Advg 3200 - the Worst Journey in the World Book Analysis

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At one point of suffering they wanted to die due to so much pain, but they knew it was too easy to die but they had a motivation to achieve the goal so they kept on going. They wanted take up the challenge that will demand the best of their capabilities – physically, mentally and emotionally. At one point they came across a state of mind where they initially accepted unpleasant feelings of fear, uncertainty and discomfort, and the need for luck because their aim was to become successful and retrieve the emperors penguin eggs, because they knew if they get it, then everything will become counterbalanced by opposite feelings of exhilaration and joy. All 3 displayed qualities such as courage, compassion, determination, integrity and self-reliance. At the same time as endorsing the value of these qualities, they avoided the temptation to be greedy and selfish because they were doing everything for research purposes in order to find out a relation between penguins, other birds and reptile species.

All their actions were based within the following broad framework – An Awareness of, respect for, and love of the environment. The author compares the regular lives with the extreme conditions as he says people in Canada say they had minus fifty temperatures or some say we had minus sixty in Siberia, but they have nice dry clothing, a nice night sleep in a nice aired bed. After walking out after lunch for a few minutes from a nice warm hut and they look back upon it as an experience to be remembered, whereas for the author when they started looking at their present state, minus fifties was luxury which they didn’t get very often. The author also looked and compared how a person views 2 different scenarios as extreme. The author explains one part of the journey where they didn’t saw light all day, as they were running downhill to escape this darkness, all of a sudden a little patch of clear sky drifted and showed them 3 paces ahead a great crevasse with just a shining icy lid not much thicker than glass, if they have walked into it, the

Sledge would certainly have followed them down. So what I want to point out here is that for me or any person living a regular life won’t give any importance to the light we get from sun, as it is a normal thing for us but in circumstances like the one the author is in, he appreciated the sunlight which helped in saving his life. The author explains how 2 persons going on a same trip can have totally opposite opinions about their trip, as for one it can be an easy thing whereas for the other it is a near death experience which he/she don’t want to experience again in life. The author talks about how he feels after this trip that records are not worth making, as some people do a certain activity to make records, whereas others just do it for fun and don’t have any motive of setting up a record. Just to survive on this trip they were doing all the basic work like setting up tents to sleep, setting up their sleeping bags all these things were a challenge within itself as it used to take 9 hours to setup everything.

The author mentions that at one point they didn’t had any hope of seeing any penguins at the end but they still kept on going. Author explains extremity of suffering cannot be measured, madness or death may give relief. While they were on journey, they were already beginning to think of death as a friend. He also says their endurance was tested on this journey under unique circumstances, but with all the responsibility on them, they achieved success with self-control. The author explains when they had tent, burning oil and fatty foods, they were lucky to stay warm from the freezing wind. But in the cold temperatures with all the advantages of tent over their head, they were already taking more than an hour of struggle to get inside their sleeping bags but now without the tent they thought they were dead. The author describes this Antarctic exploration is seldom as bad as you imagine, seldom as bad as it sounds.

But this journey had beggared their language, no words can express its horror. On every one of its 600 pages, The Worst Journey in the World describes weather conditions that are ludicrously inhospitable. In a climate known as "the polar desert," their own breath and sweat become primary enemies. In the end The Worst Journey in the World asks, but does not answer, the question of whether this suffering was futile, or whether it would inspire future human beings facing very different challenges in life.

References –

Garrard, A. C., & Cherry-Garrard, A. (2001). The worst journey in the world: Antarctic, 1910-13. London: Picador. (Garrard & Cherry-Garrard, 2001)

McKie, R. (2017, February 22). How a heroic hunt for penguin eggs became “the worst journey in the world.” The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/jan/14/penguin-eggs-worst-journey-world. (McKie, 2017)

Cherry-Garrard, A. (2014, January 3). Tough commute this morning? Your “journey” could have been worse. Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/2014/01/03/259384355/tough-commute-this-morning-your-journey-could-have-been-worse. (Cherry-Garrard, 2014)

Richard. (2001). CABINET // reading “The worst journey in the World.” Retrieved February 28, 2017, from http://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/3/worstjourneyintheworld.php. (Richard, 2001)