Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

“Actions speak louder than words” is a centuries-old idea that, in recent times, has been famously said by both Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain, and I think this idea should be the core of any look into the life and actions of Chris McCandless. However, I believe that this idea was hardly considered in Jon Krakauer’s interpretation of Chris McCandless in his book Into The Wild. Into The Wild is taken by many as the complete truth of Chris McCandless’ story, but many people seem to forget that Krakauer tells us in his author’s note at the beginning of the book that “[he] won’t claim to be an impartial biographer.” This means that any judgment of Chris that only uses this book is inherently flawed by Krakauer’s own views.

In the book ‘’Into The Wild” (1996), by Jon Krakauer the author described the journey of a young man named Christopher Johnson McCandles. Who traveled different states of the United States as Alexander Supertramp. Jon Krakauer traces Alex’s journey into the wild by providing information from a third person point of view and also shares the comments of people whom encounter Alex throughout his journey that ended when Alex decided to hitchhiked to Alaska and travel by foot into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley . The highest mountain in North America, with a summit elevation of 20,310 feet above sea level. Alex body was found four months later frozen and decomposed by a moose hunter.

My list book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a nonfiction story explaining the life of Chris McCandless when he decides to leave his family and friends and explore life on his own. In 1990 Chris McCandless decides to run away from his family and the rest of society by traveling on a massive cross-country adventure. McCandless first travels to The Mojave Desert and abandons his car after the engine gets wet in a flash flood and refuses to start. He then hitchhikes to Mexico and buys a small kayak, in which he explores many irrigation canals and eventually finds his way to the Gulf of California.

Leo Tolstoy wrote, “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence” (Krakauer 15). In chapter three, Chris McCandless meets Wayne Westerburg and spends a good amount of time in Carthage, South Dakota. While there, he stayed with Wayne for three days and told him all about his plan to go to Saco Hot Springs. Chris left for his next adventure, but returned to Carthage shortly thereafter. Then, after Wayne was arrested, and Chris did not have any work to do, he left again to pursue his dream of living in Alaska.

Krakauer’s anecdote illustrates how he was drawn to the story of Mccandless and how Chris’s actions, thoughts, and mental processes came naturally. He informs us of the inevitable accidents that can occur while hiking the wilderness, as well as his own mindset during his similarly troubled, youthful years. Krakauer went through similar mental growth as Chris, but had the fortune of surviving where Chris did not. Unlike McCandless, he didn’t have a single minded focus of living an idealistic life inspired by a great such as Jack London or Thoreau, but Krakauer did yearn for something larger than himself. Both he and Chris shared the desire of personal morality.

The Banned Book “Where the Wild Things Are” In 1963 Maurice Sendak’s book “Where the Wild Things Are” was published. This book is one of the bestselling children’s books of all times and it almost didn't make it past his editors. It took him four years to get his book published. There are many reasons why his book was banned from libraries, schools and even homes when it came out.

Hope is a powerful thing; more powerful than death itself. Night, by Elie Wiesel, is about a jewish boy who is put into a concentration camp during the Holocaust. Elie doubted his faith to survive but had others to lean on during the hardship. Elie had the support of others as a sense of hope to survive the long, cold nights, with little food and water.

In chapters 14 and 15 of Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer becomes more than just an investigator or a narrator, he becomes a character. He tells his story of climbing the Devils Thumb, which exposes the similarities between himself and McCandless. This aids to his understanding of McCandless’s motivations, without ever meeting him, due to the parallels in their personalities and family issues. Chapter 14 is devoted to Krakauer’s story about his youthful love for mountain climbing. At age 23, he plans to do a dangerous climb on the Devil’s Thumb in Alaska alone. “

Throughout Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, there are many details that help give the reader a deeper, more profound, meaning of the book 's intended purpose. Krakauer is one of the most renowned American writers, publishing many books specifically focused on nature, and people’s struggles with nature. Through much of the book, Krakauer incorporates many literary techniques, such as connotation, diction, ethos, pathos, logos, imagery, and syntax, to help each reader grasp the essence of the book. These aspects are utilized many times throughout each chapter in his book. By using a wide range of literary techniques, Krakauer is able to communicate the events that transpired during the book, in a way that pertains to each

