Jon Krakauer’s Use of Rhetorical Devices in Into the Wild

Speaker:Jon Krakauer, An author and mountaineer. He is well known for his writings about the outdoors. As a young man his primary focus was mountaineering which eventually lead to him becoming a writer

First, and the most noticeable, is Krakauer’s use of narration. The main purpose for writing this book was to tell the full truth of McCandless’ journey and in parallel, clear his reputation of a irrational young man. Krakauer wanted to show the reader that McCandless was not an arrogant kid that had outrageous ambitions to trek through Alaska, and one way he did this was by emphasizing McCandless’ intelligence through the use of narration by friends and family members. “Alex was Big on the Classics: Dickens, H.G. Wells, Mark Twain, Jack London. London was his favorite. He’d try to convince

Jon Krakauer admires Chris McCandless for his adventurous personality. Chris stated “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure” pg 56-57. Krakauer recognized McCandless’s urge to take initiative to change his situation and fill his void of darkness with light. In this case McCandless light was leaving everything behind , and taking a pilgrimage across the country to experience new things.

5. Chapters 14 and 15 describe Krakauer’s successful attempt when he was 23 years old to climb the “Devil’s Thumb,” a mountain in Alaska. He also describes what he thinks are parallels between McCandless and himself. Do these chapters increase his credibility for writing this book, or do they undermine his credibility by making it seem like he has his own agenda and is not objective?

He explains how he was torn between quitting his job, which was necessary for the income, or continuing to venture into the wild, searching for new places to climb. Krakauer “never had any doubt that climbing the Devil’s Thumb would transform his life. How could it not?”(135). This technique of rhetorical questioning requires the reader to think of Krakauer’s options and aims to make the readers predict where Krakauer his headed, leaving his job in search for climbing opportunities. After Krakauer clues the reader about his future plans, he then goes on to tell them of the day he quit his job. He writes the next few sentences in problem-solution format, noting “...after nine hours of humping two-by-tens and driving sixteen-penny nails, I told my boss I was quitting”(135,136). This concise problem-solution sentence format notifies the reader that Krakauer was sure of his decision to quit his job. He did not need much time to think about this life-changing decision, assuring the readers that he has been waiting for this lifestyle of adventure and freedom. Simply put, Krakauer and McCandless both operate on whims and are sure of their

In chapters 14 and 15, autobiographer, Jon Krakauer shares his experience on the Stikine Icecap attempting to climb the Devil’s thumb. The inclusion of his personal experience helps the reader see how he can relate to Chris McCandless’s motivation to go to Alaska without having ever met him. Krakauer's experience illustrates the similarities of both of their lives and personalities.Krakauer describes himself as a willful, self-absorbed, passionate, and moody child who had problems with male authority figures. In his late twenties he becomes focused on climbing and begins to undertake more dangerous climbs. After a few years, he is determined to make the climb in Alaska’s Devils Thumb. Much like Chris, Jon will do the climb alone. He quits his

In Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into The Wild, the main character, Christopher McCandless renders many reactions from a variety of people. Contrary to most opinions McCandless was not insane nor was he arrogant; in actuality, he was a noble idealist who acted upon his dreams. McCandless was a compassionate man who was dedicated and upheld his ideals and principles. What he sought was life in the simplest form; no longer wanting anything to do with life's troubles.

Throughout the book, he communicates his own thoughts about his own self-searching and attempts to consider the events that led up to this tragedy. Krakauer writes the magazine article when he returns home to Seattle. after publishing the story, he soon learns his error in reporting the affairs of the expedition. Resulting from lack of oxygen He thought that one of the guides had fallen and died when actually the guide died in attempt to help Hall. This displays an example of ethos, because it shows the genuine character and credibility of the guide, as he was risking his life to help Hall. Krakauer is then has to face and accept this mistake and to constantly wonder what more he could have done to help his team members and fellow

Krakauer's rather informal yet factual tone enables him to relay the important details of McCandless's adventure while keeping the readers engaged in the story. Krakauer frequently inserts his own thoughts into the story, but his

Krakauer uses research about the life of McCandless in order to establish his ethos and convey his thesis of the novel. When Krakauer presents the information concerning McCandless’s death, he quotes directly from the moose hunters who found him dead and describes the exact setting of the situation. Krakauer beings by explaining the scene at which the moose hunters found him, “A few hundred yards beyond the river the trail disappeared” (Krakauer 12). Krakaurer’s use of description enables readers to visualize the scene better and create a major sense of trust between the author and reader. Krakauer then imbeds a quote directly from the moose hunters that found McCandless’s body who explains that there was “a real bad smell from inside” (Krakauer12). Appealing to the reader’s sense of smell, and also using the perspective of the exact people that found McCandless’s body, establishes a more ethical appeal to the audiences trust in the information the author is presenting. Also, Krakauer cites an exact note found on the bus where McCandless was discovered which states that he is “Near death” (Krakauer 12). The note displayed in the text is written in a different font, implying that the proceeding text is written by a different author, and is also signed by McCandless himself. The research Krakauer did is directly shown here because of his factual evidence. The use of factual information from the scene of the death provides a

