Analysis Of Into The Wild By John Krakauer

One theory, argued by Peter Gray, a research psychologist at Boston College, is that the rise in adolescent depression is due not only to the adolescent’s feeling of lack of control over his or her life but also a shift from intrinsic goals to extrinsic goals. Gray explains that teenagers in our modern society do not feel as if they have control over their lives even though it may appear that we do have more control over factors such as disease and wealth. Julien Rotter’s questionnaire is used to measure a person’s sense of control, and Gray points out that the scores of modern day indicate that the average young person in 2002 was more “external” than were “80% of the young people in the 1960’s.” This means that teenagers today have the attitude that what is supposed to happen will, indicating a sense of lack of control over a situation, which is one of the main reasons depression and anxiety occur. (Gray, Dramatic Rise) Along with this idea, Gray references Jean Twenge when he argues that there has been a shift from more personal goals to more worldly goals in teenagers. Twenge found that more adolescents are forming extrinsic goals, or “those that have to do with material rewards and other people’s judgments” rather than intrinsic goals which have to do with “one’s own development as a person.” Because

Research depicts that teenagers fail to notice risks in a situation and completely process other ones when adults thoroughly examine the consequences and focus on the ending outcome. An article by Maia Szalavitz titled “Why the Teen Brain is Drawn to Risk” suggests that teens engage in drunk driving because they don’t completely scan the outcome of the situation, but they fully comprehend the risk of partaking in other activities that adults would immediately dismiss after looking at the possible outcomes such as Russian Roulette(Source F). This shows that adults quickly decide on seemingly dangerous actions because they view the finishing outcome of that activity while teems envision the whole activity and still choose to participate. On top of that, young adults are intrigued by unknown risks rather than known ones. Chris Sharma, a famous rock climber, mentions that he is "looking for new, hard climbs that no one has even thought possible" in a video named “Who Is Chris Sharma?”(Source G). This suggests that, as a young adult, he searches for climbs that have a high risk level that is unknown or ambiguous. Because adolescents have distinct judgment than that of an adults, they handle risky decision-making in another

In Jon Krakauer's novel Into the Wild, the main character, Chris McCandless, seeks nature so that he can find a sense of belonging and the true meaning of who he is. However, it is the essence of nature that eventually takes his life away from him. At the end of his life, he is discovers his purpose and need of other people. After Chris McCandless death in Alaska, Krakauer wrote Into the Wild to reflect on the journey that McCandless makes. Krakauer protrays McCandless as a young man who is reckless, selfish, and arrogant, but at the same time, intelligent, determined, independent, and charismatic. Along with the irony that occurs in nature, these characteristics are the several factors that contribute to McCandless death.

In “Beautiful Brains”, Dobbs illustrates there is a method to teenage madness. Through citing several scientific studies in an easily digestible fashion, Dobbs explains the impulsiveness and irrationality of the adolescent mind. Dobbs claims that teenagers are naturally risk takers because it is evolutionarily advantageous, as it allows them to adapt to new situations. Dobbs first draws the reader in with an anecdote about his own son, who was caught speeding over 100 mph. Having a bizarre response to his father, ‘’ He agreed. In fact, he sounded somber and contrite. He did not object when I told him he 'd have to pay the fines and probably for a lawyer. He did not argue when I pointed out that if anything happens at that speed—a dog in the road, a blown tire, a sneeze—he dies. He was in fact almost irritatingly reasonable. He even proffered that the cop did the right thing in stopping him, for, as he put it, "We can 't all go around doing 113."’’

In her Wall Street Journal essay “What’s Wrong With the Teenage Mind?,” author Alison Gopnik restates the words of Psychologist Ronald Dahl to describe the impact of adolescent biology on their decisions: “Adolescents acquire an accelerator a long time before they can steer and brake.” (Gopnik) Dahl stated that adolescents “accelerate,” and develop, emotionally before gaining the necessary experience needed to “steer” and fully control their actions. The fact that biology factors into both the choices adolescents make and the amount of control they acquire is valid. An example of biology in decision-making was shown between the Spring of 2006 and 2007 in Oakdale, California. On March 31, 2006, Amanda Clark, a confident high school senior, crashed into a passing car after running a stop sign in her hometown of Oakdale. Distracted at the time of the accident, Clark was talking on her phone only seconds before the crash--failing to notice the stop sign while she spoke. Despite rolling her vehicle three times, Amanda sustained minimal injury and as a result, swore to now “put her phone away” while driving. However, only a year later, after texting her roommate, Clark experienced a similar, but fatal, accident which resulted in her death. When deciding to use her phone, once again, while driving, Amanda’s biography was such a

