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Analysis Of Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

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“Engaging in risky behavior is a rite of passage in our culture”(Krakouer 182). Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer is a book about Chris McCandless and his rebellion against his family and societal conformity in order to find himself. Chris is an adventurous boy that graduates from college and journeys west eventually heading into Alaska. Chris does this with minimal supplies because he believes in self reliance. Chris wonders around the west coast traveling and working. When he eventually makes it to Alaska he lasts for a while living out of an abandoned bus. Later Chris is found dead. On his journey Chris makes a lot of risks which allow his to eventually find himself as a person. The way Into the Wild was written was controversial on whether …show more content…

This story is almost irrelevant to Chris’s adventure, yet Krakauer still includes it. This shows how Chris is not perfect and maybe was a little crazy. This story helps the reader to form their own opinions towards McCandless because this story does not follow Krakauer's bias. Along with having stories that support the theory that Chris was just a crazy rebellious teen, Krakauer also includes stories of which Chris can be idolized. Krakauer discusses Chris’s skills and says, “He wasn't incompetent, he wouldn't have lasted 113 days if he was” (85). Krakauer disagrees with those who think that McCandless did not know what he was doing. Krakouer definitely makes his opinion that he supports McCandless’s ideas known, but by including details opposing his opinion he successfully narrates an impartial …show more content…

This may be argued because at one point Krakouer includes a personal anecdote where he compares himself and his similar adolescent adventures to the one Chris embarked on. “When I decided to go to Alaska that April, like Chris McCandless, I was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic” (155). When one reads this they may think that Krakauer’s opinions are skewed because he did something similar. But actually this helps further develop the book. Krakouer too was an adventurous outcast who went on a journey like McCandless. This means that Krakouer is familiar with Chris’s mindset and could further understand why he did the things he did. This also allowed Krakouer to better convey Chris’s story to readers. Krakouer also includes arguments other people had provided him with to defend that Chris was not crazy. “It can be argued that youthful derring-do is in fact evolutionarily adaptive, a behavior encoded in our genes” (182). The way of which Krakauer wrote this book was with several opinions included. He pieced together the stories of those Chris met in order to find out the truth of what happened to Chris. Krakouer admits that Chris was a dare devil and took unnecessary risks but Krakauer argues that this doesn't make him a bad person. Krakauer's opinion is present in the book but it is the

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321 Words | 2 Pages

“He wasn’t a nutcase” (85). Why does Krakauer use this euphemism? Krakauer uses this euphemis because he believes that McCandless wasn’t insane, he was clever just the way he is. He follows what he wanted to be and what he wanted to become, he didn’t back just because people said he wasn’t like other people, who would have jobs and build a family.

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632 Words | 3 Pages

With everything that Chris did he was very noble but he would have survived longer if he had taken proper precautions. Krakauer’s bias appears in the book but he admits it from the beginning. He also is accepting of the other view of Chris. In the author's note, Krakauer wrote “some readers

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568 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout chapters 8 and 9, the author showed his bias towards Chris McCandless, which is an act of defiance to his position as an objective journalist, when he attempted to alter the readers’ negative point of view towards Chris by the introduction of different people who had similar experiences and characteristics as him and then making comparison. After reading the previous chapters, the readers have already made their own judgement on Chris, which are probably mostly negative. To address this issue, Krakauer initiates chapter 8 by introducing negative comments and mails not only about Chris but also to him, the author. These will serve as an argument that he will later attempt to disprove while at the same time, still informing the readers about what makes Chris special and unique.

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816 Words | 4 Pages

Jon Krakauer’s fascination in a young man’s life turns out to be more than an article of the boy’s adventure and the journey he set out for himself. Krakauer reflects on much larger subjects within the book based on his path while trying to understand Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless, a young man from an East Coast family, abandons everything set for him in his path. Donating twenty-four-thousand-dollar savings account to charity, burning the cash he had, leaving his car and possessions behind were all decisions Chris thought were right for him. His confident yet riskful choices led him to an independent life in the wild.

