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Iconoclism In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

653 Words3 Pages

The story of Chris McCandless, chronicled by Jon Krakauer in Into the Wild, is a story of iconoclasm, of a young man who wants to deviate from the norm, and seclude himself from mainstream society. Chris, despite seeming like a typical kid fresh out of college, who wants to finally declare independence from school and family, is not simply like that. Chris not only wants to pursue a life independent from these institutions, but from the institution of society itself. By burning all his money and his social security card, abandoning his car, and trekking all the way to Mt. Denali in Alaska, in pursuit of “the truth”, Chris has effectively declared independence from civilization, the established order of how to live. He is, in essence, a young iconoclast. Throughout the book, the reader gets a glimpse into the mindset of Chris, and why he chooses the path of seclusion from society. One such glimpse is from a letter written by Chris to his friend Ron, in which he persuades Ron to join him on his journey to experience the the truth to life. He writes, “If you want to get more out of …show more content…

Chris, despite being a young man just out of college, chooses the path of celibacy, a shocking move to most Americans, as Krakauer explains: “We Americans are titillated by sex, obsessed by it, horrified by it. When an apparently healthy person, especially a healthy young man, elects to forgo the enticements of the flesh, it shocks us... Suspicions are aroused.” (Krakauer 66). American society, while not an immoral one, is not one that shies away from sexuality, as most Americans are not immune to sexual desire and find it shocking that one could reject such desires. All societies and civilizations rely on human sexuality and procreation to preserve itself and to grow. By rejecting sex, Chris is effectively rejecting the preservation of American society. Thus, Chris is again engaging in

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Chris McCandless was smart, a straight A student, got accepted into Emory University, and decided to not apply his knowledge when he went into the wilderness of Alaska in 1992. Into the Wild, a biography written by Jon Krakauer, is about Chris’s story of after he graduated high school and went into the wild. Right after he went to high school, he traveled the country in his yellow datsun, met amazing people, and came back to finish college. After finishing college with a degree, he went hitchhiking across the country again and went into the alaskan wilderness, without ever coming back alive. Chris McCandless went into the wild unprepared with any good materials, he did not have a very good knowledge of what he was actually doing, and he left

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133 Words | 1 Pages

In August of 1992, a man by the name of Chris McCandless was found dead in a bus located north of Mt. McKinley Alaska, by a group of hunters. The book, Into the wild, is written by Jon Krakauer who takes on the task of finding out who exactly was Chris McCandless. Through the book, we find out about his childhood, his school life and his travels. The book gives us a sense of who he was a person, his childhood life, and his thoughts on the world. Many argue that his death was a suicide but one can argue that his death was exactly the opposite.

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641 Words | 3 Pages

In a way Chris Mccandless became a casualty to his own passion and obsession. “Into the Wild” is a book written by John Krakauer about a man who went from being a graduate at Emory University to fulfilling a drive and need of living as one with the wild. Mccandless had more courage than many people and he was willing to give up anything and walk away. Chris was a man seeking adventure, filled with confidence and a dream. It seems that he lived with one mindset that nothing could stop him and he was going to prove that; he hitch hiked his way through America to reach a point of personal fulfillment.

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569 Words | 3 Pages

In the book “Into the Wild” written by Jon Krakauer, the tragedy about a man named Christopher McCandless is explained. Chris grew up with a love for nature. As he got older he took more and more trips and eventually moved to Alaska to live off the land. While he was in Alaska, he changed his name to Alex and was living a happy life. Soon his food supply was running short and he became sick and has said to have died due to starvation.

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807 Words | 4 Pages

Chris rejected his father at first for being materialistic but the climax of the story is when Chris finds out that his father lived a double life as after the divorce of his first wife he continued seeing her while being together with Chris’s mother. This betrayal crushed Chris and as he saw things so black and white he could not pardon his father’s mistakes. “The deception committed by Walt made his “entire childhood seem like a fiction” (PG. 123). This trouble created a loss of identity and eventually a disconnect between him and his family. This rejection towards his father was centrally important to motivating Chris’s behavior in the next years and in the decision of going to Alaska after college.

