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Important things about chris mccandless in into the wild
What are the conflicting things that chris mccandless does in into the wild
What are the conflicting things that chris mccandless does in into the wild
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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
Throughout Chapters Eight and Nine, Krakauer describes and begins to develop the other infamous four explorers stories whom Chris McCandless's story is similar to theirs. Krakauer also notices the lack of sympathy that the Alaskans felt for McCandless when they knew about his death. Many of them felt that he was a foolish child, who arrogantly wondered alone in the wilderness with no shelter or food to keep him alive. Krakauer made his own beliefs clear, that McCandless shared some characteristics and behaviors with these four adventurers, the only one who is truly like him is Everett Ruess, the other three men were a little similar because Carl McCunn was more naive, John Waterman was actually mentally insane and Gene Rosellini was a good
Krakauer describes his attempts at climbing the Devil’s Thumb when he was 23 years old and compares it to McCandless. The credibility it provides is the insight and thoughts that McCandless might have had on his odyssey as a young man finishing his own greatest achievement. To Krakauer, “the Devil’s Thumb was the same as medical school, only different” (Krakauer 150). To McCandless, it is likely his adventure in Alaska was the fulfillment he needed after following his parents’ wish of finishing college. Both Krakauer and McCandless had problems with their father’s falsehood and losing the innocence that they once had.
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.
[…] I got it into my head to climb the mountain called the Devils Thumb. […] I decided, moreover, to do it alone,” (Krakauer 134-135). This mirrors Chris’ dream to live in the Alaskan wilderness.
Krakauer works to convince the reader that Chris wasn’t mentally ill or suicidal. He does this by using rhetorical devices to persuade the readers, one example of a rhetorical device he used is annotations Chris made in books he read along his journey to provide readers with insight into what Chris was going through. As well as using epigraphs at the beginning of chapters sets the tone for the grim ending to Chris's final and greatest adventure. One specific rhetorical example in the book used by Jon Krakauer to convince readers that Chris wasn't suicidal was the annotation of the book “Family Happiness” by Tolstoy. McCandless highlighted the words, “He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others…”
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.
Krakauer uses ethos, pathos and logos to make his point, he shows Chris’s emotions “He’d tell us to think about all the evil in the world, all the hatred and imagine ourselves running against the forces of darkness” (112). Krakauer relates to Chris’s desire to escape society. Krakauer himself went to Alaska to experience the same need for solidarity. “Alaska has long been a magnet for dreamers and misfits, people who think the unsullied enormity of the Last Frontier will patch all the holes in their lives.
As each chapter come’s there is an account from Chris’ diary to accompany it. Along with this is some type of quote/ inspirational passage which lets us in on what is to come in the chapter ahead. Krakauer is able to maintain this structure throughout the whole book and through this we are able to pick apart the journey of Chris McCandless to construct our own opinions about his mysterious persona. The structure Krakauer creates for us in Into the Wild is significant to our understanding of Chris and his journey as it sheds insight onto his life from many different
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.
Many, particularly Alaskans, tend to criticize and judge McCandless for the path he chose, make guesses about his intentions, even assume he decided to end his life in the bush purposefully. That is the beauty of Jon Krakauer’s narration as we see a perspective of Chris from someone who chose a similar life path. Throughout the book Krakauer, I believe, does a wonderful job in balancing both positive and negative associations of McCandless. Though I believe the reader gains the most from a particular section reflecting on the theory that Chris entered the bush to end his life, the idea that he never intended to walk back out. Chapter 15 follows the narration of Krakauer’s experience on Devil’s Thumb, facing death head on as a 23 year old himself- only one year older than Christopher McCandless when he died in the bush.
In his article “Baked Alaska: Surviving Aniakchak National Monument”, Christopher Solomon argues the importance of taking risks and traveling where few have gone before. Though there might be hardships along the way, the experiences will be worth it. Solomon provides sufficient evidence by sharing his feelings, using statistics, and using literary devices to support his argument. However, his experience is only relatable to those who are daredevils. To the rest of us, this article is more of an informative read about the Alaska Peninsula.
She encounters a variety of obstacles while on the Pacific Crest Trail including black bear and rattlesnakes, blistering heat and intense snowfalls. The largest obstacle being the onset of loneliness she experienced while on the trail. Wild captures the terrors and pleasures of forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her her shattered spirit and
Chris was struck by disaster multiple times, and that resulted in heartbreaking notes detailing how he felt. Krakauer includes these notes because it makes the audience feel bad for Chris. For example, when the river floods and Chris is trapped, he wrote “‘Disaster…rained in. River look impossible. Lonely, scared’”
For example, Krakauer employs Ron Franz’s account of Chris and mentions how Franz “regards the world through wary blue eyes” because of Chris’ death (59). Franz’s account evokes emotion to demonstrate the indelible impression Chris has on those he meets. Krakauer loads his story with emotion to allow the readers to sympathize with Chris’ plight; thus, Krakauer’s emotions influence his writing which prevents his ability to remain objective. Moreover, the author recalls the “wrenching loneliness” of his own journey with the Devil’s Thumb in Alaska (151). Krakauer recounts the hardships of his journey to indicate Chris’ emotional state during his journey.
