A Rhetorical Analysis Into The Wild

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.

“Honey, you are changing that boy’s life.” A friend of Leigh Anne’s exclaimed. Leigh Anne grinned and said, “No, he’s changing mine.” This exchange of words comes from the film trailer of an award-winning film, The Blind Side, directed by John Lee Hancock, released on November 20th, 2009. This film puts emphasis on a homeless, black teen, Michael Oher, who has had no stability or support in his life thus far. It is not until the Tuohy family adopts Michael, that he begins to realize what he is capable of as both a student and football player. There are various techniques used for capturing the attention of an audience as they are viewing a film or film trailer for the first time, and rhetorical appeals happens to be one of them. The appeals

In conclusion, McCandless is not a reckless individual who perishes due to arrogance. Instead, he is admirable because his ideals have allowed him to live with true happiness. He waits long years and even breaks his values temporarily in order to achieve his goals. He also endures hunger, exhaustion, and nature’s most challenging hardships to attain his happiness. Chris McCandless does what most people in normal society are too afraid to do. He does everything possible, including giving

In life some feel the need to prove something to others. That they are better, stronger, or even more intelligent. Whatever the case may be people will go through extreme measures to prove themselves. But who do we really need to prove anything to? Is it our parents? Friends? Enemies? Or is it even ourselves? Chris McCandless, deceased adventurer from “Into the Wild”, underwent many obstacles that seems highly ridiculous. Certain physical and mental challenges that could have prevented, Chris decided to do defying the chance of death or severe injury. But the real misunderstanding is who was Chris proving his manhood too?

Throughout the novel, Krakauer uses strategies to demonstrate comparisons between himself and Christopher McCandless. These comparisons effectively show that Chris was sane enough to make his own decisions regarding Alaska. One of the reasons why Krakauer wrote this book was because he experienced a natural liking for McCandless. Ever since his initial encounter with McCandless’s story while working at the Outside magazine company, his affinity towards the young adventurer grew by leaps and bounds. This affinity came from the very similar experiences the two were involved in. In the author 's note from Jon Krakauer, he warns, “I interrupt McCandless 's story with fragments of my own youth. I do so in the hope that my experiences will throw

An idea that played a big role throughout the book Into The Wild is the subtle line between hubris (excessive pride or self confidence) and deliberately living one’s life on the edge. Several

Into The Wild was a tremendous story which Shaun Callarman did not have many positive things to say about Chris McCandless, the main character. He went on this adventure to find out what life is all about in his own eyes. He wanted to see how different living in the wild really was compared to society because he was not satisfied with his living arrangements and household. Shaun’s quote says that he thinks “Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness. He made a lot of mistakes based on arrogance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy,” shows that Shaun believes Chris had no common sense in his doing since leaving society for the wild. I agree with Callarman’s position of thinking “ he had no common sense” and that

Life on the road is an idealistic way to escape from societal problems. There is no denying that it grants individuals satisfaction by allowing them to fulfill their goals, as well as providing immense freedom and control over one’s life; however, it is a fundamentally illogical path to take due to nature’s malevolence. In Into The Wild, Krakauer writes a biography about a young man named Chris McCandless, in which he illustrates the similarities between himself and McCandless’s overly ambitious journey to accomplish feats in the wilderness. Coinciding with their similarities, they also faced an oppressive father figure at home, which lead the both of them to believe that their journey will provide them an answer to their problems at home. McCandless planned to survive in Alaska by living off the land while Krakauer wanted to be the first one to climb the Devil’s Thumb. What happened instead was that McCandless died at an early age, whilst Krakauer barely made it to tell the tale; proving nothing of value came from their journeys. While life on the road can offer solace to individuals who have struggled in their lives, it is unfathomable to think that the wilderness will offer them any embrace to their ambitions; therefore it should not be pursued as it leads to family issues and ignorant behavior.

Chris McCandless was in his early 20’s, he was the kind of that guy that wanted to learn and experience life without all of the material things. He wanted to be independent from his parents and friends so Chris did something that would be insane for most of us humans but to him, it wasn’t. He went into the wild of Alaska for months, in fact, McCandless even thought he could make it out alive at the end of his journey. As a matter of fact, he was known as being a risk taker and enjoyed being out and about in the nature side of the world. Many would believe that Chris McCandless went into the wild to purposely kill himself; however, I myself believe that McCandless did not do it purposely.

It was 1965 and Evel Knievel had just landed a 90-foot crate filled with 50 rattlesnakes and 2 lions. Although this jump was one of his stunts that left him unharmed other than a sprained ankle, it put others at risk. During his landing, the back tire of his motorcycle had hit the edge of box and allowed some of the snakes to escape. The audience that was watching Knievel’s stunt were terrified and had to run away in order to avoid the snakes. Despite knowing the risks of this stunt, he continued with it anyway. Similar to McCandless, Knievel was being reckless, which had affected others around him. McCandless had left his family to travel to Alaska and live in the wild in search of enlightenment. After his death, word about his journey spread around the country. Many viewed McCandless to be egotistical due to the fact that he left his entire life to pursue his personal desires, and he didn’t think about how others would feel after he left, or if he did, he didn’t care. McCandless was also seen as ignorant. He was not only careless with the feelings of others, but also with his well being. He didn’t seem to know what would be awaiting him in the wild because he

Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that protests culture and society. Toward the end of Chris McCandless’s life he started to show many signs of a transcendentalist. Unlike Thoreau Chris was not in it for his love of nature, but to free himself from a corrupt world and a bitter society. "So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future." (Krakauer p. 57)

Mountain climbing is a very tough activity that includes years of training before someone is ready to complete an exhilarating climb. Looking around the world, there are many amazing places to climb. Although two of the most difficult and intense climbs include the Devil’s Thumb in Alaska and Mount Everest, the tallest mountain on earth. “Everest,” by Erik Weihenmayer and “The Devils Thumb,” by Jon Krakauer have some similarities and some differences in terms of the author’s perspective, organization structure, and tone and word choice. As the two authors wrote, they showed their struggles and feats of every situation through words. With those words, they created visual images for the reader and enhanced their imagination of the journey.

psychological distress and mountain climbers. An analysis of mountain climbers reveals that more than 85% of them share a dilemma of psychological distress due to the dreadful experiences in their life (website). For numerous of climbers, it may have been a temporary adventure and for others it is a committed task they are willing to actualized. The novel describes Chris McCandless as an idealistic and intelligent man that has his own beliefs in how human beings should live their life. A ruthless man who thought his only solution was to escape into the wild. Chris McCandless, Jon Krakauer, Jon Waterman, Carl McCunn, and Everett Ruess share a psychological distress;

It would make sense that Chris leaves his home because his parents didn’t really pay attention to him or to his sister they were always kind of ignored. (*somewhere in chapter 7) From personal experience when I was ignored by my parents I would do something not leave home like Chris did but I liked to keep myself busy. So I could understand Chris on why he decided to leave. He probably felt like they ignored him too much but when they did talk to him they didn’t have anything nice to say to him. I say this because in the letter he wrote to his sister it says he was going to divorce them for good and he called them idiots. I think parents really do have an impact on how their children turn out because they look up to them so I feel like they really made this story more credible it is understandable why Chris did what he

Chris McCandless, the main character of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, leaves his family, identity, money and much more to pursue his dream of living in the wild. But why does he do it? Chris is searching for his true self. Although very smart Chris grew up with a difficult childhood. He wants to escape his past, leave his family and start something new. His numerous tests of both his physical and mental abilities are proof of his determination. Simplifying and doing what he wants was what he knew he had to do to make the most out of his life.