Into The Wild Chris Mccandless Death Analysis

In the wilderness of Alaska, temperatures can drop down to thirty degrees below zero. Christopher McCandless lived in these conditions for four months after traveling through North America for almost two years. It can be seen in the novel, Into the Wild, that during his journey he had many brushes with death and burned bridges with people who deeply cared for him. For those reasons and many more, people assert Chris McCandless was unprepared, careless, and selfish on his personal journey across the United States, culminating in his death in Alaska.

Jon Krakauer concludes the book by offering in some of his own personal experiences. "The hint of what was concealed in those shadows terrified me, but I caught sight of something in the glimpse, some forbidden and elemental riddle that was no less compelling than the sweet, hidden petals of a woman’s sex. In my case-and, I believe, in the case of Chris McCandless-that was a very different thing from wanting me to die."(156). Both McCandless and Krakauer were both at one point in their lives searching for something in the wild. Krakauer proposes this argument to prove to the audience that McCandless was not crazy due to the fact that Krakauer himself was

In the author's notes he put “Through most of the book, I have tried--and largely succeeded, I think to--to minimize my authorial presence. But let the reader be warned: I interrupt McCandless’s story with fragments of a narrative drawn from my own youth. I do so in the hope that my experiences will throw some oblique light on the enigma of Chris McCandless”(Krakauer 2). By telling us that he will add some stories of his own make us realize that Krakauer has some relation with McCandless and it make us think that this book is more believable. In the book when he tells us that Chris just died for a simple mistake and tries to relate it to himself by telling the story of how he started to realized that going into the wilderness will change his life he emphasizes“I would go to Alaska, ski inland from the sea across thirty miles of glacial ice, and ascend this mighty nordwand. I decide, moreover, to do it alone. ” Just like McCandless, Krakauer had a lot in common with him, they both went into the wild of Alaska, which gives a lot of experience to krakauer to talk about McCandless death. In order for Krakauer to make McCandless not a crazy kid he made some other similarities between McCandless and some other people that died, with a lot of characteristics similar to McCandless and himself. Krakauer is the ideal person to criticate

Peace is defined as freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility. This is what many people experience in their final moments on Earth while they are surrounded by their loved ones. But is it possible for someone to die in peace by themselves in the middle of the Alaskan bush? Chris McCandless brought forth this question when he died of starvation on the Stampede Trail in Alaska. His death creates this question because of the fact that he died alone, but was he happy with his surroundings. Chris died at peace because his life had a purpose and he will forever be away from society in the wild.

Chris McCandless was just a victim of his own obsession. The novel "Into The Wild" written by John Krakauer revealed the life of a young bright man named Chris McCandless who turned up dead in Alaska in summer 1992. In the novel, John Krakauer approached carefully McCandless's life without putting too much authorial judgment to the readers. Although Chris McCandless remained an elusive figure throughout the novel, I can see Chris McCandless as a dreamy young idealist who tries to follow his dream but failed because of his innocent mistake which prove to be fatal and irreversible. Still, Chris McCandless's courage and passion was something that we should all be proud of.

A majority of the book’s first half is spent as Krakauer follows the steps that McCandless took on his journey from around the Southwestern United States all the way through the Yukon and into Alaska. Krakauer interviews the people Chris spent time and lived with through all the years leaving those who knew him to describe what the boy they knew as Alex was like. Although nearly all those who knew him have to say was positive things, Krakauer didn’t cherry pick it to be that way he included all people were able to give him both good and bad. People such as Ronald Franz who saw him in incredibly positive light and at the same those such as Lori Zarza who just thought he was kind of a bum. As

The author skillfully uses literary techniques to convey his purpose of giving life to a man on an extraordinary path that led to his eventual demise and truthfully telling the somber story of Christopher McCandless. Krakauer enhances the story by using irony to establish Chris’s unique personality. The author also uses Characterization the give details about Chris’s lifestyle and his choices that affect his journey. Another literary element Krakauer uses is theme. The many themes in the story attract a diverse audience. Krakauer’s telling is world famous for being the truest, and most heart-felt account of Christopher McCandless’s life. The use of literary techniques including irony, characterization and theme help convey the authors

Furthermore, Krakauer, in the structuring of his book, presents the reader with great amounts of irony, both dramatic and situational. Fairly early in the story, we know that Chris is dead, and Krakauer uses this to an ironical advantage. By already knowing his fate and his background, the reader is able to see the irony is Chris’ death. By dying in a bus in tandem with dying only a couple of hours from civilization, Chris was not truly in the wild. Once again, Krakauer makes the reader sympathize with Chris, for he died not able to fulfill his dream and escape from society. Like in the bus, he was trapped within society, unable to escape no matter how hard he tried. His use of periodic sentences solidifies this idea. Specifically, when Krakauer travels with Chris’ parents to the place of their son’s death.

