In the novel, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer does not make an effective case justifying Chris McCandless' behavior, Chris' dead body is found 114 days later to his lack of preparation, arrogance,
Do you believe “Alex” Christopher Johnson McCandless was successful? Many people say Alex was not successful in any way. Why burn 25,000 dollars and hitchhike to Alaska. “Some readers admires the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals; others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity”(Krakauer, Authors note). I Believe Alex was very successful at times, but there were times he was not at all.
His actions only made him even stranger as time went on. To start off, Chris had a transcendentalist mentality. Chris leaves off on his adventure wanting to start a new life. He burns all his money in his wallet, donates his savings to charity, and leaves without anyone knowing. At the beginning of every chapter, Krakauer starts off with an epigraph.
Miller states in his article “Tragedy and the Common Man” that to be a tragic hero, one must fit into certain criteria. One of them includes the hero’s primary struggle to search for their sense of dignity and identity. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a book about Chris McCandless who abandons his current life to explore the world in search of his real self but dies in the process. He fits this particular criteria about being a tragic hero because he abandoned everything he had som he could go find himself. McCandless did not think this decision through because he had no idea what he was getting himself into and as miller says the protagonist cannot be stupid, insensitive, or incapable of overcoming obstacles.
Krakauer made the life of Chris McCandless an extremely educational and shocking book. It is extraordinary how you can transform the life of a young person into such a decent book with a huge differ in the information and enchanting advice about the adventure of that man in the wild. McCandless was youthful person who settled on a decision which horribly and lethally for him, it did not work out. Also, there was no plot or a story because there was nobody to fault. “In 1992, however, there were no more blank spots on the map-not in Alaska, not anywhere.
One could view him as brash and compulsive, but he did have a sort of genius to him as shown in the days he spent at Lake Mead National Park. Chris arrived at the park on July 6 and soon was forced to abandon his car due to a flash flood. Then, he proceeded to burn all his money, “...in a gesture that would have done Thoreau and Tolstoy proud, he arranged all his paper currency in a pile on the sand… and put a match to it” (Krakauer 29). It is a strange picture to imagine; a young man out in the middle of nowhere having just lost his car to a flood along with some of his belongings then decides to burn his money.
Chris McCandless was a man who went beyond social norms, by going back to nature to prove he could pave his own way. Jon Krakauer later following Chris’ death explains in his novel, Into the Wild, how Chris’ personal experiences affected his personality and thoughts. Jon then characterizes Chris McCandless as a self-reliant, and inspiring person with many stories of the times he had interacted with people as well as how people had personally felt about him once he had passed. McCandless’ self-reliance is proved by his character and his will to do his best no matter where he is. This is shown by examining his anger over how, “[his parents] think that [Chris would] actually let them pay for [his] law school.”
Along with a sensitivity to a fault, and a seemingly complete lack of common sense, he didn’t seem to even know anything about living in the wild at all. Some even called him underprepared for the large journey he wanted to undertake. One example is when Krakauer described the scenario where if Chris had kept a topographical map of the area, he
However, Chris’ personality was that of a drifter who was never satisfied with expensive cars, endless opportunities for education, and meaningful relationships. He constantly fled his problems before they could catch up to him. Throughout Krakauer’s novel Into the Wild, Christopher
Realist: This means to have an understanding of what can be accomplished. By using this word, Krakauer was able to let the readers know that he viewed McCandless as more of a realist than an idealist. Being a realist is a noble trait, due to its denotation meaning of the word which implies that one knows their own limit and weakness and knows how to set forth and complete a goal. Ambivalent about killing animals: The meaning of the phrase is having mixed or contradictory feelings or ideas about killing animals.
Into The Wild portrays a man who went on a fatal unforgettable journey through the alaska wilderness. Chris McCandless was a man with great courage and the ability to live on his own made him more of a hero going on his fatal journey. Many would say he was foolish or not thinking right, but that is not the case. The case here is simply a man with courage wanting to fulfill is beliefs through his journey. One may ask what is courage.
Krakauer demonstrates similarities between Everett and Chris by stating that Everett,
“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.
As each chapter come’s there is an account from Chris’ diary to accompany it. Along with this is some type of quote/ inspirational passage which lets us in on what is to come in the chapter ahead. Krakauer is able to maintain this structure throughout the whole book and through this we are able to pick apart the journey of Chris McCandless to construct our own opinions about his mysterious persona. The structure Krakauer creates for us in Into the Wild is significant to our understanding of Chris and his journey as it sheds insight onto his life from many different
Chris McCandless was a college student with a need for adventure. On April 28, 1992, he left on a journey which would lead to the end of his life. After news of his death had reached public ear, most people came to the same conclusion: Chris McCandless was an uneducated, arrogant boy who went on a journey seeking death. However, in the novel Into the Wild, Jon Krakaur portrays Chris McCandless’ transcendental quest as a journey full of wonder. Throughout the novel, Krakaur defines McCandless as an intelligent, hard working, determined young man.
