Identity In Into The Wild And The Scarlet Letter

Jon Krakauer’s fascination in a young man’s life turns out to be more than an article of the boy’s adventure and the journey he set out for himself. Krakauer reflects on much larger subjects within the book based on his path while trying to understand Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless, a young man from an East Coast family, abandons everything set for him in his path. Donating twenty-four-thousand-dollar savings account to charity, burning the cash he had, leaving his car and possessions behind were all decisions Chris thought were right for him. His confident yet riskful choices led him to an independent life in the wild.

Did McCandless find what he wanted to seek in the wilderness before he died? Krakauer recognizes his own particular fixation in the presentation, and his creating of the story brings up its

Kyle Yin Ms. Everett ERWC, 2, 10 3 February 2023 Chris McCandless: Idealism and Imperfection In April of 1992, a young man named Chris McCandless walked into the Alaskan wilderness alone and attempted to survive off the land. 113 days later, his body was found by hunters, dead of starvation. Four years later, the author Jon Krakauer picked up on his story and published the book, Into The Wild, detailing McCandless’ story and eventual death. McCandless went into the wild to follow his very specific ideals:

The type of life McCandless lived is shared by few and understood by even less, inviting negative judgment for his lack of conventional life. Krakauer, however, illustrates McCandless’s journey as a monumental change, “At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence" (Krakauer 22). The tone in which Krakauer displays McCandless’s reasoning invokes a sense of understanding as to who McCandless was as a person and the disposition he presented throughout his life. While the statement is neither negative or positive, the descriptive language used implies an undercurrent of joy and the thrill of adventure, all of which McCandless had expressed to others and mentioned in his personal journal. However, the wording can be considered flowery, supporting the claim that Krakauer glamorizes “…the poacher Chris McCandless…into some sort of poor, admirable romantic soul lost in the wilds of Alaska” (Medred 1).

The Alaskan Wilderness: cold, lonely and, for some people, their final resting place. John Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild” describes the story of Chris McCandless, who was a normal American man on the verge of entering adulthood with a college degree, over $20,000 in savings, and a beloved Datsun car who met his fate in Alaska. One day, he dropped everything to live alone, and eventually die alone, in the middle of nowhere, Alaska. Chris McCandless believed that conformity was too restrictive. He trusted that anyone could find true happiness and passion by leaving everything behind and starting a new lifestyle, which would allow for him to become free and independent.

He has his sights firmly set on his Alaskan journey and nothing will influence his plan. McCandless’s independence makes him a free spirit, but this does not mean that he was a hero by any means. Rather, Krakauer makes the argument that McCandless was ignorant and naive. Krakauer says about McCandless that he was “rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry and incautious to the point of foolhardiness” (85). McCandless’s ignorance led him to refuse offers of better gear to live in the outdoors, saying “No thanks”, “I’ll be fine with what I’ve got” (6).

4 years after Christopher Johnson McCandless death in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992, Jon Krakauer beautifully depicts every moment of the tumultuous times leading up to Chris’s demise. Fed up with ill intentions of his peers and society, McCandless departs for the dark corners of the country. Since McCandless held nature close to his heart, and preached against the object-oriented society he lived in, Chris can be classified as a contemporary transcendentalist. Chris passionately tries to draw metaphysical connections between himself and nature.

Zoe Engel 6-19-23 Mr. Selfridge Period: 2 Stepping Into the Wilderness The work of nonfiction Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer, tells the true story of Chris McCandless, an adventurous young man, who leaves home to travel around the continent eventually setting foot into the Alaskan wilderness on a journey that becomes fatal. Highlighted throughout this work of nonfiction is the true story of McCandless’s life, along with bits of Krakauer’s personal life as it relates to McCandless’s. Each chapter begins with at least one epigraph that shares common themes with the following chapter. The focus in this paper will be on chapter 14, “The Stikine Ice Cap,” in which Krakauer shares his experience climbing the Devil’s Thumb in Alaska, and the second

Rhetorical Analysis of Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild ” Jon Krakauer ’s purpose in writing Into the Wild is to recount Chris McCandless’ journey, physical and metaphysical, from college in Georgia to his death in Alaska, through the use of factual, and anecdotal evidence. Krakauer uses factual evidence to establish that he is a trustworthy narrator capable of giving the reader a realistic scope on the events in the story. Jon uses anecdotal evidence to see into Chris’ psyche from the various perspectives found in the book’s excerpts, including how Jon understands the events.

In conclusion, every character faces conflict with the truth of identity differently because of the various positions the characters are in and the contrasting ways identity is shown or not shown throughout the book. Identity has an important theme by being a constant topic that readers have to go over when evaluating the characters and their emotions. It plays a significant role in The Scarlet Letter and molds the irony of the plot creating the great

Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild investigates the life and adventures of Chris McCandless. The author provides information about Chris’ life to illuminate his journey. Krakauer also uses rhetorical appeals to defend Chris’ rationale for his journey. Through Krakauer’s use of pathos, ethos, and logos, he persuades the audience that Chris is not foolish; however, Krakauer’s intimacy with Chris and his adventures inhibits his objectivity.

Into the Wild tells the story of Chris McCandless, a young man who embarked on an adventure across the U.S. Chris lived for adventure, and sadly met his demise in the Alaskan wilderness. Chris’ death brought about a large debate as to whether Chris was insane or simply idealistic. Krakauer wrote Into the Wild to prove Chris’ sanity and soundly completes that task by using rhetorical devices to persuade his audience. Throughout the book, Krakauer uses ethos to develop Chris’ credibility by providing examples of people who are similar to him. For example, Krakauer provides multiple examples of people who were very similar to Chris, such as Everett Ruess.

Throughout the Non-Fiction book “Into the Wild” the author Jon Krakauer traces young McCandless footsteps as he changed from Chris McCandless to Alex. More specially, Krakauer unfolds mysteries as to why McCandless abounded his previous life including his past identity. Young McCandless cuts off all connections with his family and goes into a journey to Alaska, where he encounters various obstacles. Krakauer anecdotes asserts McCandless as an individual lost trying to re-create himself.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel The Scarlet  Letter, Hawthorne illustrates the importance of identity in Puritan society. Hawthorne’s use of symbols, metaphors, and other kinds of figurative language allow the reader to feel sympathetic towards the main characters, especially Hester Prynne. Hester Prynne is introduced as a sinner, the most disgusting thing a person could be in Puritan world, and as a result, Hester is forced to wear the scarlet ‘A’. The ‘A’  was originated to stand for adultery, but as time went on Hester realized that the ‘A’ stood for something positive instead of something negative. Hester changed the definition of the letter from adultery to able and angel because that is how she saw herself as.

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