How Does Chris Mccandless Use Ethos In Into The Wild

Gabi Cruz

Mrs. Root

IB English HL

6 March 2023

The Superiority of Into the Wild The non-fiction novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer narrates and discusses the journey of a young adventurer by the name of Chris McCandles, commonly known as Alexander Supertramp, who was found dead in the Alaskan wilderness of 1992. By utilizing the memories and experiences of those who knew McCandless, Krakauer leads the reader through over a year of detailed research that pieces together the truest version of Chris’s life and the cause of his death. Alternatively, “The Beatification of Chris McCandless: From thieving poacher into saint”, an article by Craig Medred, focuses directly on all negative aspects of McCandless’s story and criticizes Krakauer’s apparent

Additionally, Medred provides little to no solid evidence, and the evidence he does present is obscure at best, rendering his use of logos useless as his claims are difficult to rationalize. Thus, through seamless use of ethos, pathos, and logos, Krakauer’s representation of Chris McCandless’s story is superior to Medred’s interpretation on the grounds of clearly communicated bias and neutrality, a lack of forceful opinion, and perspicuous evidence-based conclusions.

Throughout the entirety of his novel, Krakauer utilizes ethos to clearly portray his own biases and build the credibility of McCandless’s personal accounts, allowing the reader to decide the weight his words hold for themselves. He states in the author’s note that “I won’t claim to be an impartial biographer. McCandless’s tale struck a personal note that made a dispassionate rendering of the tragedy impossible. Throughout most of the book, I have tried– and largely succeeded, I think– to minimize my authorial

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). While Krakauer admits to holding a personal bias towards McCandless’s life and story, his statements about McCandless’s emotions and reasoning stems directly from