Blogpost #2 Into Thin Air

One literary device the author used very well would be imagery. Jon Krakauer has tendency to describe things with a lot of good, imaginable details. He uses imagery to help you to better understand the setting of the book at that certain period of time and his use of imagery, in my opinion, is a great help. The imagery also helps you to understand his current state of mind and body while he is on top of the mountain, a place where not many people have been. For example:

#1-"In mid afternoon we reached a bizarre procession of free standing ice pinnacles, the largest nearly 100 feet high, known as Phantom Alley. Sculpted by the intense solar ray, plowing a radioactive shade of turquoise, the towers reared like giant shark's teeth out of the surrounding rubble as far as they eye could see...A couple miles farther, the glacier made a sharp turn to the east,we plodded to the crest of along slope , and spread before us was a motley city of nylon domes. More than three hundred tents, housing many climbers and Sherpas from fourteen expeditions, speckled the boulder-strewn ice..."Chapter 5, page 63

#2-"Our mess tent , a cavernous canvas structure , was furnished with an enormous stone table, a stereo system, a library, and solar-powered electric lights; an adjacent communications test housed a satellite phone and fax. A shower had been improvised from a rubber hose and a bucket filled with water heated by the kitchen staff..."Chapter 5, page 64

#3-"Despite the many trappings of civilization at Base Camp, there was no forgetting that we were more than three miles above sea level Walking to the mess tent at mealtime left me wheezing for several minutes. If I sat up too quickly, my head reeled and vertigo set in...Sleep became elusive, a common symptom of minor altitude illness...Cuts and scraps refuse to heal. My appetite vanished and my digestive system...failed to make much use of what I forced myself to eat..." Chapter 5, page 72

I would use imagery with my writing in probably the same way that the author did in his. To describe the way I or my characters would be feeling in different circumstances and the places that I or my characters would be in at certain time. I would use imagery to help the readers to better understand and love the book or piece of writing that I do.