Top Man is a short story by James Ramsey Ullman. It is about a group of men who are trying to be the first to reach the top of the mountain K3. Through the eyes of one of the men we see a conflict that goes on between the two best climbers Nace and Osborn. Nace is an old climber who has tried to reach the top of K3 many times and in the process lost his best friend. Osborne is a young energetic climber who wishes to be the first person to set foot on the summit. The story ends with Nace falling off the mountain 200 feet from the top to save Osborne and afterwards Osborne planting Nace’s axe on the summit so that Nace receives the credit he deserves.
One of the reasons I enjoyed this story is because of the three different kinds of conflict that appears inside of it. The first is man against himself. Towards the end of the story Nace has to make the choice of whether or not he will go after Osborne and risk his life to save him. The second is man against man. Osborne and Nace do not get along very well because Nace wants to do things carefully and slowly and Osborne wants to do things the fastest way. The third is man against a power higher than himself. The mountain is a much bigger power than Nace or Osborne and they both want to climb it for different reasons. This is an amazing story of self-sacrifice and unbreakable spirit that I enjoyed to its fullest.