Peak As A Hero In Roland Smith's Peak

577 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Essay about selflessness

In the book Peak by Roland Smith, the main character, Peak, changes from becoming selfish to selfless as a result of his journey towards being a hero. His adventure started at the top of a skyscraper when he got arrested. From there, he traveled across the world to Mount Everest, where his father told him he had to climb the ginormous mountain. When he finally got to the top, he sacrificed his chance for fame so his friend, Sun-Jo, could become known as the youngest freed Tibetan to reach the summit and get the rewards and fame.
At the beginning of the novel, Peak was guilty of vandalizing a skyscraper in his city. As it states in the book, “‘You’re under arrest!’ an amplified voice shouted above the deafening rotors.” (Smith page 5). When asked why he did it, he had no good reason, instead of coming off as unknowing and bored. Peak was seen as bored because he had no hobbies outside of school; therefore, he had nothing else to do in his free time. This lack of interest made him want to take risks. In …show more content…

As promised, his father took him to Mount Everest. As a result, Peak is given the opportunity to bury his past and emerge as an innocent boy. Though, when his father revealed why they were in South Asia, Peak embraced his father’s decision by wanting to climb Mount Everest, no matter what the cost. This lead one to believe that he was intrigued by this new opportunity. Peak’s journey was not easy and he faced opposition from his father’s group who did not want Peak to be first at the top of Everest. As a result, Peak’s selfishness had grown by him being kicked out of the group, as it states in the text, “This was when I realized Sun-Jo wasn’t with us. I was so mad he didn’t also get booted out of camp.” (Smith page 194). However, it was all just a hoax to please the entire group, which resulted in Peak and Sun-Jo trying to reach the summit

Show More
Related

  • Jon Krakauer Everest Chapter Summary

    1601 Words  | 4 Pages

    Chapter 7: In chapter 7 Krakauer talks about how Everest has changed from a professionals trek to anyone's trek. He explains that many inexperienced people have climbed Mount Everest with the help of sherpas and guides. He also mentions about the determination of Everest and how in some instances in history people who weren't allowed into Tibet or Nepal but they snuck in and managed to climb and summit Everest

    Read More

  • Thematic Connections: Into Thin Air By Jon Krakauer

    209 Words  | 1 Pages

    Throughout the novel, the protagonist encounters many difficulties when trying to reach his goal of climbing Mount Everest. He encounters problems, from illnesses to deaths but most affectively the catastrophic weather. When Krakauer’s 5 friends die, including Rob Hall, Krakauer takes responsibility of the other climbers and helps them get through the tough weather safely. When they arrived to the base camps, many of the climbers gave up but Krakauer kept trying, he was motivated by Halls death to reach the top of Mount Everest. Krakauer finds ways to get around

    Read More

  • The Miracle On 49th Street Summary

    702 Words  | 2 Pages

    One part where the author really gets to this idea is, “I didn’t even have time to think about what I was going to do next, which was just as well. I started scrambling sideways across the wall toward the gear, rope, thirty feet away. Zopa continued to shout encouragement to Sun-Jo. He was climbing the wall as fast as he could, but he had to know that no matter how fast he went, it wouldn’t be enough to save his grandson. When I reach the rope I gave it a tug. It seemed solid enough”. This is significant because, Peak could of passed the opportunity and let his friend die but he wanted to be a hero.“ Mr. Wood, how much time have you spent with your son

    Read More

  • How Atticus Finch and Elie Wiesel Demonstrate Heoric Actions Unintentionally

    556 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Umberto Eco, “The real hero is always a hero by mistake….” In other words, one doesn’t act heroic as a lifestyle, but by surprise when the time comes to do so. To be heroic means to put others before you in a desperate time of someone else’s despair. Two works of literature that agree with the critical lens are the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, written by Harper Lee and the memoir, Night, by Elie Wiesel. Atticus Finch and Elie Wiesel both demonstrate heroic actions unintentionally.

    Read More

  • Elie Wiesel: A Hero's Journey Monomyth

    819 Words  | 2 Pages

    Some people are born to be heroes. Some people may be forgotten heroes. Some people are born not to be heroes at all. In ways they are similar and in some ways they are different. John Campbell’s Hero’s Journey Monomyth shows the certain stages that a hero would traditionally go through to be qualified as a hero. Elie Wiesel is not a monomyth hero, because he does not follow the correct steps and does not hit enough steps to be considered a monomythic hero.

    Read More

  • Sun Jo's Peak: The Effects Of Selfishness In Peak

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    “What?” Sun-Jo was appalled at the fact that Peak had decided not to conquer the summit of Mount Everest. How could he give up such a glorifying moment? Peak would have been the youngest boy to ever reach the summit, however, he realized he didn’t want the fame. Sun-Jo was only a few days older than him, and if Sun-Jo reached the summit and Peak did not, he would be the youngest person to summit Everest. Also, Sun-Jo’s family was living on the other side of the mountain and he needed to get to the other side so that he could reconnect with his family. Since Peak avoided his mother’s advice to think of himself and only himself, he did not make it to the top. Many other characters, unlike Peak, were selfish and although it helped some, others were less fortunate.