In the first passage of Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction novel, he argues that Christopher McCandless was thought to be an avid survivor of all terrain. In his two year journey, McCandless learns to live off  “wild plants,” experiencing his “adventurous spirit” across North America. He encounters many people from Mexico to South Dakota, who set a trend of wonderment in what a “twenty-four-year-old vagabond” could be doing traveling the country with nothing but a backpack. His “figure out all on his own” attitude suited his “nomadic” life well. The “radical” lifestyle provides McCandless with a sense of newly found “solitude” until his unfortunate “great Alaskan odyssey,” that ultimately ends his life.

Additionally, King builds his credibility with the utilization of ethos in his text in order to convince them of his argument. By appealing to the readers’ ethics, they can see how trustworthy King’s words are and then can let themselves be persuaded by his matter-of fact tone and professionalism in writing. King is a realist, which means that he almost always represents things as they really are, which profoundly helps establish his honest persona. Most of Stephen King’s writing represents more than one tenet, as his stories that he tells about his childhood and road to recovery from drug addiction and alcoholism can be seen as not only pathos, but and etho as well, as these stories help the readers to understand what kind of person he is, and how he accomplished all of his success despite a couple of major roadblocks. This is why it can be seen that King uses pathos most heavily in his writing, by telling vivid stories, etc. in order to touch upon human emotion towards human experiences/traits, while also creating a strong voice in his writing as well. The overlapping of these appeals help support the ethics and sensibility of King’s work. There are scores of times where it can be clearly identified where ethos have been used in his writing. For example, King says “I’m a slow reader, but i usually get through seventy or eighty books a year, mostly fiction. I don't read in order to study the craft; i read because i like to read.- Similarly, I don't read to study the art of fiction, but simply because I like stories-Every book you pick up has its own lesson or lessons, and quite often the bad books have more to teach than the good ones” (King, pg 145) This helps to support the idea that writing is learned through reading, and also is learned through the mistakes of other writers. There is no better way to learn than to look at a piece of writing that has some minor or even major flaws and to analyze the piece to see what the issue is, and learn from their mistake to better your own writing in the future. Another one of King’s main arguments is that no writer is perfect. There are always things that you can do to make your writing even better, no matter how small the adjustment may be. It’s a learning process

as a foolish adventurer whose story should be wrong and not an inspiration, arguing that too many people underrate the dangers of nature. Coming to Alaska and dying because of their ignorance. Chris McCandless followed through with his goals and never gave up or deferred them because someone told him it was stupid. Chris’ vehemence motivates us to gratify in risks for the potential of our ideals. Chris McCandless is an amazing role model for the young generation.

Throughout the novel, McCandless is haunted by the past: the revelation of his father’ deception and the suffocating atmosphere of the relation between parents and children plague McCandless throughout his journey. However, in Alaska, McCandless undergoes a transformation prior to death. He prints the phrase “Happiness only real when shared” on a page of the book Doctor Zhivago (189). It is interpreted that McCandless may have been ready to open himself to others,like his family and friends, and rejoin society if he survives Alaska. Although he did not provide further information, it is still a prominent change in behavior for McCandless as he is the type to enjoy being alone. Furthermore, McCandless found the insight of his adventure before the demise. McCandless writes “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may God bless all.” (199) McCandless passes away in peace and releases the anger and resentment toward society and his parents. Krakauer describes his passing as “serene as a monk gone to God.”

In one of the first few pages of Krakauer’s novel, he notes that Chris’ story was heavily criticised. “Some readers admired the boy immensely for his courage and noble ideals; others fulminated that he was a reckless idiot, a wacko, a narcissist who perished out of arrogance and stupidity--and was undeserving of the considerable media attention he received.” (pg. 3). This, of course, was proven to not only limited to the negative feedback he received from Alaskans; but globally. In the case of Simpson’s article, it gave off a sense of disapproval. In her own words, “We were too cynical to read entry after entry from people looking for meaning in the life and death of a man who had rejected his family, mooched his way across the country and called himself “Alexander Supertramp” in the third person. I struggled to imagine the emotional currents that had carried people here to the bus, so far from their homes, to honor his memory.”. To interpret from this, it seems to be frequent that Alaskans hold no personal interest towards the meaning behind his death. More or less, Simpson generalizes the typical Alaskan take on his story. On the other hand, Jim Gallien was also an adventurer in Alaska who was the last to see McCandless before his journey, and his attitude was much more open minded.