In his novel, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer recounts the true tale of Chris McCandless, a recent college graduate who decided against a professional career and instead opted for a life of adventuring and self-reliance. Readers of Into the Wild have shared differing opinions of McCandless. Some view him as passionate, courageous, and admirable while others view him as reckless, arrogant, and “unworthy of the considerable media attention he received.” (Author’s Note) Though McCandless’ courage and steadfast dedication to his beliefs are admirable, I believe that his hubris, naivete, and his inadequate preparation should be the most important points in any discussion of his trips and subsequent death.

People go into many things to try to escape their life. Some people start eating a lot, while other stop. Some people go into drugs, while others start drinking. Some people go into depression, while others are allured to take high risk actions. Maybe Christopher McCandless took this action because his relationship with his dad was not the best. Krakauer associated his relationship with his father to McCandless and his dad. “Like McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in me a confusing medley of corked fury and hunger to please” (Krakauer 134). Krakauer feels the pressure to succeed and the desire to rebel, because his father constantly pushed him to perfection, like McCandless father. Chris could no longer deal with his life and spitefully left everything he knew for his dad’s high expectations. “I got into my head to climb a mountain called the Devils Thumb” (Krakauer 134). To show his father he can do it, he revealed in the book his thought processes during the climb. At the end he came to the conclusion that his method of thinking could have killed him something that ultimately happened to McCandless. To sum it up, by comparing his own and other people’s experiences the author Jon Krakauer appeal to pathos to give a little perspective on why Chris McCandless is not a young foolish kid as several people assume he is.

Hope it’d kill me”(Krakauer 60). Krakauer focuses on the big, important, and nice changes that McCandless made in order to persuade us onto think that he was a good person. In some part of the book Krakauer did talk about Chris McCandless past but most of it was focusing on him being a good kid, Krakauer quoted Carine and it interprets“He wasn't antisocial-- he always had friends, and everybody liked him-- but he could go off and entertain himself for hours. He didn't seem to need toys or friends. He could be alone without being alone”(Krakauer 109).

Although Chris McCandless’ controlling and toxic family environment was a major motive for his escape, his deep-seated internal battle was simply an irresistible impulse for discovery and liberty. Chris’ journey shows a new level of freedom; what true independence holds. He set out into nature alone without support of family or friends, searching for a path unlike those of most, and running from a barred cage of conventional living. Unsatisfied and somewhat angry with himself and his life of abundance in money, opportunity, and security, his preceding experiences and determined character lead him to an inevitable flee into no-mans land. Throughout the novel, Krakauer wants the reader to understand that there is more to Chris than his habit of criticising authority and defying society’s pressures. He needed more from himself, and more from life. He wasn’t an ordinary man, therefore could not live with an ordinary life. Krakauer demonstrates this by creating a complex persona for Chris that draws you in from the beginning.

No matter how old or mature you are, we all were dreamers. Although many dreamers are perceived as crazy or dumb, people such as Martin Luther King managed to shape society. In this case, Chris McCandless is an example of a dreamer who went out of his own way to do what he loved even though others saw his story as insane. McCandless represented the dreamer we all are because of his story he was able to discover himself and influence others to do the same. As people begin to familiarize themselves with the story about Chris McCandless, a question turns up.

The tale of McCandless is read over high schools everywhere. Classes discuss who he really was. Most critics state that he was ignorant, by not being properly equipped with knowledge and tools. However, this shouldn’t make him innocent. Personally, I believe McCandless was arrogant, but not selfish.

124). He furthers this by describing how Chris’ parents sent a letter saying” You have completely dropped away from all who love and care about you. Whatever it is—whoever you’re with—do you think this is right?” (p. 124). According to Krakauer, Chris saw this “as meddling and referred to the letter as stupid when talked to Carine” (p. 124). At this point, Krakauer is clearly pointing out Chris’ flaws and how he seemingly didn’t enough about his family to bother contacting them for long periods of time. He builds upon this when mentioning how Chris went on trans-continental journeys through the Mojave Desert and various places multiple times without saying a word. He even goes as far as to describe how in July 1992, 2 years after Chris left Atlanta, his mother awoke one night with tears rolling down her cheeks screaming, “I don’t know how I’ll ever get over it. I wasn’t dreaming. I didn’t imagine it. I heard his voice! He was begging, ‘Mom! Help me!’” (p. 126). Krakauer could have deliberately left out such disheartening details that portrayed Chris in a negative manner, as someone who would make his mother suffer in such a way, but he included them in order to give the reader as much perspective on Chris as possible.