The Gunslinger: Roland Deschain, The Man in Black, and The Epic Struggle

The archetype of the Hero’s Journey holds a prevalent pattern in the works of “Initiation” by Sylvia Plath, “A & P” by John Updike, and “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker. These works all follow the 17 stages of Joseph Campbell’s Monomyth which are separated in three stages; separation, initiation, and return. The main characters have different characterizations; however, they all follow the basic structure of the Hero’s journey archetype. There are many similarities and differences between the stages that are shown through many context clues and literary devices in each work. The Hero’s Journey archetype expressed in these literary works follow a similar and direct narrative pattern.

Little things in one’s childhood can affect them in the long run and affect the decisions you make. In the book, Into the Wild, the author Jon Krakauer, tries to make the valid point that Chris McCandless was a hero, a noble and inspirational character. In the book, Krakauer fails to persuade the reader into the belief of the role that Chris McCandless was a “hero.” Chris McCandless was the son of two wealthy parents, and had so much great things going for him with a chance to a good working job and great opportunities, but instead to pursue in those opportunities he decided to get rid of all his possessions, and give everything up, even his family, and went on the journey to Alaska.

Throughout his novel Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer’s own perspectives shape the way he tells the story of Chris McCandless. Krakauer’s writing style allows for varying interpretations of the primary motivations of his protagonist, ranging from sympathizing with Chris to perceiving him as selfish. This is especially evident when Krakauer describes an interview with Walt McCandless about his son’s death seven weeks after Chris’ body was found. However, various interpretations of Krakauer’s work can lead to differing points of view on the subject. While Krakauer’s description of Walt’s emotional reaction to his son’s death could indicate Chris’ selfishness in abandoning his family, it could also serve to justify Chris’ decision to embark on his journey into the Alaskan wilderness.

Knowing that the wilderness can be extremely rough, people can understand that there is only a small chance of coming out alive after a long period of time of living there. McCandless and Ruess are examples of these instances; however, Krakauer lived to tell the story. McCandless suffered from starvation and natural disasters. He indicated all his struggles in his journal entries: “he’d written “4th day famine” in his journal” (164). After his ineffective attempt of leaving, he “turned around …back toward the bus” and died shortly (171). Although Ruess’s death was never confirmed, controversies revolved around the incident. Bewildering tales of his death included “death while scrambling on one or another canyon wall” and “[murdered] by a team of cattle rustlers” (94). Krakauer on the other hand, was the only individual out of the three to survive his expedition. In his narrative of his attempt at the Devil’s Thumb, he includes the phrase: “The climb was over” (144). This short sentence creates an artificial tone in which he expresses a very emotionless attitude after completing the harsh odyssey.

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.

Christopher Johnson Mccandless, an intelligent young man, dies while trying to live in Alaska; by choice. The death of Mccandless was a controversial matter: people argued their thoughts on Mccandless’ story, and who's to blame for Mccandless' death. Some say it’s Mccandless’ own stupidity, or his honorable seek for thrill. Others say it’s his parents’ horrible way of raising him, or nature’s unforeseen acts. However, it is a mixture of all these, with Mccandless being the most at fault. Mccandless might have had choices, but there were things he couldn’t control, neither can anyone else.

The story McCandless’s lifestyle persuades society to examine and observe the world from a different person’s perspective. It is believed in Krakauer’s novel that McCandless alienated himself from society because he was upset to learn that his father was a bigamist and others believed that he went to find himself through exploration. His journey teaches the larger picture of life such as living life in a way that makes you happy- a message shown in journals written by McCandless. Although he knew he was in danger he made no attempt to receive help and his journal entries portray no evidence that

Adventurer and journalist, Jon Krakauer, in his novel, Into the Wild, shares the story of McCandless’ journey. Krakauer’s purpose is to convey that McCandless was in fact an idealist and not insane to his Outdoor Magazine readers. In chapters 1-7, McCandless encounters several people as he goes along his journey. Krakauer uses the rhetorical strategy of characterization to explain McCandless’ personality to the readers.

Roland the gunslinger was a flat character. Throughout the story, he had one main purpose. The objective of him was to catch the man in black. Every once in a while, he would be stopped by someone and he would tell about his past. Roland wasn’t much of a static character either. He didn’t change through the story unlike most characters. Jake however was more of a round character where he was more complex. Even at the beginning of the story, Roland was a flat character when he decided to follow the man in black. “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed”

Edward Johnson wrote a bibliography on Joseph Campbell and included Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Edward Johnson explained that the monomyth is, “the underlying uniform structure of the adventure of the hero (which can be mapped on all people attempting to make their way through life).” Think about all the different movies, books, or stories that have been created. Most of them always have a hero, and he or she has to go on a journey. However, each journey has a different path. This journey is called the monomyth or the hero’s journey. The monomyth explains the course every hero takes to be changed and made new. This course is exemplified in more stories then people realize. For example, in the movie Osmosis Jones a

Life is a precious gift, as you only get one chance to become your best self. In life everyone has hopes and dreams to find their calling to potentially make a difference in the world. In literature we are presented with an abundance of epic hero stories, referring to fictional or non-fictional characters that have made a difference in their world. These characters grant the reader with entertaining stories pertaining to historical or fictional events that reflect the hero’s journey to making a triumphant change. Joseph Campbell’s theory that every hero has a similar journey to becoming their best self commences with a call to an adventure. The call to adventure is the first and most important step in Joseph Campbell’s hero monomyth, “A hero with a Thousand Faces.”

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.

In his novel, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer highlights the adventures of Chris McCandless. McCandless undergoes several questionable tasks, which influence the reader to form judgments about his character. Krakauer believes that the reader of the novel should form his or her opinions on the actions of Chris McCandless. However, the author suggests that McCandless is a unique person, describing him as “something else.” By analyzing the background and actions of McCandless, one can conclude that he was rebellious and became tired of his life despite his wealth and accomplishments.

In the beginning of the book, Roland, Eddie, Susannah, and Jake are traveling along the Beam Path toward the Dark Tower but, as they are approaching the starkblast forces they take shelter in a meeting hall, which is in the abandoned city of Gook. Roland then proceeds to tell one story from his youth and another is a tale that his mother had told him as a child. "The Skin-Man" story (youth) Steven Deschain(Father) sends Roland and Jamie(gunslingers) to rescue the city of Debaria from a skin-man who is terrorizing the people. They then proceed to work with the sheriff of the city to solve the mystery. Roland then finds Bill Streeter(Witness). Roland uses hypnosis to get more information from the boy's mind. Roland figures out that the skin-man

In A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway uses damaged characters to show the unglamorous and futile nature of war and the effects it has on people. Hemingway wants readers to know that war is not what people make it out to be; it is unspectacular and not heroic. Hemingway also feels that war is futile by nature and that most goals in war have almost no point. He also shows readers that military conflict often causes people to have shallow values and to hide their pain for their own protection.