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.
In the beginning of chapter 8, Krakauer blatantly states all these strangers’ opinions about McCandless’s death to the reader. These honest and blunt opinions that were stated against McCandless causes one to realize that McCandless’s peril was one hundred percent absurd
In the book, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer writes of his personal experience to add more to Chris McCandless’ story and to the readers understanding of his character. After Krakauer had written the article on Chris, many people had believed that Chris was a suicidal kid who wanted to rebel against the world and his parents. Krakauer, however, did not believe that this was the case because at one time he and Chris had similar characteristics and dreams, “As a youth, I am told, I was willful, self-absorbed, intermittently reckless, and moody. I disappointed my father in the usual ways. Like Chris McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in me a confusing melody of corked fury and hunger to please.” (Page 134, paragraph 3) Regarding this, Chris and Krakauer were very similar people when they had decided to
In the essay, Mark Twain is saying that humans are the lowest of animals. Instead of evolving from lower species, human have descended from higher ones. “In order to determine the difference between an anaconda and an earl (if any) I caused seven young calves to be turned into the anaconda’s cage. The grateful reptile immediately crushed one of them and swallowed it, then lay back satisfied. It showed no further interest in the calves, and no disposition to harm them… The fact stood proven that the difference between an earl and an anaconda is that the earl is cruel and the anaconda isn’t….” (Twain 2). This is one example Twain uses to explain to the reader one of the reasons why he believes man is the lowest of animals. This example tells
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.
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.
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.
The Alaskan Bush is one of the hardest places to survive without any assistance, supplies, skills, and little food. Jon Krakauer explains in his biography, Into The Wild, how Christopher McCandless ventured into the Alaskan Bush and ultimately perished due to lack of preparation and hubris. McCandless was an intelligent young man who made a few mistakes but overall Krakauer believed that McCandless was not an ignorant adrenalin junkie who had no respect for the land. Krakauer chose to write this biography because he too had the strong desire to discover and explore as he also ventured into the Alaskan Bush when he was a young man, but he survived unlike McCandless. Krakauer’s argument was convincing because he gives credible evidence that McCandless was not foolish like many critics say he was.
Krakauer wrote Into the Wild with a great deal of respect and privacy in regards to this issue, but years later Carine decided it was time to come clean. Mr. and Mrs. McCandless still claim Krakauer to have written rubbish about their beloved son. Carine commented that she was not surprised by the response because their parents never understood the impact they had on Chris or herself (Holtzclaw). McCandless was about to embark on the unforgettable journey he had waited his entire life for in order to become “King of the Road” but only for the course of two years. “King of the Road” was country singer Roger Miller’s song, published in 1965 that idealized a type of vagabond lifestyle (King of). According to the 20/20 on Chris McCandless this
Going out into the wild all by yourself can be nerve wracking and lonely. Jon Krakauer makes Chris McCandless seemed like a noble person who took the initiative to try to go out and live into the wild. The book Into the Wild written by Jon Krakauer, is about a teenager named Chris McCandless leaving society and traveling to Alaska by himself with nothing else but a bag of rice and a small .22 caliber gun. Chris is heroic because he went to Alaska by himself without any knowledge of Alaska and didn’t know any of the dangers of Alaska.
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
Into the Wild was written by Jon Krakauer and is a biography. Into the Wild is about a man named Chris Mccandless who separates himself from his family, friends, and all civilization. After college Chris Mccandless separates himself from his family and he goes into the alaskan wilderness to live alone. Chris Mccandless denies a car that his parents offered him and before he went into the wilderness he burned all of his cash in his wallet before he went into the wilderness. Chris Mccandless separates himself from his family, he doesn’t accept any gifts, and he has a conflict with everything around him.
When he was on the road he met a man named Jim Gallien that tells him he is unprepared. Jim Gallien notices when he is in his truck him Chris McCandless he notices his gun is not the correct caliber it should be (Krakauer, page 5). Chris McCandless after leaving Ron Franz decides to canoe the Colorado River with just 5 pounds of rice as his main source of food (Krakauer, page 32). When Chris McCandless gets back to the bus his decisions are not good and he uses too much energy doing certain tasks that should be easy and not consume too much energy (Krakauer, page 189). Chris spends too much energy on collecting berries and hunting and does not think about what he is doing, he dies of starvation by August 19th (Krakauer, page 189). Chris McCandless did not think about what he was doing and this costed him his
Based on a real story, Into the Wild can make us think from different perspectives about what the main character Christopher McCandless did. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a dramatic but also remarkable story from a young, newly graduated, college student that escaped for a long wild journey but never came back. As time passes throughout the book, the reader may notice how the main character interacts with society and nature, finally McCandless dies in the wild but even though he was struggling for survival he died happy.
When McCandless returned home his parents expressed their fears about his dangerous, daunting trips. Although he knew the dangerous situations he was putting himself through, he didn’t want to back down to his parents, “he wanted to prove to himself that he could make it on his own, without anybody else’s help” (178). He was tired of being babied by his parents, he wanted to show them that he was no longer a boy, but a man. McCandless’ refusal of his parent’s loving advice therefore proves that he wished to be his own person, stating the actions of his trip into the wild as being sane, and a product of independence.