One good, thing about the book is it explained every aspect of McCandless journey and why he went on it. After he died, Krakauer had talked to McCandless parents to try to figure out Chris’s personality before the journey and the people he met on the journey to see how Chris was like in those 2 years. However, the book spoiled his death very early in the book causing me to loose interest from the beginning. The book was not in chronological order, making it very difficult to understand the thought process of McCandless. Also, in the last fifty pages was not about McCandless’s journey or him at all, making this book very boring and confusing to understand. On the other hand, Krakauers adventure into Alaska taught him “…people would have been quick to say of me- as they now say of him- that I had a death wish” (pg.144 ¶4). Many say that the two have been suicidal or that they have a death wish but in reality they just wanted a sense of adventure. I would not recommend reading this book, although it is interesting but it does not capture the reader the right away. It is a slow read, which takes a while to get into. Overall the book is a 3 because it is interesting but can become repetitive and…
The purpose Krakauer giving examples of Gene Rossellini, John Waterman and Carl McCunn to emphasize the differences between their radical actions and Chris McCandless. There are some similarities between these four people and the similarities between Chris McCandless and three other men just indicates that there was something different about Chris McCandless. Rossellini was a son of wealthy family like McCandless. Also, Rossellini was educated, and questioned his existence just like McCandless. He wanted to push the limits of a person, and chose his way of survival. It was an interesting try from a historical standpoint, but Neolithic lifestyle caused mental detrition of Rossellini. He committed suicide, but McCandless had a great obsession…
Finally in Chapter 8, the reader is given insight into the types of letters Krakauer received, after having previously written an article about McCandless, with most of the incoming mail giving harsh criticism on the young traveler's story for being mentally ill, and unprepared. Yet McCandless isn’t the only one to go off on to a far fetched adventure out into the Alaskan wilderness, as one school teacher put it, with Krakauer offering three other examples of others with stories like McCandless. These other stories of Rosellini, Waterman, and McCunn, also prove Christopher McCandless’s uniqueness despite there being similarities between him and of the many others who shared the same philosophy as McCandless. Different in a sense that McCandless,…
The life of Christopher Johnson McCandless has been a source of both inspiration and controversy throughout North America. His trek into the Alaskan wilderness, which led to his eventual demise, left him remembered as heroic and reckless, a brilliant artist and an irresponsible egotist; but regardless of what one’s opinion is on Chris McCandless, there is no denying that he is interesting and has inspired a variety of works in the media, including author Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, which was adapted into a film in 2007. Though both the novel and film follow the same storyline, the two have their inevitable differences.…
Krakauer spends the last couple of chapters discussing Chris’s last days. He talks about how…
“Into The Wild” was written by Jon Krakauer in 1996, and is based on a true story of a young man named Christopher Johnson McCandless who was born in February 12, 1968 in El Segundo, California. Hunters found his body inside a bus in September 6th, 1992 in the Alaskan wilderness. Christopher McCandless came from a wealthy family. He was very smart, talented, kind hearted and nature loving human. His family was always proud of him when it came up to his education. McCandless was a man of his own, as early age he used his own mind when making decisions. He enjoyed doing thinks on his own. After he graduated from high school, McCandless attended Emory University and completed his college education there. During his college gradation, “What nobody…
I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his romantic silliness. He made a lot of mistakes based on arrogance. I dont admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy. Shaun Callarman Explain Callarmans argument and discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with his analysis. 4. Beyond simply not getting along with his father, do you relate to Chris Do you feel that you understand him and what he did Do you admire him for his goals Have you had any experiences that you think help you better understand him 5. Krakauer says in the Authors Note that there were many differing opinions about Chris, and that his own convictions should be apparent soon enough. But that he will leave it to the reader to form his or her own opinion of Chris…
