Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild investigates the life and adventures of Chris McCandless. The author provides information about Chris’ life to illuminate his journey. Krakauer also uses rhetorical appeals to defend Chris’ rationale for his journey. Through Krakauer’s use of pathos, ethos, and logos, he persuades the audience that Chris is not foolish; however, Krakauer’s intimacy with Chris and his adventures inhibits his objectivity.
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.
In the novel “Into the Wild”, Krakaur goes off on tangents about others similar to that of Chris McCandless. These stories all have a similar undertone that make them tie together for the duration of the book. The first story is about a man with aspirations similar to those of Chris. Gene Rosellini, who was named the Mayor of Hippie Cove by the other residents. Much like Chris, Rosellini had his own standards and ideals.
Journal 1 Krakauer, Jon. Into The Wild. New York: Villard, 1996. Print. Journal 2
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 and puerile. After reading others opinions on his death, it made me resent McCandless even more than I did. “Personally I see nothing positive at all about Chris McCandless’s lifestyle or wilderness doctrine.” (page 71) another opinion states, “McCandless had already gone over the edge and just happened to hit bottom in Alaska.”
Christopher McCandless, the main focus from Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild observes the factors that impacted Chris McCandless to his unfortunate death at the age of 24 in August of 1992 on Stampede Trail, Alaska in attempts to live off the land. Richard Russo who grew up to write his own memoir Elsewhere describing his “American childhood, as lived in the Fifties by a lower-middle class that seems barely to exist anymore” (Russo, 12, 2012). Russo grew up with his mother, Jean Russo, who had Obsessive compulsion disorder, which he tries make sense of the guilt associated with his mother after her death. The two had been impacted developmentally different by the chronosystem and interaction of the microsystems. The unalike interactions explain the differing outcome of the two.
The first timed writing assignment was to discuss the differences between the novel and the movie, Into the Wild, by John Krakauer. In retrospect, my essay would have been more effective if I clearly identified one element in detail about why the change in narrator impacted the story. The use of examples would have strengthened my argument and allowed me to stay on point with the prompt. I also think that a compare and contrast paragraph would have helped my essay. For example, comparisons could have been made between other written works and films.
Into the wild is a book written by Jon Krakauer. There is also a movie directed by sean penn. The main character is chris mccandless. He goes on a fool's trip running away from society and ended up dead in alaska. Shaun callarman says he was bright and ignorant at the same time.
Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer is a non-fiction book, based on the real story of Christopher McCandless, who in the April of 1992,set off alone into the Alaskan wild. He had given all his savings to charity, abandoned his car and his possessions. Unlike others, he wanted to live a life of independence, free from materialistic pleasures and filled with nature and it’s beauty. In addition, McCandless shed his legal name early in his journey, adopting the moniker ‘Alexander Supertramp’. He travelled a lot to places such as South Dakota, Salton City before hitchhiking to Alaska.
Does a correlation exist between what is considered to be meaningless versus what is considered to be meaningful? The association between them comes from the concept existentialism. Existentialism is a psychological lens in which everything is inherently meaningless until someone assigns meaning to it. In On Being Zac Morris, Chuck Klosterman writes about what the popular TV show, Saved by the Bell, means to him, by revisiting past memories in his life that prove to be existential.
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a biography that follows Chris McCandless and his journey through the wilderness while finding himself along the way. Chris McCandless died in the August of 1992 after a four month journey through places like Mexico and Alaska. Krakauer investigates his actions and analyzes his identity after his death, trying to find meaning within his seemingly unnecessary expedition. Chris McCandless constructs his personal identity as a man who wanted to be challenged and inspired by his actions and interests with people he met on the road, and his beliefs and values as a stubborn person. Chris McCandless’s actions are unusual in many ways; for one, he graduates college with honors, but instead of pursuing a career,
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).