faith in a religion, it means that it is their guide in life, if one doesn't have faith, then it has no role in their life. Faith is not something that one can just create, it is what they truely believe. The lack of faith that was seen by Krakeaur may not have been the exact reason why their trek went "into thin air", but it certainly played a role in it and also in the development of the book, it shows a grim foreshadow of things to come. 

Nick

Into Thin Air: Free Climbing

Free Climbing

         After reading Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer I knew that my blog post was probably not going to have anything to do with race, ethnicity, or religion. While I am sure that there is a way that you could twist the story and relate it to some sort of religious views, I decided to take Professor Heaney's idea and just post about something in the reading. With that being said I decided to do my post about free climbing. Free climbing is is a type of rock climbing in which the climber uses only hands, feet and other parts of the body to ascend. I remember watching a 60 minutes on free climbing and it has always been something that has interested me ever since.

      Solo climbing is not the same as free climbing because you can solo climb with safety gear while free climbing is generally done with nothing but hands and feet. I say generally because some people implement ropes in their climb in case they fall, but I'm willing to bet that that is considered cheating in the free climbing community. It has to be one of the most physically challenging feats in the world. While im sure they take the time to plan out their routes up to the top there is no way it could ever be classified as "easy", except for maybe the people who do it. I watched one video with Alex Honnold in Yosemite where he solo free climbs the Regular NW face of Half-Dome. It is incredible to think that he made this climb of over 2000 feet in under 3 hours with no safety gear or anything. After watching all these videos I heard something in one of them that really makes you understand why they do this. One free climber named Dan Osman would always be asked by reporters if he had a death wish; his response was simply "No I have a life wish". In the book Jon was a climber but he was not a free climber. I can say that he connects with the people in a way that shows that he lives for that feeling of freedom. While he does not dedicate his life to being an accomplished climber it seems that he lives for that feeling he gets while he is climbing. After hearing that It makes me realize that these people who many would consider maniacs for what they do are nothing more than a person who is looking for those moments in life that take their breathe away, and this is how they accomplish that.

- Shane Wilson

Reminder to Professor Heaney-

Just a reminder that we had a week off from blogging, which included "The Yellow Wallpaper". Thanks!

Grizzly Man

Werner Herzog’s, Grizzly Man, is a documentary about Timothy Treadwell, an eccentric individual who became famous and controversial for his annual trips to Alaska where he interacted with the wildlife; Grizzly Bears in particular. The film analyzes Treadwell’s character along with his struggle to understand life. A very apparent part of his struggle relates with one of our topics, religion.

Treadwell’s biggest struggle dealt with his misunderstanding of why the world is the way it is. He had problems with human civilization and felt there was an unfair balance in the circle of life. His comfort in the wild was a result of his discomfort with society. “I'm in love with my animal friends! In love with my animal friends. I'm very, very troubled. It's very emotional. It's probably not cool even looking like this. I'm so in love with them, and they're so f-ed over, which so sucks.” This quote shows how he couldn’t understand why humans were this way, or even why the world was this way, “f-ing over” the animals. In one part, there is a draught that is affecting the wildlife, and Treadwell looks to a higher power for help. “I want rain. I want, if there's a God, to kick some ass down here. Let's have some water! Jesus boy! Let's have some water! Christ man or Allah or Hindu floaty thing! Let's have some fucking water for these animals!” In this quote he reveals his struggle to find answers. He doesn’t appear to actually believe in any god. This is most likely the result from his belief that no god would allow the world to be this way. Eventually, it does rain and Treadwell reacts. “I am the Lord's humble servant. I am Allah's disciple. I am the Floaty Thing's go-for boy. There has been a miracle here. There has been an absolute miracle. It has rained 1.65 inches of rain today!” Treadwell’s sarcastic tone again hints that he is unsure of what to believe. His feelings about the human world influence his thoughts about a higher power. His struggle to live in this world makes him skeptical that there is a god “looking over” the world. I think this shows the way a person’s religious beliefs are greatly influenced by the life that they live.  

-Jordan

"The Fall of the House of Usher"

             “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe is a gothic story that deals with the issue of mortality. Essentially, the plot involves a woman who dies, is buried, and then rises from her grave. It’s unclear whether or not the woman actually dies. At the end of the story Usher yells, “We have put her living in the tomb!” (324). While this certainly does not appear to me as a religious story, the similarity between the woman rising after death and Jesus rising from the dead is certainly there. She may just be a zombie, but I was interested in the religion of Edgar Allen Poe and how it may influence his stories, because I think that the manner in which authors write about death must be greatly influenced by their religion.

