The Summit Within Summary & Notes - CBSE Class 8 English Honeydew

Summary of The Summit Within

Chapter 5 of the Class 8 English Main Coursebook – Honeydew, consists of prose – The Summit Within, in which the author shares his experiences and describes his feelings of standing on top of the highest mountain in the world, the mighty Mount Everest. Read the prose summary of CBSE Class 8 English Prose Notes – The Summit Within in CBSE English Notes Class 8 format here. We hope this brief summary will help students to get a thorough understanding of the chapter and prepare well for the subject before the exam.

To prepare for the writing section of the Class 8 English exam, students must practice essays on various topics. By doing so, they can easily score marks in essay writing.

CBSE Class 8 English The Summit Within Summary

The Summit Within describes the narrator, Major H.P.S. Ahluwalia’s experiences and feelings of climbing the mighty Mount Everest and standing at its peak. He was a member of the first successful Indian expedition to Mount Everest in the year 1965. Although he was exhausted when he reached the peak of Everest, he also expressed his joy and felt humbled for being able to scale the highest peak in the world successfully. This chapter is a reminiscence of an expedition of Major Ahluwalia in which he experienced a variety of emotions such as happiness, joy and sadness. He was also thankful to God for his achievement. Meanwhile, he realised that scaling one’s inner summit was also important and higher than climbing a mountain.

Major Ahluwalia was of the opinion that in spite of climbing the highest mountain in the world, it is extremely important to also climb the summit inside the mind. He observed that a person should possess three qualities to climb a summit, namely, endurance, persistence and willpower. These qualities help a person to overcome the hurdles in his life. It is imperative for a person to possess these qualities so that he can enjoy his life and overcome whatever obstacles that come his way resolutely.

On being asked why Major Ahluwalia chose to climb Mount Everest, he stated that he loves the mountains. Being the highest and mightiest of all mountains in the world, it is a challenging task for every climber to scale it without interruption. He further elaborated that he always had a strong urge to face challenges and overcome obstacles. Besides, the joy of climbing Mount Everest is overwhelming as only a few people are capable of completing the expedition successfully. Most importantly, he mentioned that climbing the mighty Mount Everest was not just a physical achievement but it was also an emotional and spiritual experience for him. The successful attempt to scale the mountain brought fame and a sense of fulfilment in him.

Additionally, Major Ahluwalia also said that climbing the summit taught him a lesson in companionship. In the process of climbing the mountain, two or more people bond with each other as they share the same rope and other materials. While one person climbs the mountain, the other climber holds the rope firmly, and another climber cuts the hard ice to make the way ahead. Major Ahluwalia’s sole intention was to convey the message that it is a difficult task for a single person to scale the mountain all by himself. Along with physical help, a climber needs emotional support from their partners too.

Furthermore, Major Ahluwalia stated that when he reached the peak of Mount Everest, all the climbers felt humbled and thanked and bowed down to God for helping them achieve their dream. Major Ahluwalia left Guru Nanak’s picture, Rawat left Goddess Durga’s picture, Phu Dorji left a relic of Lord Buddha, and Edmund Hillary buried a Cross under the heap of snow and stones at Mount Everest.

On a concluding note, Major Ahluwalia emphasized that it was imperative for every person to climb the inner peak inside himself as that would bring a transformation in him. He also added that perhaps climbing the inner summit within one’s mind is higher than the external peak of Mount Everest. It is definitely worth the effort and truly satisfying.

Conclusion of The Summit Within

The chapter – The Summit Within teaches a lesson that we should try to overcome any obstacle that comes into our lives by incorporating three qualities such as endurance, persistence and willpower. Being steadfast in optimising our inner self can help us achieve greater heights in life. Here, we present you the CBSE Class 8 English Honeydew Prose Summary of The Summit Within, which must have helped students to have a detailed understanding of the chapter.

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