Jon Krakauer makes various claims about how Chris McCandless is a very noble person. Krakauer’s bias is throughout the book Into the Wild. The book is about Chris McCandless and his adventures across America. The book is his life story covering how he died and how he came to the point of his death. Krakauer uses his bias and various claims to show what type of person Chris really was and to show some of how Chris thought about the world and government.
John Krakauer’s account of the journey of Chris McCandless has inspired many other people to seek out the beauty of nature. Why would a story with such a tragic ending cause others to do exactly what in the end killed McCandless? Perhaps it’s because Krakauer depicts Chris as a hardworking honest young man, who throughout his journey uncovered many truths about life. Maybe it’s because Krakauer includes so many passages talking about the beauty and simplicity of nature. Possibly this inspiration is contributed to because Krakauer chalks the death of McCandless up to chance.
Jon Krakauer’s fascination in a young man’s life turns out to be more than an article of the boy’s adventure and the journey he set out for himself. Krakauer reflects on much larger subjects within the book based on his path while trying to understand Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless, a young man from an East Coast family, abandons everything set for him in his path. Donating twenty-four-thousand-dollar savings account to charity, burning the cash he had, leaving his car and possessions behind were all decisions Chris thought were right for him. His confident yet riskful choices led him to an independent life in the wild.
Kyle Yin Ms. Everett ERWC, 2, 10 3 February 2023 Chris McCandless: Idealism and Imperfection In April of 1992, a young man named Chris McCandless walked into the Alaskan wilderness alone and attempted to survive off the land. 113 days later, his body was found by hunters, dead of starvation. Four years later, the author Jon Krakauer picked up on his story and published the book, Into The Wild, detailing McCandless’ story and eventual death. McCandless went into the wild to follow his very specific ideals:
Krakauer most likely came across the story and became fixated with Christopher “Alexander Supertramp” McCandless. The way he had shut everyone out, went off on his own into the wild, and how and could go for months on end without writing any of his loved ones. He didn't write the this book because of the outdoorsy elements that he's known for, he wrote it because he had a fascination with McCandless. Krakauer went from state to state interviewing people for this book. Throughout the text, you see countless
In the national bestseller Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the book investigates and observes Chris McCandless and his life-up to the moment of his fascinating, mysterious death. McCandless had died in Alaska in a makeshift cabin out in the middle of the woods, due to consuming a toxic substance that slowly starved him to death. His story was featured in a newspaper article illustrating his life before his deaths, and much criticism was generated towards it. Many thought that McCandless was just another Christopher McCandless was another “one of those crackpots from the lower forty-eight who come north to live out ill-considered Jack London fantasies” (Krakauer 4), and that he wasn’t anyone respectable to look up to. Christopher McCandless, however, was unique in his determination, love of wisdom, and relentless optimism, and should be regarded as an admirable person because of these traits of his.
The story of Christopher McCandless then begins with his epic journey that had a fateful end. His story builds with Krakauer trying to piece together why he left and for what gain. As the book builds up the reader begins to understand why McCandless left he did so because his parents were pressuring him he had a troubled relationship with his father. Krakauer also includes stories of other adventurers who meet the same fate and included and memories of him and letters are also included in the book. Krakauer does so in defense of McCandless to show that it could happen to anyone in the wild.
4 years after Christopher Johnson McCandless death in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992, Jon Krakauer beautifully depicts every moment of the tumultuous times leading up to Chris’s demise. Fed up with ill intentions of his peers and society, McCandless departs for the dark corners of the country. Since McCandless held nature close to his heart, and preached against the object-oriented society he lived in, Chris can be classified as a contemporary transcendentalist. Chris passionately tries to draw metaphysical connections between himself and nature.
The risk that that lifestyle imposed was exactly what McCandless craved. Even though Krakauer sheds a compassionate, and forgiving light on Chris McCandless’s story, I believe he was not mistaken in his approval for McCandless’s way of life. Maybe our author’s bias in his writing of the story came from the similarities he found
“He wasn’t a nutcase” (85). Why does Krakauer use this euphemism? Krakauer uses this euphemis because he believes that McCandless wasn’t insane, he was clever just the way he is. He follows what he wanted to be and what he wanted to become, he didn’t back just because people said he wasn’t like other people, who would have jobs and build a family.
Krakauer also put some of McCandless’ journals and letters in the book. According to Shaun Callarmans analysis Chris McCandless had no business going to Alaska. Callarman thinks Chris McCandless is just plain crazy. Callarman doesn't admire his courage or noble ideas. Even though Shaun Callarman thinks Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant, also made mistakes because of his arrogance, I disagree with Callarmans analysis
Although there are varied opinions on Chris McCandless, we may never get to know the full truth. He was a young man straight out of college who decided to drop everything he had to live a life on the road that would eventually lead him to the Alaskan wilderness. Many say he was reckless and naïve, while others applaud him for the journey he took, showing his bravery and courage. Much like Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild, I agree with the latter group. However, I don't think what he did was one-hundred percent responsible, instead I respect his vision to find himself and to get out.
Throughout chapters 8 and 9, the author showed his bias towards Chris McCandless, which is an act of defiance to his position as an objective journalist, when he attempted to alter the readers’ negative point of view towards Chris by the introduction of different people who had similar experiences and characteristics as him and then making comparison. After reading the previous chapters, the readers have already made their own judgement on Chris, which are probably mostly negative. To address this issue, Krakauer initiates chapter 8 by introducing negative comments and mails not only about Chris but also to him, the author. These will serve as an argument that he will later attempt to disprove while at the same time, still informing the readers about what makes Chris special and unique.
However, Jon Krakauer proves his argument that McCandless was not arrogant, foolish, antisocial, or crazy by giving examples of other young men who were similar to McCandless to show that his journey wasn’t unprecedented. He also proves that McCandless wasn’t antisocial because he developed personal relationships with Ronald Franz, Wayne Westerberg, and Jan Burres in such a short amount of time and explaining the many times that McCandless respected the Alaskan Bush. Krakauer admits that McCandless may have suffered from hubris; he was still a victim of circumstances. Krakauer proves that McCandless had an intrinsic motivation to discover and that he wasn’t alone because Krakauer too ventured into the Alaskan Bush when he was younger. The Alaskan Bush is a very difficult place to survive if one isn’t prepared for many challenges such as hunting for food or staying warm in the frost ridden
“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.
