Study Questions and Suggested Essay Topics
Study Questions
What happened on the mountain to trigger the disastrous events?
What is the significance of the Sherpa's belief in Sagarmatha, the goddess of the sky?
What are some of the challenges Krakauer faced when writing a narrative about the 1996 expedition?
Suggested Essay Topics
How inevitable is disaster in an expedition like the one Krakauer joined in 1996? What steps could be taken to make such expeditions safer?
Why are the surviving members of the 1996 expedition met with so much criticism and negative press?
In what ways to predominantly good characteristics become deadly during the course of the narrative?
Is Krakauer's survival guilt purely a product of him surviving, or a reflection of personal responsibility in the tragedy that occurred?
What is the significance of the fact that more guides than clients were lost on the mountain during the expedition?
