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Summary Of The Chapter Of Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

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How are the epigraphs related to the chapter?
The two epigraphs Krakauer states in the beginning of chapter fourteen are related because they both provide what McCandless wanted, the desire of wanting something and to see the beauty of life. During the chapter Krakauer provides the last postcard McCandless wrote to Wayne Westerberg which quotes his adventure to Alaska. The first epigraph talks about the want of something more and when it is seen, he pursues it. John M. Edwards noted “But you see at once what I do. I climb” (pg. 133, ch.14). The next epigraph talks about climbing a mountain and seeing the breathtaking view from the tip of the mountain. “It can never become familiar; you are lost the moment you set foot there” Henry Thoreau (pg.133, ch.14). These two epigraphs …show more content…

As the chapter progresses, Krakauer compares his adventure to the Devil’s Thumb and McCandless’s Alaskan trip, however the two epigraphs gave us a foreshadowment of climbing and achieving the need of desire. Although McCandless’s achievement was not certain, the epigraphs gave a clue about what the chapter was going to be about.
What is your perspective?
My perspective of the two epigraphs are Krakauer’s small connection to McCandless’s adventure to Alaska. The two epigraphs emphasize the desire of something and climbing to get to their desire, however they both are persistence in finding their desires. John says “It was wanting something more, something tangible” (pg.133, ch.14) while Henry reveals “I cannot now tell exactly, it was long ago, under what

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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.

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296 Words | 2 Pages

The epigraphs used by Jon Krakauer in the novel, Into the Wild, each have a different purpose and contribution to their respective chapter. While some of them directly came from Chris McCandless's journals, others were the highlighted parts from the novels he read during his epic expedition into the wilderness. There were also some epigraphs that merely served as counter-examples to the chapter's central theme which helped build a relationship between the two. These use of poignant epigraphs affected the chapters by making them interesting and connecting from the very beginning of each chapter. Thus, the epigraphs were a significant part of this novel because they did not only help give a head-start or served as examples in the beginning of

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259 Words | 2 Pages

The non-fiction book Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer, tells a story where a man named Chris McCandless leaves his city life behind and decides to go search for on himself deep in the Alaskan wilderness. The epigrams in the book symbolically relate to the chapter to which they are assigned. How do the epigrams in chapter 3 relate so well in order to show Chris McCandless’ traits? The two epigrams, one written by Leo Tolstoy and the other by Wallace Stegner both describe a need for movement and exploration. Tolstoy states, “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence” (15) and Stegner says, “that being footloose has always exhilarated us” (15).

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2137 Words | 9 Pages

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

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In “Into the Wild, ” Jon Krakauer explores the human compulsion with nature and the purpose of life. Throughout the book, Krakauer documents the intoxicating/galvanizing life and death of Christopher Jon McCandless, aka Alexander Supertramp, a young hitchhiker that embarked on an Alaskan Odyssey to explore himself and the wilderness. Like many before him, McCandless thought that he could give is his life meaning by pursuing a relationship solely with nature. McCandless had “an impractical fascination with the harsh side of nature. (85)

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520 Words | 3 Pages

In chapters 14 and 15, John Krakauer attempts to prove that Chris McCandless did not die because he was suicidal, but rather he died because of an accident and his stubborn personality, by telling Krakauer’s own personal story to make connections to Chris so that the readers can trust him with his judgements about Chris and they can have a better understanding of Chris’s characteristics. The author starts chapter 14 by inserting his personal life experience as a young man to make connections to Chris and to show the readers their similarities so that they can rely on his judgement. Just like Chris, Krakauer was a stubborn, determined, a loner, and an outdoorsman. As a young man, Krakauer was a risk taker.

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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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525 Words | 3 Pages

Chris McCandless’ thought process is easily said to be from the numerous amount of books that he read throughout his journey. Within the book Into the Wild you will find that Henry David Thoreau is mentioned more than almost any other abolitionist. As a matter of fact, when McCandless’ remains were found so were the highlighted passages in Henry David Thoreau’s books along with the work “ TRUTH ” written above the words of Thoreau (Krakauer 117). “To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all” Oscar Wilde.