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1364 Words | 6 Pages

Some would argue that Chris McCandless was a reckless young man who made irrational decisions in life, however Jon Krakauer justifies his craziness by showing how Chris made an effort to be self reliant through his journey. By relying on his own powers and abilities to survive, Chris wanted to be independent and live completely on his own rather than being dependent on his family or the people he met along the way. Krakauer added a part of Chris’s journal in the book to support his way of thinking, “‘Mr. Franz I think careers are a 20th century invention and I don’t want one’” (Krakauer).

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692 Words | 3 Pages

At the beginning of the chapter, we learn that many people who read the January 1993 edition of Outside felt that McCandless was mentally disturbed. The story generated a large volume of mail on what many thought was the glorification of a foolish death. Most of the negativity came from Alaskan citizens. Everyone commented on how there was nothing positive about Chris or the journey that he was taking. Nick Jans, a schoolteacher, wrote the most critical note to Krakauer.

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920 Words | 4 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis of Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild ” Jon Krakauer ’s purpose in writing Into the Wild is to recount Chris McCandless’ journey, physical and metaphysical, from college in Georgia to his death in Alaska, through the use of factual, and anecdotal evidence. Krakauer uses factual evidence to establish that he is a trustworthy narrator capable of giving the reader a realistic scope on the events in the story. Jon uses anecdotal evidence to see into Chris’ psyche from the various perspectives found in the book’s excerpts, including how Jon understands the events.

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2137 Words | 9 Pages

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

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1668 Words | 7 Pages

Thank you, Chris McCandless. August?”(Krakauer,12) Journal: (P)At this point in the book two different parties have found Chris McCandless's note. I think at this point he is already dead with this things written at the start of the book and the rotting smell. I do not think the two parties will trust one another and help report him in fear that the other party killed him. I did not understand why Chris spend all day searching for food while already being really weak.

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834 Words | 4 Pages

Into The Wild written by Jon Krakauer is a biography about a man named Chris McCandless and his struggles after traveling Into the Wild. Into the Wild begins when a young boy just out of college named Chris McCandless decides to disown the rules of society and chooses to live in the wilderness. After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters and conflicts that shape his life forever. This book traces his steps from living in the wild all the way until his body was found on August 1992, on the Stampede trail in Alaska.

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959 Words | 4 Pages

His persistence carries him through his journey into the wild, but also gives him trouble in later life when he gets a job at McDonald’s but leaves because they want him to wear socks while working (Krakauer 39-41). However, although McCandless has a few good morals, he lacks the belief of valuing family. This is evident when he states that, “I’m going to completely knock [my parents] out of my life… and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live” (Krakauer 64). McCandless’s beliefs give him a platform for his identity as a stubborn person that is hungry for something challenging, but also provides him with hardships and trouble along the

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806 Words | 4 Pages

Into the Wild tells the story of Chris McCandless, a young man who embarked on an adventure across the U.S. Chris lived for adventure, and sadly met his demise in the Alaskan wilderness. Chris’ death brought about a large debate as to whether Chris was insane or simply idealistic. Krakauer wrote Into the Wild to prove Chris’ sanity and soundly completes that task by using rhetorical devices to persuade his audience. Throughout the book, Krakauer uses ethos to develop Chris’ credibility by providing examples of people who are similar to him. For example, Krakauer provides multiple examples of people who were very similar to Chris, such as Everett Ruess.

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783 Words | 4 Pages

“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.

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629 Words | 3 Pages

Krakauer completes gaps in Chris’ story; but loses objectivity as he intertwines Chris’ experiences and emotions with his own. Though Krakauer’s details about Chris provide insight, his emotional involvement in Chris’ life becomes an

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882 Words | 4 Pages

Based on a real story, Into the Wild can make us think from different perspectives about what the main character Christopher McCandless did. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a dramatic but also remarkable story from a young, newly graduated, college student that escaped for a long wild journey but never came back. As time passes throughout the book, the reader may notice how the main character interacts with society and nature, finally McCandless dies in the wild but even though he was struggling for survival he died happy. Some people never get out of their comfort zone, others are tired of it and retire from their comfort zone to have different experiences in life, some are good enough or some are terrible.

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