Into the Wild Essay

The non-fiction book, Into the Wild, by author Jon Krakauer, is the story of Christopher McCandless, a young Emory Graduate from a rather wealthy family, who is mysteriously found dead in the Alaskan wilderness in September 1992 at the age of 24. Krakauer retells significant events of McCandless leading up to his death. In Into the Wild, Krakauer uses many rhetorical devices in order to support his argument. Krakauer effectively manipulated the rhetorical devices of characterization, comparison, logos, and anecdotes to convince the audience that Chris was not particularly unusual and as insane that people perceived him to be.

Jon Krakauer had the same experience as McCandless with his family and travel to Alaska, but Krakauer knew more about survival and had company in case of any danger. Krakauer compares, “as a young man, I was unlike Mccandless in many important regard… And I suspect we had a similar intensity, a similar heedlessness, a similar agitation of the soul” (55). Acknowledging McCandless’s background, Chris left society because, in Krakauer’s point of view, of the “agitation of the soul” and the “similar heedless” of society. McCandless didn’t agree with society’s standards that being successful meant having a well paid occupation, especially when McCandless’s parents enforced it onto him. McCandless truly did not want to uphold the wishes of his parents, for Chris to go to college and get high paying career, but it wasn’t what Chris really wanted, so he left all of his conflicts with his parents and his values or “agitation of the soul” to create a new identity as Alex Supertramp and live in the wild. In today’s modern world, humanity lives in an environment where people are controlled and dependent on others. Chris’s father is someone he despises because of his characteristic of being controlling. Walter becomes controlling over Chris, who pressured him into college. As a result, Chris has an “agitation of the soul” to become independent, and a “heedlessness” for society and had an “intensity” for

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 Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer explores the human fascination with the purpose of life and nature. Krakauer documents the life and death of Chris McCandless, a young man that embarked on an Odyssey in the Alaskan wilderness. Like many people, McCandless believed that he could give his life meaning by pursuing a relationship with nature. He also believed that rejecting human relationships, abandoning his materialistic ways, and purchasing a book about wildlife would strengthen his relationship with nature. However, after spending several months enduring the extreme conditions of the Alaskan wilderness, McCandless’ beliefs begin to work against him. He then accepts that he needs humans, cannot escape materialism, and can

The Alaskan wilderness knows no mercy nor no forgiveness, out there one mistake could cost a person their life. Chris grew up in a strict household where he was given little to no freedom. As a young adult, Chris found this lack of individualism overwhelming so he disentangled himself from society in a rather abrupt manner. He unfortunately met a premature death, which continues to arouse suspicion amongst readers. However Chris McCandless did not have a death wish, he had already made it this far and still had plenty left he wanted to accomplish. In the book Into the Wild, author Jon Krakauer uses the three appeals through various devices to convince his reading audience that Chris McCandless was a determined individual whose justified choices

Krakauer recalls “the revelation that he was merely human” and like himself, his father had made mistakes in raising him out of love and longing for success from his son. “Two decades after the fact, I discovered that my rage was gone and had been for years” (148); two decades Chris was shorted. That time, though lengthy, had potential to heal wounds inflicted by his childhood fallout with his father. Krakauer contrasts his seemingly insignificant fallout with his father to Chris’ harsh one as a reconciliation is eventually reached. Jon implies that Chris’ isolationism causes minute insanity and uses that as a distinctive difference between the two hinting that his own sanity has contributed to his current livelihood and tolerable relationship with his father. After college and maturing, Krakauer comes to the realization that his father’s actions had been for the best and had Chris not acted so rashly by beginning a nomadic life with little belongings and personal ties, he would not have died in Alaska without contact to his family, whom he had once been close

Imagine being stuck in the wild, on the verge of dying from either starvation or freezing to death. There are not enough resources, not enough food, all you have left is to hope. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, is a story written of a man named Chris McCandless who overall did not like his life. He thought society corrupted his dreams that he previously set, and he wanted to get away from all of societies norms. Chris wanted to achieve his dream, he wanted a “thrill” in his life, so, Chris decided to go out into the wild and be a free man. In the process he left behind his family who worried everyday having no notion of his whereabouts. Chris was without a doubt , a very controversial/confusing person. People who have heard his story have reason to believe that he was a foolish, stupid kid who got lost into the wild and got himself killed. However, due to Chris' grit, his ability to look deep inside himself to bring out the real him, and his love of nature are all exceptional. Chris' journey into the threatening Alaskan wilderness was not one of stupidity, but one of self determination and courageousness.

