Shan K. Masson
Mr. Wellen
ERWC
December 15, 2017
Into the Wild Research Paper
Chris McCandless had about three literary heroes that he respected and showed throughout the novel. He is a smart young man, who likes to read, this shows throughout the novel. McCandless follows the philosophy of his heroes very much in the novel, weaving his interpersonal life with their philosophies. Because he lives by their words, that caused him to suffer much throughout the novel. Henry David Thoreau and Jack London were the two most influential to his life. Jack London was probably the most influential to McCandless. His work, The Call of the Wild was about survival, which probably made McCandless want to take himself out into the wild, as he shared
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He was born in 1876 in the city of San Francisco to his mother, Flora Wellmen, who was mostly ill throughout his life. London was taken care of by a nurser from his infancy. His family had settled in Oakland where London had completed his schooling, and taking the name of Jack. London was associated with politics, because as he was growing up he became fascinated with Socialism, but that actually hurt him in the long run in hopes of becoming mayor. Because of his failures to become mayor, he ended up working as a factory worker, and used writing to escape from his reality. The life as a factory worker was very difficult for London, so using literature was a tame way to escape it. That is what inspired London to pursue his career as a writer, his works were usually unsuccessful and barely got attention, but in 1899 was when he published Overland Monthy it brought him his final break to fame, and became known as classics throughout the ages to come. Due to his fame, he funded himself and went on a voyage, which for a fun fact made Hawaii a very popular tourist spot. London has made his fame and name, which is why McCandless respects him so …show more content…
The readers can imagine the vivid landscape of the wild that Jack London describes in detail because he does such a good job at it. The beginning of the novel shows the most insight to London’s work of nature. London describes the importance of raw nature and its beauty and impact on life. This is what gets McCandless into the nature, and it influences him a lot to live by his words and the philosophies. London does a good job in describing in depth of how the wilderness looks like, going in detail to it. So that anybody could also read it as