Into Thin Air - Style

As a journalist by career, Jon Krakauer chooses to narrate his book as objectively as possible and thus far he has stayed true to this claim. He organizes his experiences chronologically as to capture every detail, even a minor headache someone felt is included, and also to preclude any added feelings or emotions he felt after the expedition but not while he was actually there. His organization helps facilitate his overall objectiveness in the book.

Krakauer's diction can be described as keeping a formal tone throughout, though sometimes when telling an anecdote adapting a slightly informal tone. His diction is most definitely concrete and denotative; he states the facts pretty straightforward excluding the occasional foreshadowing. For the most part his language is quite scholarly, he uses an elevated vocabulary and sometimes includes mountaineering jargon that the reader might or might not know. Krakauer can be seen as someone who has studied language and communicating their life through his choice of words.

The syntax in this book, while complex, is not too much so that it is hard to read. The sentences flow nicely and are pretty easy to read. Most of the sentences are long and involved or of medium length. Also declarative sentences are most used. Krakauer tends to favor split and inverse sentences as a way of mixing things up as he includes quite a few. His sentence structure is pretty straightforward throughout the book.

Krakauer as a journalist does not embellish his writing all that much, except of course, with elevated vocabulary. Other than the occasional foreshadowing, not much figurative language or rhetoric is used. One thing used in abundance is imagery. Krakauer wants to communicate every single detail in the expedition to the reader and to do this he uses a lot of imagery to describe the settings of the base camps and Mount Everest itself.

All these components lead up to a style that is erudite and sometimes esoteric with the jargon and vocabulary he uses. It is unadorned and informative, as well as detached. This most likely stems from his journalism background. This style definitely helps fulfill his purpose of describing the expedition in every detail and as well as staying objective. This style contributes to a book that can sometimes be a little difficult to read if you aren't as completely enthralled with mountaineering as Krakauer is but overall is pretty enjoyable.