Analysis Of Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

From the minute Jon Krakauer’s audience cracks open his biography, Into the Wild, his admiration for adventurer Christopher McCandless, the main focus of the story, becomes instantly apparent. Though the former is obvious, oftentimes throughout the book, the organization of Krakauer’s ideas can prove to be confusing for the reader. But every decision the author makes during the creation of this masterpiece was completely intentional, and all contribute to the development of Krakauer’s overall purpose in writing this story. By analyzing Krakauer’s organization of ideas, changes in point-of-view, and the way he uses comparisons to enforce his points, readers will better understand Krakauer’s purpose behind the heart-wrenching and empowering Into

In the beginning of the story, Into the Wild is in told in primarily third person multiple point-of-view; as the story progressed, it began to be told from the point-of-view of the narrator, or first person point-of-view. Initially, Krakauer constructs sentences such as this: “A little later Alex pulled out his crude map and pointed to a dashed red line that intersected the road near the coal-mining town of Healy” (page 5). Near the end of the story, he was putting together sentences like this: “My suspicion that McCandless’s death was unplanned, that it was a terrible accident, comes from reading those few documents left behind… over the final year of his life” (page 134). These contrasting sentences exemplify Krakauer’s switch in perspective (point-of-view). Krakauer’s intention is to, over time, fully immerse himself into the story, so that he can share his own viewpoint and opinions regarding McCandless with the audience. Including multiple point-of-views also allows the author to observe everyone else’s perspective, as well as his own. Switching from third person to first person, rather than the other way around, also ensures that by the time Krakauer reveals his own views, the audience will have already established a personal relationship with him, and will potentially be more interested in what he feels. But most importantly, by establishing a first person point-of-view, Krakauer has the freedom to reveal his own views, which allows him to assert his