Sacrifice In Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air

Sacrifice is best known as giving something up in order to gain something else. Usually risking a life for another life. Jon Krakauer, author of Into Thin Air, has such a passion for mountain climbing expeditions and others that he was willing to leave his family behind to attempt Mt. Everest and also risk his life to save other fellow climbers, and contributes to a theme of being loyal to his climbing partners. Jon fell in deep in love with a woman whom he loved “fiercely (Krakauer 25)” and finally settled down at the age of 41. Krakauer states, “ My hunger to climb had been blunted, in short, by a bunch of small satisfactions that added up to something like happiness (Krakauer 25).” However, he still had some drive to climb more mountains. He left his family, sacrificing his relationship with his wife, to continue to be a part of mountain expeditions around the world.
When Andy Harris went missing, Jon described his time looking for him as a, “fruitless search for Harris… (Krakauer 247)”. Jon was in worse condition than Andy; he sacrificed his life to go look for Andy because he thought Andy was just as much worthy of living as him. Jon built a strong relationship with Andy and valued his life just as much as his. Jon was often first to melt the ice into water and get oxygen canisters for his team. He felt he was in good enough condition to complete these tasks and wanted other climbers to rest up and gain energy. Jon could have taken the easy way out and been selfish and want others to complete these tasks for him, instead he sacrificed for the team.
Jon’s passion of climbing the mountain and the actions he takes on the mountain tells what is important to him. Leaving behind his core value in family, the sacrifices that Jon Krakauer makes throughout the story shows where his values lay and demonstrates the theme of