Chapters 11-15 Summary and Analysis

Chapter 11, opening Part Two, brings the reader back to Beck's childhood. He was born in Georgia to a mother who had a biology degree and taught high school and a father who was an aviator. During the war years, his father worked as a flight instructor and after the war he sold insurance. In 1948, he joined the US Air Force and left for Japan. Beck spent his early years in Japan, where he had memories of his brother's illnesses and air raids. In 1951, the family moved back to United States to Atlanta, where Beck started first grade as a five-year-old. He had a difficult time reading due to the weak muscles in his eyes. This links together with the eye trouble he had on top of Mount Everest later in his life. While living in Georgia, Beck enjoyed getting...