Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Mortensen's Revelation

After his failed attempt to scale the mountain known as K2 in honor of his lost sister, Christa, Greg Mortensen finds himself in a small village known as Korphe. His weakened state forces him to be dependent on the locals and he comes to realize the depravity of their situation. Even in their desperation, they are selfless and strong hearted. They remind him of his sister, toiling on with no school and limited resources, and he soon after has a revelation, stating, “on the ledge overlooking the valley, with such a crystalline view of the mountains he’d come halfway around the world to measure himself against, climbing K2 to place a necklace on its summit suddenly felt beside the point” (33). This is the most significant point of the story, when Mortensen find his true purpose and the final conflict is set in motion. This is the moment where he finds harmony in his goals of personal achievement, love for fellow man, and honoring of his beloved sister.

1 comment:

  1. This was a significant part of the book to me as well. I liked how he changes from doing something that wasn't really all the significant from a point-of-view other than his own to doing something that he really found important and it will be life-changing for others as well.

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