ipl-logo

Character Analysis: Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

1498 Words6 Pages

Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer is a nonfiction story of Chris McCandless, a young graduate who was found dead in the Alaskan wilderness in September 1992. This narrative follows young Chris McCandless to his journey from the days before he started his journey, all the way to his last journal entries. Many believe Chris was not mentally healthy and falled under the “bush-casualty” stereotype. Chris does fall under some of the categories of the bush-casualty but does not completely fall under the category. He did die from the romantic view of the wilderness but did survive a considerate amount of time in the wilderness without having any past experience. Chris was a very intelligent person and survived too long in the wild to be considered insane. The bush-casualty stereotype is the romantic view of the wilderness and having risky behavior. Chris did show some aspects of this nature but survived much longer than the rest of the people compared to him. Chris also came from a very well educated background which also differed him from the rest of the people compared to him. “He wasn 't incompetent-he wouldn 't have lasted 113 days if he were. And he wasn 't a nutcase, he wasn 't a sociopath, he wasn 't an outcast. McCandless was something else-although precisely what is hard to say. A pilgrim, perhaps."(Kraukaur 85). Jon Krakauer believed this as well. He connected with Chris and knew he didn’t do it because he was a psychopath, he knew somewhat the situation he was putting

Show More
Related

  • Mccandless And Croom: Comparative Analysis

    111 Words  | 1 Pages

    Into the Wild introduces us to Chris McCandless, an intelligent young man from a wealthy family, who hiked into the Alaskan wilderness to his ultimate demise. When the story of this young man was published in Outsider, the magazine for which the author of this book wrote, many other similar stories to that of McCandless’s arose. In August of 2013, a young boy who had a fascination to the story of McCandless was found dead in the woods. His name was Johnathan Croom. While both the tragedies of McCandless and Croom had some major similarities, the two scenarios had completely different causes and their journeys were completely different from one another.

    Read More

  • Chris Mccandless Suicide

    133 Words  | 1 Pages

    In August of 1992, a man by the name of Chris McCandless was found dead in a bus located north of Mt. McKinley Alaska, by a group of hunters. The book, Into the wild, is written by Jon Krakauer who takes on the task of finding out who exactly was Chris McCandless. Through the book, we find out about his childhood, his school life and his travels. The book gives us a sense of who he was a person, his childhood life, and his thoughts on the world. Many argue that his death was a suicide but one can argue that his death was exactly the opposite.

    Read More

  • A Rhetorical Analysis Of Into The Wild

    920 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Chris Mccandless Rhetorical Analysis

    990 Words  | 4 Pages

    The line between rational and irrational thought is often blurred for some more than others. Usually when we cross this line into irrational thought our brain will let us know that what we are doing isn’t within reason. While many believe that Christopher McCandless was crazy and his ideas were ludicrous; I believe that he saw the line between rational and irrational thought very clearly, and that all though some of his ideas may have seemed crazy to some, he carried them out in sane body and mind. Chris was an extremist, a radical youth with different ways of thinking, and often we as a society tend to identify someone as crazy when we cannot comprehend the reasoning behind why a person would do something. Chris was not crazy, but he was

    Read More

  • Who Is Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild

    733 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Chris Mccandless The Wild Analysis

    954 Words  | 4 Pages

    He was reckless when it came to how his friends and family would react when he left because their emotions didn’t seem to matter to him when he made the decision to leave them. His narcissism, however, did not show solely through his recklessness with the feelings of others, but also through how unprepared he was. His stubbornness stopped him from accepting help, and his ignorance prevented him from realizing what he needed to do to survive. Chris’s decision to leave was his equivalent to Evel Knievel’s decision to try to jump over a box filled with rattlesnakes and lions. With that stunt, Knievel had put others at risk for the sake of his own personal goal: money and

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild

    1376 Words  | 6 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Is Chris Mccandless Crazy?

    1216 Words  | 5 Pages

    As Callarman stated, “he (Chris) had no common sense.” What is the definition of common sense that Callarman is arguing against? Perhaps Callarman believed that Chris lacked the ability to perceive, understand, and judge a topic, issue, or subject. Evidence found in Chris’s journal, acquaintance 's accounts, and the preparation taken all conflict heavily with Callarman’s statement. Perhaps the most critical piece of evidence suggesting that Chris was not actually crazy, but was actually trying to prepare for the expedition can be found in an account by Gaylord Stuckey.

    Read More

  • What Is Christopher Mccandless Journey In Into The Wild

    1280 Words  | 6 Pages

    Christopher McCandless’ long, fascinating, but ultimately fatal journey into the wilderness of Alaska is depicted in the biography, Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer.. By the late summer of 1990, a very young Christopher McCandless left his ordinary world in Annandale, Virginia to pursue a solitary life in the untamed wilds of Alaska. McCandless’ call to adventure begins when he packs up his car and heads west, seeking a new life. McCandless’ goes on to encounter many setbacks. On April 27, 1992 the Westerbergs receive a postcard from McCandless stating that he accomplished his goal and now lives in Alaska among the wild.

    Read More

  • Unprepared In Into The Wild

    747 Words  | 3 Pages

    People believed that he ate potato seeds that were possibly poisonous (Hedysarum Alpinum) due to it being a resource around and he was starving. Chris wouldn’t have known they were poisonous but he most likely wouldn’t have eaten them if he would have accepting money, food, or have been better prepared. They think the seeds cause his stomach to weaken then eventually his body weakened, at one point he was too weak to leave the bus to try to go find food. If Chris would have saved some of the $24,000 or kept his map he would have had a better chance of

    Read More

  • Romanticism In Into The Wild

    1754 Words  | 8 Pages

    Romanticism was a movement during the late 18th century that encouraged imagination, exploration, individualism, and emotion. From it derived Transcendentalism, one of the first movements to originate from America and which bore the first American philosophers. These movements are often present in many pieces of American literature and this is no exception in Jon Krakauer’s novel Into the Wild. The historic account retells the story of a young man named Chris McCandless, who adopts the pseudonym Alexander Supertramp and takes to the road, only to die of starvation in Alaska. On the surface it appears to be cautionary tale, but Krakauer literally retraces McCandless’ steps, talking to the people who Chris spoke with and even traveling to Chris’ final resting place.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

    783 Words  | 4 Pages

    “If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” ―Maya Angelou. Jon Krakauer’s true story titled Into the Wild is about a man who decides to throw away his old life and escape the rules of conventional society. Twenty-two-year-old Chris McCandless came from a well-to-do family in Virginia and, without warning, abandons everything. He changes his name, loses contact with his family, gives away his car and all his money, and begins a two-year long journey hitchhiking to Alaska where he eventually dies of starvation.

    Read More

  • Chris Mccandless Flaws In Into The Wild

    987 Words  | 4 Pages

    There were many people he met who tried to talk Chris out of it but since it was just him he never really listened. Shaun Callarman is just one of many people who agree with my ideas of who Chris really was. Shaun says, “I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense,

    Read More

  • Chris Mccandless Ignorant In Into The Wild

    822 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Character Analysis Of Shaun Callarman's 'Into The Wild'

    871 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Really, I think he was just plain crazy,” I do agree with Callarman because I think Chris was a little crazy for doing these actions. He was a very courageous for doing this because not many people would take a random trip to the wilderness because people would rather be in

    Read More

More about Character Analysis: Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

Open Document