Analysis Of Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

In the summer of 1992 Christopher McCandless was found by a group of hikers dead on Stampede trail in Fairbanks 142. After college Chris had left society donating his life savings to charity, burning the remainder of his money, left all his belongings in his 1982 Datsun B210, and presented himself as Alex. This was the beginning of Chris’s journey into the wild. He has met a lot of people along the way and they all were devastated to hear that Chris had died in Alaska from starvation. Chris was a well liked person by the people that he spoke to. A troubled childhood fueled his fire and gave him every reason to dislike his parents for what they had done to his only sister and himself as children. In Jon Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, he uses ethos and logos in order to compare and contrast others experiences to Chris McCandless so that

When writing in this book, Krakauer appeals to ethos by including several interviews with all the people that knew Chris. In chapter 2, Krakauer is interviewing Wayne Westerberg in Carthage, South Dakota. Westerberg was the first person Chris came into contact to when he left on his journey. After finding about Chris’s death, Westerberg told

“Their fraudulent marriage and our father's denial of his other son was, for Chris, a murder of every day's truth. He felt his whole life turn, like a river suddenly reversing the direction of its flow, suddenly running uphill. These revelations struck at the core of Chris' sense of identity. They made his entire childhood seem like fiction.” page 103 The way chris found his life to be nothing but fiction made it hard for him to want ot stay around with his family and to do things a normal person

To some people, McCandless is simply a selfish and woefully naive young man who wandered unprepared into the wilds of Alaska and got exactly what he deserved. To others, he’s an inspiration, a symbol of freedom, and the embodiment of true adventure. " This quote is from Laura Moss's article "Why Are We Still Talking About Chris McCandless?" in paragraphs (4) through (5) of “A Complicated Legacy” emphasizes that McCandless's journey was not just about escaping society or proving his self-reliance,

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

Jon Krakauer shows how Chris is a tragic hero by highlighting his unique and flawed views on society while emphasizing how his tragic death, caused by his flaws, led Chris to a greater epiphany about

The author captured pathos in the story by demonstrating Chris frustration and his stubborn attitude. For example, “You don’t need to worry about me. I have a college education. I am not destitute. I’m living like this by choice” (52). Chris wrote this to Ron Franz in a letter he believed that he could survive the harsh conditions in Alaska. Since he believed in being far away from civilization him chosen to get no help from anyone. He wrote this letter to help Ron Franz understand that nature is all around us we cannot walk away from it. They both grew a very close bond between each other in a very short amount of time. Ron Franz was an old man who previously lost his wife and children due to that he grew a very fatherly affection towards Chris. Chris taught him to believe in God and to be go out to the world and think in an optimistic way. Chris was on the hunt to Alaska and when someone offered to help him and tried to make him realize that, it was a stupid choice he would just argue and stay quiet. He chosen to go out to Alaska on his own nobody forced him to. This was his way of departing and having a break from tradition. When Chris McCandless decided to have a complete break from tradition, he was acting like a true Transcendentalist these characteristics are shown throughout the book.

Lastly, Chris Mccandless got to fulfill his dream, live his own life, and now he even got to find his inner self, find out who he truly is. Chris was the kind of person that lived dangerously unlike most people, he was different “It is hardly unusual for a young man to be drawn to a pursuit considered reckless by his elders...Danger has always held a certain allure. McCandless, in his fashion, merely took risk-taking to its logical extreme” (Krakauer, 182). Chris’s true self-was one that was riskful and daring until he could finish the task. Furthermore, he was different from others and throughout his journey, others could see that. In the end that was the kind of person Chris Mccandless was, and this is the person he became after fulfilling his dream and living his own life. In contrast, others did

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.

Even with all of these set backs and characteristics behind Chris McCandless, Chris still went on a life changing odyssey that which is inferred that he enjoyed very much so. On page one hundred thirty six.

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

The book “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer is a story about a man by the name of Chris McCandless. He is a man who grew up in a DC suburb, graduated college and decides to change the ways of his life. He journeys across the country, and finds his way to Alaska. His means are to leave the material lifestyle and become at one with nature. During Chris’s adventure he seems to neglect all communication with his family and over look the fact that they care about his health and future.

As Chris breathed his last breath, he was finally able to find his inner happiness through the Alaskan wilderness. In chapter 18, Krakauer notes about Chris’ final photo of himself, describing Chris as, “[he] was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God,” (199). The way he was described in this picture shows that Chris has in fact found the happiness that he was looking for and was able to leave this earth in peace. Then again, in chapter 18, the last words of Chris McCandless wrote, “I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD.GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL,”(199). Although he was in severe pain, from starvation, he was still able to find the bright side of things. He was able to die in the one place that he had desired to be at.

The story of Chris McCandless has become a pop culture phenomenon. Many are fascinated by his desire to abandon his family and society and “walk into the wild” (Krakauer 69). Newscasts, magazine articles, movies, and books have tried to define what motivated him to give up everything for his Alaskan odyssey; however, the answers died with McCandless. People make assumptions about him without knowing his entire story. McCandless chose to do the unconventional, making people think he was either foolish or brave and determined, but ultimately he was selfish for doing what he did.

Through this technique, Krakauer helps to develop Chris’s personality and t conveys the author’s purpose of tell McCandless’s story.