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796 Words | 4 Pages

Krakauer shows the boy as a hero seeking "opportunity in his predicaments while acting rashly while discarding of necessary possessions such as a rifle, and the burning of his money" (Krakauer 29). McCandless later realizes that one cannot survive without much needed supplies and regains some of what he lost to continue living on his great journey. Krakauer illustrates the action of burning his money as a poetic moment, almost inspiring, with a strong transcendentalist tone that makes the reader want to get rid of all possessions and burn their money as well, but this majestic illustration is false in its inability to show McCandless's rash nature and inability to think his actions through showing utter ignorance and childlike behavior. McCandless's ignorance is hard to pin through the makeup Krakauer has placed over the character, this prevents the readers from seeing the truth underneath the mask. Further in the book, McCandless reaches his final destination of Alaska and while fending for

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280 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout the novel, Krakauer uses vivid imagery to reiterate the necessary isolation so that an adolescent can find their personal self without influence of society by describing the physical action of removing oneself from civilization through regionalism. McCandless decides to go on his Alaskan odyssey to “no longer be poisoned by civilization” (Krakauer 163), in order to reach his euphoria, identity, and purpose. Krakauer illustrates with maps and describes physically, the way McCandless isolates himself along the Stampede Trail. For instance, as McCandless begins his journey to the Stampede Trail, he pulls out an old, crude map of the trail that is “seldom traveled, it isn’t even marked on most road maps of Alaska” (Krakauer 5). In other

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201 Words | 1 Pages

they are both stories about a guy who dies both of the stories are written from another man 's perspective they both happen in alaska they are both excited to be out in the wild they are both looking for a challenge: both of them are looking for some type of challenge while mccandless’s in a soul searching sort of adventure, Jack’s character is just out there for the fun and the challenge and to meet up with some other guys. they both had an insufficient amount of food and knowledge: both of these men go out into the wild without the right amount of knowledge to survive in the weather of alaska and ultimately that leads them both to their deaths Mccandless took great interest in the writings of jack London and on more than one occasion

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912 Words | 4 Pages

Intertextual Essay In the story Frankenstein, Mary Shelley adds a poem into the story to emphasize the theme in her story, which is Humanity, nature's healing force and romanticism. On page 111 of Frankenstein Mary Shelley adds her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley poem, “Mutability” to show Victor's perspective on the creature, and the growing of the creature he had created. “Mutability” “means the quality of being changeable... or is the ability to change.”

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1283 Words | 6 Pages

Krakauer’s purpose is to expose McCandless’s story and what had

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915 Words | 4 Pages

However, Jon Krakauer proves his argument that McCandless was not arrogant, foolish, antisocial, or crazy by giving examples of other young men who were similar to McCandless to show that his journey wasn’t unprecedented. He also proves that McCandless wasn’t antisocial because he developed personal relationships with Ronald Franz, Wayne Westerberg, and Jan Burres in such a short amount of time and explaining the many times that McCandless respected the Alaskan Bush. Krakauer admits that McCandless may have suffered from hubris; he was still a victim of circumstances. Krakauer proves that McCandless had an intrinsic motivation to discover and that he wasn’t alone because Krakauer too ventured into the Alaskan Bush when he was younger. The Alaskan Bush is a very difficult place to survive if one isn’t prepared for many challenges such as hunting for food or staying warm in the frost ridden

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529 Words | 3 Pages

The significance of the Epigraphs are to convey Eric and Dylan's motive for the tragedy and to differentiate how the media categorized them as killers rather than humans. Dostoyevsky’s quote states, “...the greatest nastiness precisely lay in my being shamefully conscious every moment… (Dostoyevsky)” which holds the meaning that Eric and Dylan molded themselves around their insecurities. Moreover, the quote states “...frightening sparrows in vain, pleasing myself with it (Hemingway)” which signifies that the boys found themselves to feel empowered when they held the lives of their classmates in their hands. They did not do it to be cruel necessarily but to please themselves and fill their ego. Hemingway's quote holds the meaning that the world knocks us down and brings us to our lowest points which are the “broken places (Hemingway)” but what is important is growing or becoming “strong (Hemingway)” from our struggles.

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