Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a biography that follows Chris McCandless and his journey through the wilderness while finding himself along the way. Chris McCandless died in the August of 1992 after a four month journey through places like Mexico and Alaska. Krakauer investigates his actions and analyzes his identity after his death, trying to find meaning within his seemingly unnecessary expedition. Chris McCandless constructs his personal identity as a man who wanted to be challenged and inspired by his actions and interests with people he met on the road, and his beliefs and values as a stubborn person. Chris McCandless’s actions are unusual in many ways; for one, he graduates college with honors, but instead of pursuing a career, …show more content…
McCandless values education and is an intelligent man who graduates Emory University with a degree in a grueling major (Krakauer 20). He never contributes much effort into school since the work was easy for him, unlike his colleagues. This makes him extremely confident in all his abilities and is never faced with any problems. The absence of conflict affects him and provides a belief that to find his individuality and identity, he should find something to test his life skills. McCandless is also able to gain traits of being stubborn. His persistence carries him through his journey into the wild, but also gives him trouble in later life when he gets a job at McDonald’s but leaves because they want him to wear socks while working (Krakauer 39-41). However, although McCandless has a few good morals, he lacks the belief of valuing family. This is evident when he states that, “I’m going to completely knock [my parents] out of my life… and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live” (Krakauer 64). McCandless’s beliefs give him a platform for his identity as a stubborn person that is hungry for something challenging, but also provides him with hardships and trouble along the
Into the Wild Essay In 1992, 24 year old Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions and decided to hitchhike to Alaska and invent a new life for himself. Chris had just finished college and many thought he was going to further his education but instead he took a fatal trip into the wild. There are many questions still unanswered to why he felt he needed to go on this trip and people will never know the real reason why Chris McCandless hitchhiked to Alaska by himself with insufficient equipment.
Into The Wild is written in both the 1st person, when the author is giving his own opinion or giving credibility, and in the 3rd person, when the author or anyone being quoted is talking about Chris McCandless. The effect Krakauer achieves is the notion of how isolated individuals exist in a state of wilderness and establishing his credibility. Krakauer personally connects with McCandless and explores every aspect of his life to discover the real truth of his death, and is convinced he did not die from starvation. He becomes emotionally attached to Chris and even develops a strong relationship with his parents. As a result, this effect leads to his writing being slightly biased.
In Into The wild, Krakauer narrates the last couple of journeys Mccandless had on his adventure to Alaska where he ultimately died. Mccandless Touched many people's lives through all of his journeys. Mccandless went on these journeys because he was confused in life when he figured out his dad had cheated on his mom. This changed Mccandless to the point he began to hate his parents. Mccandless had a lot of confidence in himself so he left on an adventure to find his identity.
Chris McCandless may first be described as a rebel and his inclination to abstain from the family he was brought up with. Krakauer says that he 'believed that wealth was shameful, corrupting, and inherently evil '. Despite that, Chris always liked money. Chris was also a very independent person who had a strong relationship with nature. Chris was also the kind of kid to always get good grades, without even trying to.
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 portrays a man who went on a fatal unforgettable journey through the alaska wilderness. Chris McCandless was a man with great courage and the ability to live on his own made him more of a hero going on his fatal journey. Many would say he was foolish or not thinking right, but that is not the case. The case here is simply a man with courage wanting to fulfill is beliefs through his journey. One may ask what is courage.
In Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild,” there is a big emphasis on relationships between people—especially between Chris McCandless and his companions—that influence their decision-making and what ultimately happens to them. Chris’ friendships with people he meets after leaving Emory for good can be analyzed through his letters to them, as well as their own accounts of how Chris affected them. Chris became close to many wanderers and travelers, not only because he wanted to get to Alaska, but also because of their personalities. Like him, many of his companions on his journey to Alaska were not content staying in one place, and were constantly moving. Unlike Chris, however, they were willing to accept him, and develop a real relationship with
Attacking Krakauer’s supposed glorification of Chris McCandless, Medred believes that McCandless is nothing more than “a poacher, a bum and a thief”. While Medred utilizes irony and pathos throughout his article, author Jon Krakauer does a superior job at writing about the story of Chris McCandless due to his distinguished use of indirect characterization, parallelism, analepsis, and the rhetorical devices of ethos and pathos. Krakauer applies his ability to relate to McCandless due to their similar adversities and demonstrates his utmost care towards discovering the truth of Chris’ story, while Medred fails to identify Chris’ past and presents his profound partiality. Jon Krakauer’s ultimate dedication to displaying the true events of Chris’s journey is displayed through his dedication to interviewing Chris’ relatives. While interviewing Chris’ sister, Carine, Krakauer determines that “‘Chris was crazy about Buck,’ Carine says… ‘Chris didn’t think twice about risking his own life, but he never would have put Buckley in any kind of danger’”
It is true that Krakauer mentions his own viewpoint of McCandless, but people can still have different opinions on him. For example, in chapter eight people have made up their opinions on McCandless base on reading the Outside article. They said he was “forsaken a loving family,” unprepared, not wise on going to Alaska, and was preparing to die (Krakauer 74). However, that point is not true because it was based on what they read from the article. By reading the article they only know the exterior of him and not know the reason why he went to Alaska.
The revelation that he was merely human, and frightfully, so beyond my power to forgive (148 Krakauer ).” And how McCandless could not accept how his father wanted to used money to get Chris to be someone that he is not or control him. Another example for the distaste towards authority, “Like McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in me a confusing medley of cork fury and a hunger to please... If something captured undisciplined imagination, I pursued it with a zeal bordering on a obsession, and from the age of 17 until my late twenties... (134 Krakauer
In addition, in a journal entry, McCandless writes, “It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found. God it’s great to be alive! Thank you. Thank you” (Krakauer 37). This excerpt shows that McCandless sincerely is at peace with himself and the world because of where his ideals have taken him.
Many people try to get a job after finish college in their life. But Christ not doing that way, he want to live by himself and to do what he wanna do. Christopher Johnson McCandless he had changed his name to Alexander Supertramp, when he decided to leave his parent and go into the wild. He gave all his money away from savings to charity, burned all cash he had, abandoned his car and most of his possessions and became new life for him in the wilderness explorers. After two years, McCandless found out he has some potatoes seeds that he brought from South Dakota.
Into the wild, is a book by Jon Krakauer that later got turned into a film by Sean Penn, it follows the life of Christopher McCandless, who graduated from Emory University as a top student and athlete with wealthy pushing parents. Instead of continuing his life as a working man of society and taking his offers at top law schools, he decides to ultimately completely disconnect himself from society and instead tries to find his own meaning of life in the wild. Shaun Callarman says “ I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time.” and i really agree with him on that because even though he left his college a top student the way he wanted to completely disconnect himself the way he did was ignorant. Not only that In the movie it clearly shows that even though he didn't want to connect with people on his journey to alaska he did, I think that if he wouldn't have been so set on being alone and not being attached to others he wouldn't have died the way he did.
Christopher McCandless, the protagonist of the novel and film Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, is not your average guy. Driven by his minimalist ideals and hate for society, he challenged the status quo and embarked on a journey that eventually lead to his unforeseen demise. A tragic hero, defined by esteemed writer, Arthur Miller, is a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on tragedy. Christopher McCandless fulfills the role of Miller’s tragic hero due to the fact that his tragic flaw of minimalism and aversion towards society had lead him to his death.
At first glance, it would be normal to assume McCandless was not very educated: he didn’t have a stable job, he didn’t prepare for his journey by packing supplies, etc. Jon Krakaur delves into McCandless’ story and reveals that