Archetypal Theory:

May 10th, 1996 Everest Climb

Jon Krakauer's novel discusses the intense climb of Mt. Everest that occurred May 10th, 1996. A quick summary of what has taken place so far in the novel is that Rob Hall's group has departed for the summit. After weeks of training the body to adapt to the high altitude of the mountain, Hall decided that the group would climb to the peak of Mt. Everest on May 10th. On the way up, there were complications and it took longer than planned. The storm has caught majority of climbers in the highest and most difficult parts of the mountain. 

Into Thin Air follows the storyline of the archetypal quest. A typical quest follows the five stages which are the call, the journey, arrival and frustration, the final ordeals, and the goal. Into thin air goes through similar stages with the call taking place earlier in the novel. Krakauer and his group answer the call to climb Everest

and prepare for the weeks of work. Following the call comes the journey which is like it sounds. The climbers start the journey up the mountain towards the base camp then camp two, three, four and finally the summit. The journey contained many challenges like HAPE (an illness from high altitude), conflicts, glaciers falling, and irrational decisions. The arrival and frustration occurred when leaving camp four and heading to the peak of the mountain. The Sherpas (group guides/workers) disobeyed the rules and never set up the safety ropes. This caused the group to be held up and caused them to get caught in the storm. The final ordeal is just about to take place but will not be included until the final part of the novel. This will be the group having to fight through the storm and survive. The goal will be the one stage that is different from the average quest; two men decided to give up on their climb for Everest before the storm hit and made it down safely. When Krakauer describes their decisions, he says, "they were among the few who made the right choice that day" (Krakauer, pg 186). This give the reader the idea that "the goal" will be more to survive than to reach the top of th
e mountain. 

Taiwanese group on Everest

In terms of archetypal symbols, there are three of them that are used in the novel. The first one is the outcast, which is a person or group that is different from the rest. The Taiwanese group consisted of thirteen members who followed their own rules. When it came to choose summiting days, the Taiwanese promised to avoid May 10th since three groups would cause crowding (Krakauer, pg 147). The group went against their promise and summited that day, then lied by saying they never made any promise (Krakauer, pg 147). 

The second symbol was the scapegoat; this symbol represents someone who is blamed for mistakes.  The Sherpas are often blamed for mistakes made on the mountain. When it came time to put the rope on the mountain, the job was split between every group, but the Sherpas were blamed for the Taiwanese and South African mistakes (Krakauer, pg 130). The leaders for the two groups blamed their Sherpas for not taking the initiative to do the job (Krakauer, pg 130). Another example was when a Sherpa helped carry a reporter to the summit of the mountain. He was exerting double the energy as he should have been but was blamed since, “He lost sight of what he was supposed to be doing up there, what the priorities were” (Krakauer, pg 177).



The final symbol was the hero who helps to save and guide everyone to safety. Rob Hall was the leader for Krakauer’s group and took on the role as the hero throughout the novel. The leader makes the decisions which will likely keep the group alive, so before the climb to the summit he sat the team down making sure they followed all his orders with no complaints (Krakauer, pg 174). By making these calls, he was trying to prevent anyone from getting hurt.

Rob Hall Interview Link

For the final section of the novel, I believe Rob Hall and Jon Krakauer will be the heroes of the story. While Krakauer made it safely out of the storm, his team is stuck inside of it. I believe he goes back up the mountain to try and save everyone in danger. Rob Hall is already stuck on the mountain, so being the leader he will likely put their lives above his own. From the description of the storm, saving people will be difficult and many people will likely die.


With the last part of the novel to come, survival is the top priority for those climbing the mountain. The archetypal hero will be a crucial part for the climax as well as the “goal”. With many emotional moments to come, we will see what happens to the mountain climbers.

Works Cited

Krakauer, Jon. Into Thin Air. New York, Villard Books, 1997. Print.