    Read More

  • 'The Hero Myth In O Connor Lassiter's Unwind'

    589 Words  | 2 Pages

    Humanity has created this “universal story” of what a hero is, or at least the myth of it, time and again. Different tasks and encounters with a variety of villains all lead the hero to the prize, to a new life (Seger). This person deemed the hero is as ordinary as the next but what makes them different is the drastic test that they must face. Individuals admire this character because the hero stands for something, something bigger than themselves. Whether it be the compassionate act of Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games or the death of the oldest brother in Brother Bear, as an outsider, an individual sees the human side of these heroes and relates. Connor Lassiter from Unwind by Neal Shusterman is an ideal example of the myth due to the

    Read More

  • Into Thin Air: Rob Hall

    1185 Words  | 3 Pages

    Everest is an unbelievable mountain that has taken the lives of a number of the greatest climbers in history. It was my job to ensure that clients make it up that treacherous mountain safely. My name is Rob Hall. I was the main guide and cofounder of a climbing company called Adventure Consultants. My friend, Gary Ball, and I used to be professional climbers. Together we succeeded in climbing to the highest summit on each of the seven continents in seven months. This was our greatest achievement. After this, we decided to start our own company guiding clients up large mountains. In May 1992, we successfully led six clients to the summit of Everest. Unfortunately, Gary died of cerebral edema in October 1993 during an attempt on the world’s sixth-tallest mountain. He died in my arms and the next day I buried him in a crevasse. Despite the pain that his death had caused me, I continued guiding for our company and eventually led thirty-nine climbers to the summit of Everest.

    Read More

  • The Kite Runner Hero's Journey Essay

    1674 Words  | 4 Pages

    We all are heroes of our own story, and it is a quality seen in many movies and books. The hero's journey is about progress and passage. This journey involves a separation from the unknown, known world, and a series of phases the hero must go through . Each stage of the journey must be passed successfully if the person is to become a hero. In “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini, the main character Amir faces a series of trials and goes through obstacles where the concept of his childhood dies.

    Read More

  • Tension And Suspense In Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air

    569 Words  | 2 Pages

    camp Krakauer said to himself, “We’d fucking done it. We’d climbed Everest. It had been a little sketchy there for a while, but in the end everything had turned out great. It would be many hours before I learned that everything had not in fact turned out great, that nineteen men and women were stranded up on the mountain by the storm, caught in a desperate struggle for their lives.” The quote from page 203 makes an attempt to add suspense,and succeeds. After seeing this the reader then starts to get curious about what happened to the rest of the crew, then anticipates rhat many of them are very near death, if they hadn’t already

    Read More

  • Life Changes In Roland Smith's Novel Peak

    1464 Words  | 3 Pages

    Life changes. Everybody goes through experiences in their life that changes them and sculpts them into the person they are today. Roland Smith’s novel Peak tells the adventure of fourteen year old Peak who rebels against modern society in order to fulfill what he was “born” to do. Being the son of two of the ‘arguably’ best rock climbers in the world. The Novel opens to Peak committing a felony by vandalising a skyscraper in the city of New York with his signature blue mountains. Later he finds out because of him another boy was killed trying to climb the same skyscraper but falling to his death instead. After sending him to court his father took custody over him and moved back to Thailand, at least that was his intentions. Later Peak finds

    Read More

  • The Heros Journey: A Hero's Journey

    1131 Words  | 3 Pages

    Joseph Campbell defines a hero as “someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself ” (Moyers 1). The Hero’s Journey consists of three major parts: the separation, the initiation and the return. Throughout a character’s journey, they must complete a physical or spiritual deed. A physical deed involves performing a daunting and courageous act that preserves the well-being of another person. A spiritual deed calls for action that improves another individual’s state of mind. While fulfilling their journey, a hero must undergo a psychological change that involves experiencing a transformation from immaturity into independence and sophistication.Campbell states that these events are what ultimately guides a hero into completing

    Read More

  • Psychological Obstacles In Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air

    1325 Words  | 3 Pages

    He could not accept failure again: “I’d gotten to know Doug well enough at that point to realize that he’d spent the entire previous year agonizing over the fact that he’d gotten to within three hundred feet of the summit and had to turn around” (Krakauer 171). Hansen remained determined throughout the climb to the summit despite becoming ill and climbing slower than the rest of the group, since he failed to summit the previous year. For both trips to Mount Everest, Hansen invested approximately $128,000 in total for an opportunity to summit the peak. Hansen had invested an enormous amount of time and money. By choosing to attempt two expeditions, Hansen put his job as a postal worker on hold. In addition, the students of Sunrise Elementary School fundraised for Hansen’s trip; he had added pressure on him to succeed because he had assistance in funding, and he wanted the students to see that dreams do come true (Krakauer 73). His fear of failure resulted in his unrelenting stride toward the summit. Although he summited around 4:00, Hansen was in no condition to descend when the storm occurred; his determination and Hall’s lack of commitment with the turn-around time combined to place the two in a deadly situation (Krakauer 236). Doug Hansen experienced failure atop Mount Everest in 1995, and his fear of repeating the same

    Read More

  • Harry Potter and The Hero's Journey

    1096 Words  | 3 Pages

    One well-known example of “The Hero’s Journey” from popular culture is the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling. In the novel, Harry Potter, the main character, is the chosen one and “The Hero’s Journey” applies to his life from the moment he is attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named as a baby. Joseph Campbell calls the initial phase of a hero’s development the “Call to Adventure.” The call is the in... ...

    Read More

  • The Definition of a Hero

    562 Words  | 2 Pages

    There is another type of hero that almost no one is aware of. In the poorest areas of the country, live mostly minorities and other ethic background. All their lives they’ve been expected to work harder and expected not succeed in life. Some individuals living in poverty with a determination to succeed work hard all of their lives to become what everybody doubted they could. Escaping the crime, drugs, and prostitution is enough to escape hell, even if they don’t go to college. Despite of their financial problems, drug and crime surroundings, or difficulties in the language skills, their desire to triumph fuels their persistence. Those who make it to success are the few living examples of the purest form of hero anyone can be. They are not only their own heroes but also the heroes of the poor children who dream of becoming like them someday.

    Read More

More about Peak As A Hero In Roland Smith's Peak

Open Document