Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer: Chapter Analysis

The first Chapter tells the readers about Jim Gallien, a union electrician, and his encounter with a hitchhiker. The hitchhiker introduces himself as Alex from South Dakota, although his real name is Christopher Johnson McCandless, originally from Virginia. Chris tells Gallien that he “want[s] a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he intend[s] to walk deep into the bush and “live off the land for a few months”” (Krakauer 4). Gallien admits that he believed Chris would be another “of those crackpots from the lower forty-eight who come north to live out ill-considered Jack London fantasies” (Krakauer 4), but he soon realizes that Chris knew exactly what he was letting himself in for. Moreover, Gallien describes Chris as thoughtful

I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone, this is NO JOKE. In the name of God, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening. Thank you, Chris McCandless. August?”(Krakauer 12).

The Alaskan residents who were out hunting when they appear to the crime scene, discover Chris’ body and immediately call the Alaska State troopers so they can evacuate the body. This Chapter also introduces the readers to how Into the Wild is constructed. Krakauer never met Chris personally; therefore, he relies on interviews with people who encountered Chris throughout his travels. He also depends on documents such as letters and postcards that Chris left behind. Krakauer wants to provide an extensive insight into Chris’ story because of the resonance he got after he published his first article about Chris in the Outside magazine. Many people criticize Chris’ behavior being reckless, selfish and they suggested that he might have been mentally ill. Furthermore, people ridiculed his behavior by saying that he should have paid more attention to the Boy Scout’s laws which say that one should always be prepared. Krakauer

However, it is clear from the beginning that because he was so poorly prepared, he might not survive this trip. The next Chapter confirms this suspicion and Chris’ dead body was found. It is difficult for the readers to stay objective throughout the first Chapters because they do not know Chris well enough and they cannot empathize with his characteristics. They cannot understand his intentions, his dreams, or his character at this point of this story. Therefore, many people who read the Outside article reacted angrily because they did not get any inside perspective of Chris’ ideas at first. Here, Krakauer decides to recreate this kind of feelings in order to pick up everyone who is interested in this story from the same emotional level as Chris’ critics were. Afterwards, he explains who Chris really was and creates a big picture that would respond to the questions that many people had, and readers would start to sympathize with Chris’ story and feel sorry about his unfortunate