ipl-logo

Similarities Between Into The Wild And To Build A Fire

574 Words3 Pages

In the book “Into the Wild” written by John Krakauer, and the short story “To Build a Fire” by Jack London, both represent and differ similarities within these stories. These two stories represent a selfish man thinking they can tackle an adventure in the wild. The two main characters live and experience identical deaths. The similarities between these two characters are nothing more than that both men travelled in similar harsh winter weather conditions, despite the fact both men were informed before their travels it would not be a simple journey to survive. Why would people face harsh weather conditions with little to no aid for them to survive?
Throughout the story “into the wild”, Chris after months of “living off the land” in Alaska, starves to death in his bus after finally finding a moose which gave him hope, but since he had not eaten in days and it was infested with flies and bugs, he passes away. He could not eat the moose without obtaining a disease and getting sick. Likewise, in the short story “to build a fire”, the man is faced against harsh weather conditions of 70 below 0 while walking through the Yukon trail for many hours. After falling in the river, the man sits down underneath a tree, and passes away due to his fire being put out by the snow and limited matches. The reason …show more content…

Chris came from a rich and caring family which some would say is the reason he took this approach to go live in the wild for potentially years, alone. On the contrary, the man from the story “to build a fire” clearly did not come from much wealth considering he was willing to travel in the coldest parts of Canada to attempt to find gold. However, the man decided to travel with his dog that had little to no major influence on him, on his adventure to find his friends. However, Chris brought little to nothing with

Show More
Related

  • Similarities Between Grizzly Man And Into The Wild

    599 Words  | 3 Pages

    When people isolate themselves from society they develop similar characteristics. In Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Christopher McCandless, the main character graduates as a top student and makes the choice to give away all his money to charity as well as leaving behind his belongings instead of pursuing a career. He then travels out to Alaska, journaling his experience in the wildness and changes his name to Alex. In the movie Grizzly Man, Werner Herzog uses footage shot by Timothy himself to document what inspired him to live with the wild bears in Alaska. One of the bears Treadwell takes care of tragically kills him; his footage gives a stronger look at nature and its harsh realities.

    Read More

  • Chris Mccandless Argumentative Essay

    788 Words  | 4 Pages

    He wanted to go in there without really anything so that he can make things that were in the nature. “Chris didn’t think twice about risking his own life…”(Carine McCandless 128). I absolutely think that this quote about Chris is very true because he was so into finding new adventures to take, to enjoy and be happy with

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Devices In Into The Wild

    903 Words  | 4 Pages

    Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, tells the story of a young man named Christopher McCandless who decided to go and survive in the wilderness of Alaska without correct preparation. McCandless was a man with as transcendentalist-like mindset, an adventurer, an explorer, and a hiker. He migrated away from civilization and society with the goal of living in solitude and living his life to the fullest through nature. The audience was introduced to McCandless’ views towards society through McCandless’ journey through Alaska, and the depressing yet inspiring events that led up to his death. Krakauer creates emotional appeals to connect him with McCandless to credit himself as a writer, as well as to develop the audiences’ feelings of McCandless.

    Read More

  • Is Chris Mccandless Crazy?

    1216 Words  | 5 Pages

    This statement, made by Shaun Callarman, pertains to Chris McCandless’s trek into Alaska that ultimately led to death by starvation. Since the recovery of Chris’s body, there has been much speculation about the prevention of Chris’s death and the possible causes. Despite Callarman’s plea of craziness, there have been both eye-witness accounts showing that Chris was sane and prepared when leaving for the Alaskan wilderness, many natural

    Read More

  • Chris Mccandless Heroic

    903 Words  | 4 Pages

    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. One way Krakauer make Chris seem noble is when Chris is about to enter Alaska he tells Gallien “ I’m goin’ to get on up there live off the land,go claim me a piece of the good life” (Krakauer 4).

    Read More

  • Unprepared In Into The Wild

    747 Words  | 3 Pages

    Taking a journey into an unknown state can cause many problems, but with no map or proper equipment, more problems arise. In the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris wanted to escape reality/society but he went into the adventure blindsided and unprepared. He did many things and didn’t think of his family and friends back home. When Chris left his whole life behind, he did some questionable things that made him a reckless and arrogant person by not being prepared, throwing his life away, and made arrogant errors that caused his death that could have been prevented.