Throughout the novel, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer sincerely disentangles the haunting enigma of Chris McCandless. By tracing the places, people and experiences intertwined in the life of McCandless, Krakauer narrates the life story of a puzzling corpse found in a bus buried in the Alaskan frontier in a truly authentic way of storytelling. Although Krakauer inserts direct quotes from people who McCandless came into direct contact with and experts from primary source journals, Krakauer’s own voice in the narration of the dead man’s life is trustworthy due to the similarities the protagonist and the author share. Common connections such as similar paternal stress made outstanding impacts in both men’s lives, starting at a young age. Furthermore, a sort of agitation with the soul ailed Krakauer and McCandless fueled by a reckless persona confined in the modern world. Lastly, a craving for human contact when in total isolation troubled both the author and subject in their adventures narrowed in the natural world. The mutual bond apparent to the reader between Krakauer and McCandless makes the writing in the novel sincere enabling Krakauer to speak of a dead’s man life with profound authority and truth. Unconditional understanding through shared paternal issues, agitation of the soul, and need for human contact grants Krakauer access to divulge into the conundrum of Chis McCandless and authority to earnestly narrate the mysterious

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.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer - Thesis Statement Jon krakauer sympathizes Christopher McCandless living life to the fullest and moving beyond the box. Having to feel the measures of pain and other feelings that about. Krakauer he was not accustomed to. He was blank he couldn’t take the pressure so he went alone.

In April 1992, a young man hitchhiked to Alaska and walked into the wilderness alone. His decomposed body was found by moose hunters 4 months later. The novel, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer tells the story of the rebellious man, who lived a very abstract life. After Chris graduated high school he developed ideas of philosophy from authors, Thoreau and Jack London. Chris took his philosophic beliefs and abandoned society and his family to find the true meaning of life and happiness. Going into the wilderness he took nothing but a ten pound bag of rice and a backpack. But, little did he know that his “romantic silliness” would lead him to his death.

Imagine spending thirty days alone in a tent or a cabin in the wilderness with no technology, electricity, running water, and any form of communication. Every day you wake up to the sight of the beautiful, tall trees and the various wildlife living in the area. Most of the time, you can hear the many sounds of nature: the majestic songs of birds, the whistling in the wind, and trees rustling. But sometimes all you can hear is nothing but silence. Most of us would not be able to do this and we would most likely want to be anywhere but here. Not many people will experience living in the wilderness, but for those who have will have memories to treasure forever. Among those people who would choose this

A few short months into his pursuit of freedom and happiness, in the interior of Alaska, McCandless experienced a revelation that unfortunately dawned on him only after he was unable to escape the wild. His realization was “HAPPINESS IS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” (188). From the beginning of time, humans have had an inherent need to interact with others, to love, to laugh, to depend on one another for emotional and physical support. Without these reciprocal actions, humans tend to become introverted and angry at the world, as was proven by McCandless. Grievously, McCandless’s desire to forgive his parents and return to civilization manifested itself too late; he was unable to escape the interior. He wrote; “BUT IN WEAKEST CONDITION OF LIFE. DEATH LOOMS AS SERIOUS THREAT. TOO WEAK

In the infamous book, Into the Wild, author Jon Krakauer enjoys explaining his admiration of Chris McCandless and the perceived beauties and successes of his perilous journey. He begins his novel with an author's note where he tells of how he is infatuated by McCandless’s story as Krakauer himself once aspired to live nomadically as Chris had done. He proceeds to explain McCandless’s begin with descriptions such as, “...he’d excelled academically and had been an elite athlete. Immediately after graduating, with high honors…”(Krakauer, 1). It is seen here that Krakauer is bias in his writing of McCandless's story as he himself is admiring McCandless; Krakauer even stated how it is difficult to remain objective in his writing, and he clearly failed at it. This failure can be attributed to the similar sense of adventure in both Krakauer and McCandless, but it can be also be credited to the author’s inability to write objectively about the dead. This author's perspective influences the reader by only giving him/her a certain outlook on McCandless. For example, when addressing the vandalism of multiple cabins around the

Throughout our lives, we experience different situations,some that can be positive or negative, but consequently help build who we are. Sometimes it's harder for others to find themselves, which leads them to go out of their comfort zone and discover new things that will truly make them happy,this is reflected on the life of Christopher McCandless in the film Into the Wild, directed by Sean Penn and the book written by Jon Krakauer. As Chris McCandless way of finding himself, he embarked on a journey into the Alaskan wilderness. Jon Krakauer refers to Chris McCandless as being some sort of pilgrim and I agree with his statement because Chris was rebellious, ambitious and an intelligent person.