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710 Words | 3 Pages

In some ways, Chris McCandless of Krakauer’s Into the Wild, acts as the epitome of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ideals within his essay “Self-Reliance.” McCandless, who has grown into quite a celebrity, abandoned his family’s bourgeois values and sought to discover the terrain of his soul through an Alaskan Odyssey. Only months later, a moose hunter stumbled upon his corpse within a bus. Critics often chalk his death up as a warning to young adolescents looking for adventure, while the aforementioned adolescents idolize his journey. Despite the harsh denunciations and hero-worship, McCandless acted simply as his own person by disregarding society’s views and looking for his own thoughts in solitude, thus embodying Emerson’s “Self-Reliance.”

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980 Words | 4 Pages

So, rather than living his life wishing he could be free from society and out in the wild, he followed his passion and died happily. That is not at all a waste of his life or a suicidal mission, that is something to be proud of, and Chris is someone to look up to. He followed his dreams and many people would like to do just that. They want to live his truly transcendental lifestyle because of it’s simplistic way of life and disconnecting with society and connecting with nature, which is the basis of

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1768 Words | 8 Pages

Chris Mccandless’ character portrays himself as an interesting character with his hidden passions and disinterest in social connections. Normally a person makes social connections to be apart of something. The human brain by instinct seeks human connection, and it by nature, it demands to be social . Chris went against his own genetic code to do what he wants and to prove to himself to his parents that his opinions matter just like their own. Chris’ love for the nature way of life makes him an unusual character in the face of others.

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709 Words | 3 Pages

This shows Christian doesn’t understand what Chris was going through in his home life which made him decide to go on his adventure. In the other essay that Ilgunas wrote he brought up a good point about how Christians’ facts are wrong as Chris did not commit suicide he simply was accidentally poisoned and starved to death. “Pete implies that McCandless’ decision to come to Alaska “unprepared” and “unskilled” was a suicidal act in itself.” (page 1). Both of these quotes bring up points about the misunderstanding of Chris and the real reasons that he originally left his family and how he ended up passing

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1107 Words | 5 Pages

In attempts to achieve a greater understanding of absolute reality and truth, Christopher McCandless temporarily separates from societal influences and undertakes an odyssey into the Alaskan wilderness. Powered by the notion of happiness through self-reliance, McCandless retreats from the social and into a deeper self, undergoing a profound realization of himself and truth. Linking McCandless’s countercultural actions to various literary influences ultimately reveal the overarching transcendentalist forces in which shape his determination to enter the wild and seclude himself from the social. The philosophy behind transcendentalism recognizes and rejects the flaws and corruption engrossed in the precepts of the status-quo society.

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635 Words | 3 Pages

Survival and Loyalty The word survival means: “the act or fact of surviving, especially under adverse or unusual circumstances.” Many people rely on their faith to help them with survival as well as many other things. The word loyalty means: “Faithfulness to commitments or obligations.”

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806 Words | 4 Pages

(Krakauer 170). This includes words that make the reader sympathize with Chris, due to the situation he was in. After all, who does not fear isolation and death? Krakauer intertwines the ideas of Chris’ isolation to make the readers commiserate with him, as proven by both of the quotes.

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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

Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild investigates the life and adventures of Chris McCandless. The author provides information about Chris’ life to illuminate his journey. Krakauer also uses rhetorical appeals to defend Chris’ rationale for his journey. Through Krakauer’s use of pathos, ethos, and logos, he persuades the audience that Chris is not foolish; however, Krakauer’s intimacy with Chris and his adventures inhibits his objectivity.

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943 Words | 4 Pages

Because of his condition Christopher has been unable to fully take care of himself, so the adults around him doubt and prevent him from trying to break away and be on his own. After Chris’ father tells him to stop the investigation of

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