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How Does Christopher Mccandless Use Of Ethos In Into The Wild

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It has been said that some find life after death. This stands true for Christopher McCandless, the main protagonist in Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. Into the Wild is journalist Jon Krakauer’s narration of McCandless ditching his life of privilege and hitch hiking around America, until he would eventually trek into the Alaskan Wilderness and lose his life due to starvation. After McCandless is found dead, news of his death sweeps across the nation as his untimely departure faces criticism for being deserved, as McCandless went into the wilderness extremely underprepared. Through this novel, Krakauer brings McCandless’s spirit back to life again as he uses anecdotes, ethos, and aphorisms to convince readers that McCandless’s expedition was not an act of craziness, but an act of a free spirit that many can relate to. At the beginning of the novel, Krakauer …show more content…

McCandless believed that one should “make each day a new horizon” (Krakauer 789495263). By the same token, McCandless also believed that “happiness only real when shared” (Krakauer 24572567). These loose, telescopic, declarative aphorisms are meant to make readers stop and consider these words. Krakauer tries to illustrate to readers that McCandless was a nonconformist who felt deeply and believed everyone should do something meaningful with the life they lead. By inserting these aphorisms, Krakauer means to not only display McCandless’s intelligent and poignant mind, but to also show that ideas repeated throughout time, such as the importance of companionship and making the most of one’s life, were ideas that greatly impacted who McCandless as a person. Thus, with these telescopic and declarative aphorisms, readers can relate to him and his search for meaning in the

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