Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
1. Who was the most compelling character? Why? What conflicts did this character face? How did the author develop this character? Include one or two supporting quotations with page number or e-book location cited in parentheses after the quotation.
Jon Krakauer’s odyssey Into the Wild follows Christopher McCandless through his last year of his life traversing the North American frontier. As a biography based on McCandless’ journals and interviews, much of the details of Chris’ journeys are speculated. Yet, Krakauer succeeds in developing the enigma of Christopher McCandless, or as he would be immortalized in the bus on the Stampede Trail, Alexander Supertramp, in a way that tugs at the buried wanderer inside of everyone.
Throughout the novel, Chris McCandless faces numerous crises and trials during his time in the wild. McCandless ' journeys represent the age old conflict of man vs. nature. In the first chapter, Chris seems to be charismatic, yet ultimately ill-prepared to face the harshness of the Alaskan wilderness.
"Alex admitted that the only food in his pack was a ten-pound bag of rice. His gear seemed exceedingly minimal for the harsh conditions of the interior, which in April still lay buried under the winter snowpack. Alex’s cheap leather hiking boots were neither waterproof nor well insulated. His rifle was only .22 caliber, a bore too small to rely on if he expected to
Into the Wild a book composed by Jon Krakauer is around a young fellow by the name of Chris McCandless, who forsakes his family and all he needed to trek the nation to discover why he was placed in the life he's in. His venturous excursion finished in gold country since he didn’t know how to survive the wild and past away in a transport that was deserted amidst the wild in the Frozen North. Before all else about the film I understood that he presumably wouldn't have made due in any case since he didn't have no learning of what he was truly doing. On the off chance that Christopher had the experience of going into the wild he most likely would have improved. Christopher Mccandless had motivations to go out into the wild and experience new things since he needed to make tracks in an opposite direction from every one of the things he saw between his guardians and by that he supposes he has been raised not typical and by leaving he will discover what individuals or himself truly
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.
Chapter ten flashes forward to McCandless death, and it was published in the New York Time and Anchorage Daily News. The media wrote of how foolish and ignorant McCandless was for going into the wilderness so unprepared. Once the death is being investigated by the police the police begin to question Sam, McCandless’s half-brother. To identify him he shows them a picture with long hair and a beard. This made me question who was the man in the picture, was it really McCandless? He wasn’t reported as having long hair, ever. As the half-brother informs his parents of McCandless death the parents respond in devastation. I find it weird that the police contacted his half-brother first and not the parents. Oddly enough I find myself agreeing with the media more than I do with the author. I cannot seem to grasp the thought of going into the wilderness, and not being overly prepared. While I understand that it is a brave action, it is also foolish and somewhat stupid on his part. I also find him to be very selfish. In chapter eleven the author starts to interview McCandless parents, and starts to question the family’s dynamics. The father is very similar to McCandless in the aspect that he is very intense and highly intelligent. Chapter twelve is a continued exploration of McCandless’s character. The author wants to know what made McCandless, McCandless. He finds that he took a road trip to the desert the summer before his freshman year of college, and nearly died of dehydration. I
Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, describes the adventure of Christopher McCandless, a young man that ventured into the wilderness of Alaska hoping to find himself and the meaning of life. He undergoes his dangerous journey because he was persuade by of writers like Henry D. Thoreau, who believe it is was best to get farther away from the mainstreams of life. McCandless’ wild adventure was supposed to lead him towards personal growth but instead resulted in his death caused by his unpreparedness towards the atrocity nature.
Chris McCandless, the main character in Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, had troubles with his dad and wanted to leave society, so he donated most of his money and left his home to experience the wild. In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer characterizes Christopher McCandless as self-reliant and unmaterialistic. Chris McCandless is self-reliant because he thought his instincts and intuition would guide him on his journey. Chris began his adventure after telling his parents he would “‘live off the and for a few months’” (Krakauer, 4).
