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Rhetorical Devices In Into The Wild

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Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, tells the story of a young man named Christopher McCandless who decided to go and survive in the wilderness of Alaska without correct preparation. McCandless was a man with as transcendentalist-like mindset, an adventurer, an explorer, and a hiker. He migrated away from civilization and society with the goal of living in solitude and living his life to the fullest through nature. The audience was introduced to McCandless’ views towards society through McCandless’ journey through Alaska, and the depressing yet inspiring events that led up to his death. Krakauer creates emotional appeals to connect him with McCandless to credit himself as a writer, as well as to develop the audiences’ feelings of McCandless. Krakauer …show more content…

The addition of Jack London’s epilogue from White Fang is the first hint that Chris McCandless did not survive. The excerpt from White Fang states that Alaska was a “desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness…It was masterful and incommunicable wisdom of eternity laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life”(9). Krakauer chooses to add this passage from Jack London in order to create suspense and mystery. The sense of loneliness and darkness of Alaska the readers receive creates an urgency to keep reading. The second hint the readers attain is a note from Chris, taped onto a bus where “a real bad smell [was coming] from inside” (Krakauer). Chris had written “I NEED YOUR HELP. I AM INJURED, NEAR DEATH, AND TO WEAK…I AM ALL ALONE THIS IS NO JOKE. IN THE NAME OF GOD, PLEASE REMAIN TO SAVE ME” (12). The author adds the note from Chris to create wonder, suspicion, and anticipation within the readers. Krakauer finally reveals Chris McCandless’ death in the end of the second chapter. The owner of an Anchorage auto-body shop named Gordon Samel ““reached through a back [bus] window…there was definitely something in it…it wasn’t until I walked around to the other side and saw a head sticking out that I knew for certain what it was”. Chris McCandless had been dead for two and a half weeks” (13). Krakauer decides to utilize foreshadowing in order to create dramatic tension and also to convey information that helps readers better understand specific events [leading up to Chris’ death] that occur later on in the

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Throughout Chapters 14-17, Jon Krakauer tends to walk in Chris’s footsteps, trying to mimic Chris’s difficult journey. I think the approach of alternating between Chris’s journey and his is very successful in that the audience is able to better visualize Chris’s journey. For instance, Krakauer writes about his relationship with his father and the striking similarities that this relationship has with Chris’s insufficient relationship with his father, Walt. This instance helps the reader understand that Chris was not the only individual who was deeply afflicted by his father’s action and decided to throw his relationship with his father in the waste bin. Rather, by describing Krakaeur’s own experiences as a youth, he wishes his readers to understand

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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.

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Despite Krakauer 's honorable attempts to portray Chris as someone who is relatable and should be pitied, Chris is portrayed as careless and inconsiderate. Krakauer 's biased diction end up showing Chris as stupid and egotistical. In the beginning Krakauer starts off make Chris a relatable person however after the first few pages Krakauer turns Chris into a superficial rich entitled person who thought he was able to do anything without repercussion. There are many instances where Krakauer reveals Chris as such. Chris may have been innocent in his ideals but that was his mistake, “For most of the sixteen-week ordeal…McCandless more than held his own.

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John Krakauer’s account of the journey of Chris McCandless has inspired many other people to seek out the beauty of nature. Why would a story with such a tragic ending cause others to do exactly what in the end killed McCandless? Perhaps it’s because Krakauer depicts Chris as a hardworking honest young man, who throughout his journey uncovered many truths about life. Maybe it’s because Krakauer includes so many passages talking about the beauty and simplicity of nature. Possibly this inspiration is contributed to because Krakauer chalks the death of McCandless up to chance.

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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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Krakauer is also able to provide first hand accounts of people who have interacted with Chris. John Krakauer uses the rhetorical devices of pathos, logos, and

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Into The Wild is written in both the 1st person, when the author is giving his own opinion or giving credibility, and in the 3rd person, when the author or anyone being quoted is talking about Chris McCandless. The effect Krakauer achieves is the notion of how isolated individuals exist in a state of wilderness and establishing his credibility. Krakauer personally connects with McCandless and explores every aspect of his life to discover the real truth of his death, and is convinced he did not die from starvation. He becomes emotionally attached to Chris and even develops a strong relationship with his parents. As a result, this effect leads to his writing being slightly biased.

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His actions only made him even stranger as time went on. To start off, Chris had a transcendentalist mentality. Chris leaves off on his adventure wanting to start a new life. He burns all his money in his wallet, donates his savings to charity, and leaves without anyone knowing. At the beginning of every chapter, Krakauer starts off with an epigraph.

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An example of Krakauer’s use of anecdotal evidence as a method of reporting on Chris’ trek is through his speculation in regards to Chris’ death. Backed by his personal understanding of hiking and Chris’ knowledge pool, “[Jon suspected] that McCandless’s death was unplanned” (Krakauer, 1997, p. 92), an assumption with

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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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Christopher McCandless, the protagonist of the novel and film Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, is not your average guy. Driven by his minimalist ideals and hate for society, he challenged the status quo and embarked on a journey that eventually lead to his unforeseen demise. A tragic hero, defined by esteemed writer, Arthur Miller, is a literary character who makes an error of judgment or has a fatal flaw that, combined with fate and external forces, brings on tragedy. Christopher McCandless fulfills the role of Miller’s tragic hero due to the fact that his tragic flaw of minimalism and aversion towards society had lead him to his death.

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Chris McCandless was in his early 20’s, he was the kind of that guy that wanted to learn and experience life without all of the material things. He wanted to be independent from his parents and friends so Chris did something that would be insane for most of us humans but to him, it wasn’t. He went into the wild of Alaska for months, in fact, McCandless even thought he could make it out alive at the end of his journey. As a matter of fact, he was known as being a risk taker and enjoyed being out and about in the nature side of the world. Many would believe that Chris McCandless went into the wild to purposely kill himself; however, I myself believe that McCandless did not do it purposely.

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The Alaskan Bush is one of the hardest places to survive without any assistance, supplies, skills, and little food. Jon Krakauer explains in his biography, Into The Wild, how Christopher McCandless ventured into the Alaskan Bush and ultimately perished due to lack of preparation and hubris. McCandless was an intelligent young man who made a few mistakes but overall Krakauer believed that McCandless was not an ignorant adrenalin junkie who had no respect for the land. Krakauer chose to write this biography because he too had the strong desire to discover and explore as he also ventured into the Alaskan Bush when he was a young man, but he survived unlike McCandless. Krakauer’s argument was convincing because he gives credible evidence that McCandless was not foolish like many critics say he was.

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His journal also holds words of disappointment in his last days. He speaks of his desperate and progressively futile efforts to survive. His journal entries were also published. The new York times published his journal entries which lead to his story being published by Jon KrakAuer. Both men’s journals are the only evidence of their dream being pursued in the wilderness of

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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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