Jon Krakauer has a high amount of respect for Christopher J. McCandless; not only because they have many similarities, but because McCandless searched deep for the meaning of life and did as he pleased. In the book, “Into The Wild,” Krakauer not only tells the story of McCandless, but also of his own life, and how he has been shaped into his own. Krakauer had a deep love for the wild, just as Chris did. Though, the two did not do the same things, they both pursued their passions which made it easier for Krakauer to relate to Chris. Once climbing a mountain, Krakauer had ran into trouble, just as Chris did on his journey.

However, Jon Krakauer proves his argument that McCandless was not arrogant, foolish, antisocial, or crazy by giving examples of other young men who were similar to McCandless to show that his journey wasn’t unprecedented. He also proves that McCandless wasn’t antisocial because he developed personal relationships with Ronald Franz, Wayne Westerberg, and Jan Burres in such a short amount of time and explaining the many times that McCandless respected the Alaskan Bush. Krakauer admits that McCandless may have suffered from hubris; he was still a victim of circumstances. Krakauer proves that McCandless had an intrinsic motivation to discover and that he wasn’t alone because Krakauer too ventured into the Alaskan Bush when he was younger. The Alaskan Bush is a very difficult place to survive if one isn’t prepared for many challenges such as hunting for food or staying warm in the frost ridden

Krakauer describes his attempts at climbing the Devil’s Thumb when he was 23 years old and compares it to McCandless. The credibility it provides is the insight and thoughts that McCandless might have had on his odyssey as a young man finishing his own greatest achievement. To Krakauer, “the Devil’s Thumb was the same as medical school, only different” (Krakauer 150). To McCandless, it is likely his adventure in Alaska was the fulfillment he needed after following his parents’ wish of finishing college. Both Krakauer and McCandless had problems with their father’s falsehood and losing the innocence that they once had.

In the 2013 online article, “The Chris McCandless Obsession Problem”, author Diana Saverin describes the Alaskan wilderness travel phenomenon along with attempting to uncover the ‘McCandless Pilgrims’ “root of motivation. Sparked by the release of both Jon Krakauer’s and Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild”, numerous individuals pack their backpacks and eagerly step into their (sometimes newly-bought) hiking shoes and tramp into the Alaskan Wild to pay homage to their hero Chris McCandless. Filled with personal anecdotes and interviews, Severin’s Outside article takes a new approach Into the Wild commentary by directing attention to the lives McCandless’s story affected indirectly rather than critiquing on McCandless himself. In response to what appears to be a huge amount of troubled McCandless-inspired tramping stories, Saverin provides an unbiased rationale as a attempt to explain why so many are “willing to risk injury, and even death, to..visit the last home of Alaska’s most famous adventure casualty”. Saverin begins her article with anecdote- telling the unfortunate experience of young lovers and adept adventure seekers, Ackerman and Gros.

What makes one head off into the wild, leaving behind everything you know and owned? What are one’s motive for such action? Chris McCandless was no stranger to this, a young guy who had just graduated from college a few years prior to his “great Alaskan odyssey” (203). Knowing McCandless’s motive for this dangerous adventure, it makes sense to at least try. It was really important for McCandless to try to prove to himself he could make it on his own without anybody else’s help (205).

Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse-Five chronicles the life of Billy Pilgrim, a fictional character loosely based on Vonnegut’s own experiences in World War II. The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien’s fictional novel that is set during the height of the Vietnam War. Both authors incorporate fact and fantasy scenes in their writings, albeit in different contexts. Vonnegut’s novel travels throughout time and brings the reader to both non-fictional and fantastical scenes. Conversely, O’Brien’s novel is written in chronological order, but also incorporates fact and fantasy into the timeline of the story.