His gear seemed exceedingly minimal for the harsh conditions of the interior, which in April still lay buried under the winter snowpack. Alex’s cheap leather hiking boots were neither waterproof nor well insulated. His rifle was only
Jon Krakauer, fascinated by a young man in April 1992 who hitchhiked to Alaska and lived alone in the wild for four months before his decomposed body was discovered, writes the story of Christopher McCandless, in his national bestseller: Into the Wild. McCandless was always a unique and intelligent boy who saw the world differently. Into the Wild explores all aspects of McCandless’s life in order to better understand the reason why a smart, social boy, from an upper class family would put himself in extraordinary peril by living off the land in the Alaskan Bush. McCandless represents the true tragic hero that Aristotle defined. Krakauer depicts McCandless as a tragic hero by detailing his unique and perhaps flawed views on society,
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 the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, a man named Chris McCandless, who left is family to travel the world. He went through the hottest and the coldest places. He even climbed mountains. He met some new people who became his new family and friends. (When he died in Alaska) a lot of people started to act like Chris by leaving home and living off the wild. But before Chris was even born a man named Everett Ruess did the same thing but whose body was never found. “Everett, who was born in Oakland, moved from state to state as a child. Eventually they finally settled in California where Everett had his first alone adventure. “As he grew up and started to take more deadly adventures, one finally leads to his disappearance in Davis Gulch” (krakauer 89). Even though Chris and Everett were born in different times they had similarities. They both went through hardships with their body and they both wanted to be alone. Along with
John Krakauer’s novel Into The Wild, tells the story of a young man who intends to disappear from society, and contains numerous relatable themes. Although difficult for many to understand his reasoning in doing so, Krakauer intends to demonstrate to readers the positives and negatives of such an experience. Upon thorough examination of this piece of writing, it is possible to truly gain a vast amount of self-knowledge in relation to the text. A tale full of invitations to face ourselves, John Krakauer’s Into The Wild prompts me to examine myself in respect to concepts of great significance such as materialism, conformity, and intimacy.
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.
“If you take no risks, you will suffer no defeats. But if you take no risks, you win no victories.” (Richard M. Nixon). In his investigative biography, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer, expresses that even though young people can be ignorant and take treacherous risks, these can be used as knowledge enhancers and can be life changers.
Endless miles of powder white snow, piercing bitter winds, and white-capped mountains, a continuing stretch of shimmering sand, relentless heat of a blazing sun, and high jagged cliffs, or a warm comfortable couch, a big blanket, a bag of chips, and Netflix. If asked which of these three would bring them happiness, many would undoubtedly say the third choice. But the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer tells the story of a young man, Chris McCandless, who if asked the same question, would choose the first two promptly. Chris McCandless, raised in the suburb of Washington D.C, left his home and started his own journey wandering all across North America in search of adventure after graduating from Emory University in 1990. In April 1992, he reached his biggest goal when he hitchhiked to Alaska and lived in the wild. Four months later, hikers and hunters found his S.O.S note and his dead body. But his inspiring story, as well as many others like it, have proven that to find happiness, it is necessary that a person leave the conformity of everyday life and find simplicity and excitement in the challenges of adventures and new experiences.
Christopher McCandless may be one of the most intriguing characters in nonfiction literature. In Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless gives up all of his worldly possessions in order to move to Alaska and travel alone into the wilderness. Chris seemed to lead a very privileged life, as he came from a fairly well off family. Chris was intelligent, having graduated from Emory University with a degree in anthropology and history. There is much ambiguity as to why Chris suddenly decides to leave his family behind and travel by himself -- although it is clear that Chris’s initial belief was that the best way to live life was alone, surrounded by nature. The overarching question is whether Chris intentionally tried to kill himself when he traveled alone into the heart of Alaska. Those who believe he did contend that he did not make enough of an effort to extract himself from the negative situations in which he found himself. They argue that Chris felt that he was betrayed by his father, and that he tries to kill himself in order to get away from his family as a whole. Yet Chris McCandless did not in fact have a death wish, and his death was the result of his miscalculating how difficult living in the wild would actually be. This resulted from Chris’s excessive pride. His main motivation to go into the wild was to run far away from his family -- who by blinding him, indirectly caused him to miscalculate.
Into the Wild, written by John Krakauer tells of a young man named Chris McCandless who 1deserted his college degree and all his worldly possessions in favor of a primitive transient life in the wilderness. Krakauer first told the story of Chris in an article in Outside Magazine, but went on to write a thorough book, which encompasses his life in the hopes to explain what caused him to venture off alone into the wild. McCandless’ story soon became a national phenomenon, and had many people questioning why a “young man from a well-to-do East Coast family [would] hitchhike to Alaska” (Krakauer i). Chris comes from an affluent household and has parents that strived to create a desirable life for him and his sister. As Chris grows up, he