Chris McCandless went into the wild to escape corrupt society. He also did it because he fell in love with nature through his readings of books by authors such as Charles Dickens and Jack London. “He didn’t appear to be very old eighteen, maybe nineteen at most.” (Krakauer p.3) Jim Gallien had said this when he first saw Chris. McCandless was still a young kid. Chris is crazy because at nineteen he wanted to do this when his parents…
First off, Chris McCandless is a celebrity in the transcendentalist community because of his search for the meaning of life independently. Jon Krakauer respects McCandless because no one prompted him to go out into the Alaskan wilderness, since most people need a push to do something. However some people believe McCandless is a fool and should be forgotten about and that he was spoiled rotten and was just wanting attention. The truth that most people do not know is, McCandless’s parents used to fight and the mom would call out for the kids to come see what the dad was doing to her. McCandless was a strong character and had gone through a lot. McCandless looked up to all of the major transcendentalists including his favorite Henry…
The whole purpose of writing Into the Wild was Krakauer trying to show the world Chris was a normal person. He does so by comparing Chris other notable people who take similar journeys like hiss, such as Gene Rosellini,…
John Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild”, details Chris McCandless’ journey and final moments of his life. Depending on how you view life, Chris McCandless was not a smart person. He was having problems at home that he should have resolved with his family. He thought he didn’t need to deal with his problems like a responsible person and deserted his life and problems like an impulsive little…
The book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is about a young man named Chris “Alex Supertramp” McCandless, who goes into the Alaskan wilderness, some say unprepared, and dies. In this story Krakauer includes opinions of others like how they did not exactly think highly of Chris or how they thought he was brave, but he also has his own bias on Chris McCandless. Like every other opinion, there is a reason behind why Krakauer felt the way he did toward Chris. His reason is because he feels he can relate to Chris. Seeing as how they have been through several similar experiences, Krakauer has in a sense a “weak spot” for him. He didn't believe Chris was ignorant, but was just trying to find his own person. He admired his determination…
McCandless’ motive for seeking truth was influenced by his parents materialistic lives. He disliked it even more when his parents tried to force their lifestyle upon him, as he even announced to his parents two years before graduation that he would no longer give or accept gifts. “Chris has only recently upbraided Walt and Billie for expressing their desire to buy him a new car as a graduation present and offering to pay for law school if there wasn’t enough money left in his college fund to cover it… “I can’t believe they’d try and buy me a car.” he later complained…(20-21).” Chris wanted something more than what society had to offer him. He was seeking truth about himself- he wanted to challenge himself and see what he can accomplish on his own. McCandless was also seeking happiness because he wasn’t happy with his life and where he was headed if he stayed. Chris McCandless did find answers in his journey but not happiness. He found that living in the wild isn’t as easy as his favorite books make it out to be. His Alaskan adventure was inspired, in part, by Jack London’s Call of the Wild. He tried to follow in the footsteps of some of the authors he idolized, like Thoreau and London, which is ironic because he failed to realize that these authors wrote fictional narratives. His answer for happiness was summed up in one of his last journal entries, “He was right in saying that the only certain…
Jon Krakauer does not want the reader to feel bad for McCandless, or make him or her think what Christopher did was a good or bad idea. He simply wants the reader to understand why Christopher McCandless did what he did. Krakauer is able to present a man,once a stranger to the reader, as a man the reader feels like he or she knows personally. While Krakauer is empathetic towards McCandless situation, he ultimately lets the reader make his or her own opinion about McCandless’ behavior. Into The Wild shows that Christopher McCandless was clearly a strong man with some fatal flaws, and the author points out every trait in full detail.…
“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation…” (Krakauer 56). Throughout Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, Chris McCandless sees this as a truth so many are unwilling to face. However he refuses to be one of those people who are, “conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservation” (Krakauer 57) regardless of his own highly comfortable upbringing. Throughout the book, Krakauer develops his thesis that Chris is not just another Bear Grylls wanna-be. In this respect the author is correct. He isn’t just someone who read a book or article and decided to run to the Alaska wilderness. “He wasn’t incompetent—he wouldn’t have lasted 113 days if he were.”(Krakauer 85).…