            I found a website that discusses Edgar Allen Poe’s connection to religion. http://www.eapoe.org/geninfo/poerelig.htm It is somewhat unclear what his views were, but the author concludes by saying, “The most realistic view is that Poe’s religious inclinations changed greatly back and forth during his lifetime, but were never seriously abandoned.” He certainly had some ties to Christianity, which may or may not have surpassed his childhood. However, Dr. John Moran testified that Poe’s last words were “Lord, help my poor soul.”

            What do you guys think? Was this story related in some way to religion, or was Poe simply an atheist writing a dark story

-Amanda

Bartleby, the Scrivner

Bartleby, the Scrivener, written by the very famous and popular Herman Melville, is basically in short about a lawyer hiring a couple scriveners, or someone who copies documents, but mainly revolves around one named Bartleby. Bartleby comes off as one of the most productive scriveners, but as the reader sees, Bartleby is an odd character. The lawyer will ask him a simple task or even a simple personal question and a common reply from Bartlby would be "I would prefer not to." I believe this can be compared to issues surrounding religion. Religion is a preference and something anyone can choose, choose to not do, choose to listen about, choose to read about, choose basically anything around it. And Bartleby chooses not to comply with his boss even by doing any sort of task. He is polite about his refusal, but it is still stubborn nontheless. I think this has to do with religion in that Bartleby is given a choice to follow some set of rules given to him by his boss, and chooses not to. And it ties into religion where an individual who is religious does choose to abide by the rules set forth, but these rules come from the higher power that is different given the religion. But at the end, they are both matters of choice; one can choose to follow the rules given to them by a boss or authoritive figure or not, and one can choose to be religious and follow the rules of their religion or they can choose not to be religious and not follow any sort of rules surrounding religion.


Nick Riselli

What is "Real"?

       Real

  As I read the essay They All Just Went Away  by Joyce Carol Oates (http://www.usfca.edu/jco/) , I scanned the text over and over looking for a message that could relate to our blog and the topics we have chosen to cover. The piece by Oates was one that could be interpreted in many different views, but in essence I believe that is what separates a good author from a great one. On page 158 of our reading packet and 555 of Oates essay there was a line that caught my eye. " But the 'real' -- what assaults the eye before the eye begins its work of selection -- is never on the verge of dissolution, still less of appropriation". This line stood out to me because it can be applied to more than what she references in the text.
          My first connection that came to mind was with the word real in that sentence. This idea of "real" has been debated by many different religions and cultures since there has been different views on something. For example, today there are many people who do not believe in Christianity. These people dont believe that what they are being told has actually happened or is even real. That being said the people who follow Christianity more than likely don't believe in what the skeptical person has for their religious views. Oates goes on to say, " The real is arbitrary" (555). http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/arbitrary . I have linked the definition of the word arbitrary because I feel that what Oates has said strongly backs up my view point. Arbitrary is depending on individual discretion (as of a judge) and not fixed by law, and that is why religion is one of the things that can be so heavily disputed. There is no fixed law saying that one must follow a certain religion and most religions were concepts that we thought up by people of power to widen their following.
         In sum this idea of "Real" that Oates talks about in her piece is quite a debated subject. She clearly shows her view point on how she feels about it in her story but the beauty of English is being able to interpret things in your own views and decide for yourself what is real and what is not.

-- Shane Wilson

On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City

On the Amtrak from Boston to New York City, by Sherman Alexie, has a great look into race and ethnicity. This is an interesting poem, because it provides a new outlook on our country as it is today, from a Native American.

                The tone of this poem is very negative and angry. It is from the point of view of the author, who is from an Indian tribe out west, who is riding the train on the east coast. He has conversations with other passengers, including an older white woman who gives him a brief history of the city as they pass landmarks. From the very beginning of the poem, the author refers to this woman by the color of her skin. Her comment about the age of some buildings frustrates him, because he knows his people have architecture “15000 years older than the corners of the house that sits museumed on the hill” (57). She tells him about Walden Pond, which bothers him even more. At this point he begins to get angry in the poem and expresses the way he feels about other races. He reveals his anger in the quote, “I don’t give a shit about Walden” (57). He also reveals that he thinks whites are the problem of the country. When he talks about hearing how Don Henley saved Walden, he says, “If Don Henley’s brothers and sisters and mothers and father hadn’t come here in the first place then nothing would need to be saved” (57). Sherman Alexie appears to wish other races would leave his country.  He refers to all other races as, “the enemy” (58) and believes his biggest challenge every day is simply dealing with “the enemy.” The explanation for these harsh feelings has to be due to all that happened to the Native Americans in the past, and the way Alexie believes his people were treated. What do you guys think?

-Jordan