    Read More

  • Into The Wild Analysis

    871 Words  | 4 Pages

    I think he just wanted to pursue life in a different way. Chris was not seeing life the way anyone else was, so he decided to brush off into the wild and be free on his own. Though he did not survive, he was still a very bright, arrogant human being. Shaun Callarman states, “He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness.” Chris knew going into the wild that he did not have much survival skills, but that did not stop him from doing what he wanted to do because he did not care about society and was just completely over everything which was why he made the move to the wilderness.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Into The Wild

    915 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Chris Mcandless Into The Wild Essay

    659 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the words of John Krakauer “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 conservation, 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.” If asked to describe Chris Mcandless in Into The Wild one could say that he is simply foolish. Chris could have lived a longer life if he would have stayed in the comfort of his own hometown. Chris’ common sense was obliterated by his time in the wilderness. Not only did he throw common sense to the wind, he also went into the wild leaving behind many people who loved and cared deeply about him.

    Read More

  • Chris Mccandless Life In The Wild Analysis

    1125 Words  | 5 Pages

    Chris McCandless abandoned the modern world and chose the wild because he believed that he could improve himself through living in the wild, and found the true happiness of the life. McCandless abandoned his wealthy family because of his complicated relationship with his father, and he was ashamed with his father’s adultery. Therefore, McCandless believed that human relationship was not the only thing that forms happiness, instead a man’s connection with the nature brings joy as well. He also believed the habitual lifestyle was not what people were meant to do, and people shouldn't have more possessions than what they need. For this reason, McCandless traveled with little effects.

    Read More

  • Christopher Mccandless: A Tragic Hero

    765 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Summary Of 'The Chris Mccandless Obsession Problem'

    781 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the 2013 online article, “The Chris McCandless Obsession Problem”, author Diana Saverin describes the Alaskan wilderness travel phenomenon along with attempting to uncover the ‘McCandless Pilgrims’ “root of motivation. Sparked by the release of both Jon Krakauer’s and Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild”, numerous individuals pack their backpacks and eagerly step into their (sometimes newly-bought) hiking shoes and tramp into the Alaskan Wild to pay homage to their hero Chris McCandless. Filled with personal anecdotes and interviews, Severin’s Outside article takes a new approach Into the Wild commentary by directing attention to the lives McCandless’s story affected indirectly rather than critiquing on McCandless himself. In response to what appears to be a huge amount of troubled McCandless-inspired tramping stories, Saverin provides an unbiased rationale as a attempt to explain why so many are “willing to risk injury, and even death, to..visit the last home of Alaska’s most famous adventure casualty”. Saverin begins her article with anecdote- telling the unfortunate experience of young lovers and adept adventure seekers, Ackerman and Gros.

    Read More

  • Jack London's To Build A Fire And The Most Dangerous Game By Richard Connell

    1498 Words  | 6 Pages

    To Build a Fire” and “The Most Dangerous Game” by Richard Connell. The settings in these stories, the Yukon in “To Build a Fire” and an island in the south Atlantic in “The Most Dangerous Game”, take a toll on the main characters in a very different fashion. Both of these short stories provide excellent demonstrations of this topic but the most obvious are the environment The Man is in, the, application of nature in Rainsford’s survival, Connells animal-like description of Rainsford, and the symbol of fire. We see in “To Build a Fire” that The Man is constantly plagued by the icy tundra he finds himself in.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay: 'To Build A Fire'

    674 Words  | 3 Pages

    Argumentative Essay In “To Build a Fire,” the story of an unnamed man traveling along the Yukon Trail with a dog is told. Throughout the story, the man’s death is foreshadowed. The husky that he is traveling with has a natural instinct and understands, seemingly more than the man, that traveling the Yukon Trail in the freezing cold temperatures is extremely dangerous. The man soon learns how cold it is when he spits.

    Read More

  • Into The Wild Ethical Analysis

    826 Words  | 4 Pages

    Chris McCandless, whose story is analyzed in Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, is a young adult who decides to leave his known habits and material belongings behind and live a completely self-sufficient life in the wilderness, a choice which ultimately leads to his death. In doing that, he also forfeits his family and friends. With that in mind, a question can be posed regarding the ethics of said behavior. As a childless, single and financially independent man, Chris McCandless has absolute ownership of his body and thus his decision to continue doing a sport that he knows can kill him is ethically defensible.

    Read More

More about Similarities Between Into The Wild And To Build A Fire

Open Document