Life and Death

This book offered so much insight into the life of Sherpas, which was actually very interesting to me, especially since all semester I feel as though we have been discussing Sherpas in a very vague sense, not wanting to state facts that are false or overgeneralize without the full amount of information we can know about them, this book helped clear some things up. Sherry Ortner definitely has her research on Sherpas down, and lays everything out fairly clear for the reader. Some things that I especially found interesting was the view of Sherpas being ‘childish’ that she brings up, and the actual information behind this ‘cheerfulness’ that many mountaineers see in the Sherpas. She writes “cheerful friendliness is a style of social interaction that is culturally encouraged, valued, and –when possible– practiced” (Ortner, 69). She describes traits that are of their culture, that is surprising to mountaineers, and maybe due to the mountaineers feeling as they are in a powerful/master position in relation to the Sherpas– for example being called ‘Sahibs’– they look at the Sherpas as ‘cheerful’ and mistake that cheerfulness for being like children. In climbing a mountain, I can see cheerfulness as an admirable quality, instead of childish. I think this cheerfulness links in with the willingness to be so helpful to the ‘Sahibs’ on these endeavors. Ortner lists off the things that Sherpas have done, and regularly do for the ‘Sahibs.’ She keys this as generosity, in saying the Sherpas have given up oxygen, blankets, sleeping bags, gear, tent space, time, and they have carried climbers, and given foot massages to help the climbers prevent frostbite (Ortner, 60). While the Sherpas are being paid to go on these trips, these are tasks that cost more than money, they could cost a life, or toes, or fingers. Sherpas have this history of being extremely generous, cheerful, and in my opinion should get more admiration by the general public.

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