Rhetorical Devices In Into The Wild

When we think of going out into the wilderness to explore all its wonders, most of us would be petrified by the thought. However, for Chris McCandless and many others, the thought alone excited them. In the nonfiction novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, Krakauer introduces to us the story of Chris McCandless and his journey through the Alaskan wilderness. In the novel, Krakauer tries to convey understanding between the reader and McCandles. Krakauer’s use of rhetorical devices such as diction and parallelism helps to defend Chris’s actions and explain the importance of his journey.

Even before reading the book readers are aware that Chris McCandless is dead. His death was a shock to those around him and all the other travelers. People that

Throughout the novel we are introduced to many travelers who share the same longing for adventure and freedom from the normalities society placed upon them, as McCandless. In the last letter received from Everett Ruess, another traveler who met the same fate as McCandless, he talks about his fascination with the wilderness and how he doesn;t see himself ever separating from it. The letter states, “I have been thinking more and more that I shall always be a lone wanderer of the wilderness. God, how the trail lures me. You cannot comprehend its resistless fascination for me. After all the lone trail is the best…. I’ll never stop wandering. And when the time comes to die, I’ll find the wildest, loneliest, most desolate spot there is” (chapter 9). Both McCandless and Ruess talk about the wilderness and how no one else could possibly understand why theyre constantly putting themselves in danger just to experience the beauty that is nature. Krakauer talks about the “uncanny parallels between Ruess and Chris McCandless” (chapter 9), and how both of the men felt so alone in their need for complete sovereignty over their lives. However in reality they weren’t alone because there was people out their like them chasing the high of the

As mentioned before, in the beginning of the ook we knew nothing about chris, all we knew was that he was a man that left his nice privileged life to life in the Wilderness. However, we quickly learn tha chris was someone who was compassionate, strong willed, and driven. Eric Hathaway, another friend of McCandles, confessed,“He was like that about everything. You aren’t supposed to think about heavy-duty stuff in high school. But I did, and he did, too, which is why we hit it off. We’d hang out during snack break at his locker and talk about life, the state of the world, serious things. I’m black, and I could never figure out why everyone made such a big deal about race. Chris would talk to me about that kind of thing. He understood. He was always questioning stuff in the same way. I liked him a lot. He was a really good guy” (chapter 11). This quote tells us so much about the type of person McCandless was and how he viewed the world effected how he lived his life. By throwing in details like this into the novel, Krrakauer is drawing out empathy from the reader. Which in return, allows the reader wholeheartedly taken in the story of Chris