Analysis Of Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

The late Helen Keller once said “Life is either a great adventure or nothing,” mirroring Chris McCandless’s view on how he wanted to live his life. At a young age of only 22, Christopher Johnson McCandless hitchhiked to Alaska ditching his well-to-do family, donating $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoning his possessions, burning his money and social security card in hope to discover a new life. Four months later his body was discovered by a moose hunter leaving, his family to wonder about his final days. McCandless’ tragic story became a national sensation when Krakauer released an article in Outside magazine. The article aroused many opinions as to whether or not Chris was to be admired or criticized for his foolishness.. In the story

At times Krakauer allows his emotions to be persuasive, however still allows the reader to form their own opinion. McCandless was admired by many people when his story was released. Krakauer reveals his own admirable view of Chris when he writes, “Although he was rash, untutored in the ways of the backcountry, and incautious to the point of foolhardiness, he wasn't incompetent- he wouldn't have lasted 113 days if he were. And he wasn't a nutcase, he wasn't a sociopath, he wasn't an outcast. McCandless was something else- although previously what is hard to say” (Krakauer 85). Krakauer views McCandless as someone that is very hard to describe in words. Krakauer believes that McCandless is to be admired because he was able to survive in the wilderness, and even before that, he was able to survive in all the trips that he took to nature. Krakauer recognizes what it would have taken for someone to

Addressed in the authors note, Krakauer states, “I won't claim to be an impartial biographer. McCandless’s strange tale struck a personal note...I interrupt McCandless’s story with fragments of a narrative drawn from my own youth” (Krakauer authors note). Krakauer's emotion presence became unfairly persuasive when writing about his own personal experiences in relation to McCandless’. Krakauer’s admirable view on McCandless is understood to be intriguing and obsessive however, his opinions do not interfere with developing an opinion. On the other hand, Krakauer highlights McCandless’ dull-witted manner when writing, “McCandless, in his fashion, merely took risk-taking to its logical extreme. He has a need to test himself in ways, as he was fond of saying, “that mattered”. He possessed grand – some would say grandiose – spiritual ambitions (Krakauer 182).” McCandless tried to live entirely off the country without bothering to learn the necessary survival skills. He definitely overestimated his resilience, but still somehow managed to survive quite some time. Chris McCandless was fully aware of what was at stake, however he took risk-taking to its logical extreme. Furthermore, Krakauer uses “merely” becoming too