For it is the plain truth that no one pulled or hauled me up the gap. I climbed it myself, just as Hillary had done; and if he was protecting me with the rope while I was doing it, this was no more than I had done for him. In speaking of this I must make one thing very plain. Hillary is my friend. He is a fine climber and a fine man, and I am proud to have gone with him to the top of Everest. But I do feel that in his story of our final climb he is not quite fair to me; that all the way through he indicates that when things went well it was his doing and when things went badly it was mine. For this is simply not true. Nowhere do I make the suggestion that I could have climbed Everest by myself; and I do not think Hillary should suggest that he could have, or that I could not have done it without his help. All the way up and down we helped, and were helped by, each other—and that was the way it should be. But we were not leader and led. We were partners.

Question

Question
Which statement best describes the author's viewpoint of Hillary in this excerpt?

Responses

He sees Hillary as a weak man who is trying to fool the public with exaggerated stories of his climbing accomplishments.

He views Hillary as a superior climber and a national hero who is worthy of every respect and everyone’s admiration.

He sees Hillary as a liar and cheat who is trying to destroy his reputation; this account is meant to set the record straight.

He feels that he and Hillary were equals and that they could not have climbed Everest without each other’s help.

GPT-4o mini · Answer

The statement that best describes the author's viewpoint of Hillary in this excerpt is:

He feels that he and Hillary were equals and that they could not have climbed Everest without each other’s help.

In the excerpt, the author emphasizes the partnership they had during the climb and expresses that both contributed equally to their success, rejecting the idea that one was superior to the other.