What is it that we find crazy about those who have the courage to do what we won’t? In the compelling novel “Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer the character and intelligence of the youth in men is questioned. Through the pieced together 200 page novel we are introduced to Christopher Johnson McCandless also known as “Alex Supertramp”. A ripe 24 years of age he chose to question our reality and his meaning of life that is given to us by hitchhiking across America to the Alaskan wilderness, where after four months in the last frontier he is found dead. Krakauer throughout the novel shows that although some admire what McCandless did, others found his final journey “reckless” and “crazy”. Krakauer goes to explain this claim through interviews of those who have encountered McCandless on his adventure and through those who got to know his story.

In Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, he goes on to tell a story about a young man’s journey to find himself. Chris Mccandless, is determined to find himself despite that he is not fully prepared in the Alaskan wilderness. The way Krakauer writes Into the Wild is an adventure itself because even though we are fully aware of the ending, he gives a rich story on how Christopher found himself there.

3. Krakauer argues in Chapter 14 that McCandless’s death was unplanned and was a terrible accident (134). Does the book so far support that position? Do you agree with Krakauer? Why or why not?

In Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction book, Into the Wild, we follow how humans love the wilderness, the strain of father son relationships, and for the majority of the book a young adult named Chris McCandless. We see mostly through Chris’ eyes just how much the wilderness can entice young adults as well as how important crushing news of one’s father can change your life. McCandless was an angry pseudo adult who couldn’t handle a sizeable change in his life. He was too stuck on it being his way that he rarely could bring himself to accept help and improve his ability to actually survive. However, there was some good about McCandless. His search for himself and the truth were great intentions despite the flawed approach.

Zig Ziglar once said, “Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember: The only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.” The criticism of appearance causes many people to hide their legitimate self. The superficial life that many people are able to live is not for everyone. Going against one's community is ethical when their judgment of an individual does not allow them to truly be happy.

All people want from life is to find happiness. We have learn that it’s not as easy as it looks, we have to search for it, maybe not literal but learning to love ourselves. Everyone tries hard enough to get what they desire and work hard for it, but we can’t see what the future holds, so no one knows exactly what might happen. Tragedy can sometimes come when we least expect them while searching for what we believe can bring us peace and satisfaction. We see this in the novel, Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer about a young man who is searching for what he believes might give him freedom, he goes on his own journey without knowing the end consequences. The author includes and arranges many features that help better understand why he wrote this

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a well-written non-fiction piece about a seemingly fearless man named Chris McCandless who hitchhikes his way to Alaska in order to find his inner peace. While different people have various ideas upon what makes writing good, most would agree that the basic aspects of "good writing" include having a strong voice, being straightforward, and connecting to the reader. Krakauer's unique tone and voice accomplish these main goals and are major factors in what makes this book a success.

In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare explains that an unreasonable feud between people is pointless. The play is about two star crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, and how their love causes their terrible deaths. Today modern science explains to us why teens do what they do. Their underdeveloped brains cause them to do these impulsive things. This helps explain that when teens value reward over risk they don’t think about the dangerous consequences that come from their actions.

Have you ever witnessed a teenager taking a risk? Adolescents are taking more risks than ever, such as drinking, vaping, texting while driving, having unprotected sex, and participating in extreme sports. Research suggests that there are, in fact, specific reasons why teens take risks. Three important effects of the drive to take risks in young people include dopamine, peer pressure, and a parents influence on their children.

Nature and nurture play a role in adolescent risk taking. At this point in their lives, adolescents are brains are still developing. Therefore they may be easily influenced by many things such as peer pressure, social media, and external stimuli. Berger (2015) states during middle school, students lose interest in their academics. As their academic decrease their behavioral problems increases. A major part of this problem is due to puberty. Puberty changes a lot of things for clients. During this time adolescents can be irrational which is where nature comes into play. In terms of nurture, the way how adolescents are raised is a predictor whether they engage in risky behaviors. If an adolescent has lots of social support and self-discipline