The plot line of a tragic story is one that enthralls a reader with the rise and fall of a tragic hero. After the death of Christopher McCandless in Alaska over 20 years ago, not only is there still discussion of what was the true cause of his death, but also the widespread debate of a much larger question: was McCandless a tragic hero? Some argue that Christopher McCandless is a selfish coward and ended up giving his whole life and education away due to his lack of knowledge of the wilderness, while others argue that he lived his life through pushing beyond the limits of a normal human being and seeking what is limited to most of society. In the novel Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer describes the travels of McCandless and writes about how past …show more content…
He does this in order to question the status quo of society, ultimately coinciding with Miller’s third criteria of a tragedy. Miller defines that a tragic hero’s struggle “must enlighten the reader by questioning the status quo of our society and pointing out that which limits humankind’s realization of dignity, identity, and freedom”(Miller). McCandless’ personality has a strong effect on drawing in others to be interested in his aspirations. Krakauer paints this emotional grip through the story of Ron, an 81 year old man who meets Chris McCandless and becomes drawn into his lifestyle. Being heartbroken when left without notice by McCandless, Ron is brought into this daring lifestyle when he receives a letter from Chris, saying “we must have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living. My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out there for you to grasp it”(Krakauer 57). Before meeting McCandless, Krakauer illustrates Ron as an individual who has a routine focus of working from night until day, and bases life off of monetary value. The new type of lifestyle that Ron sees through Chris leads to him having the desire to recraft his whole vision of life …show more content…
This perspective goes against him being defined as a tragic hero—it conflicts with Miller’s criteria in which the “protagonist’s primary struggle needs to be the search for their sense of dignity and identity [and] find their rightful place in society”(Miller). However, Krakauer refutes this belief through stating that his childhood lifestyle was controlled through the harshness of Christopher’s father. He says, “given Walt’s authority through high school and college to a surprising degree, but the boy raged inwardly all the while. He brooded at length over what he perceived to be his father’s moral shortcomings, the hypocrisy of his parents’ lifestyle, the tyranny of their conditional love”(Krakauer 64). McCandless’ years up to high school had been a blinded lifestyle in which he had to follow the routine of his authoritative father. It is not until university where he is able to truly seek out the freedom of being able to choose what he wants to pursue in his life. By the time he graduates, he already makes the choice to take a journey into the wild, meaning that he had no past experience of getting a job, making money, or having a set routine life as other college graduates. Krakauer uses this situation to strengthen his illustration of McCandless as a tragic hero, as it shows that he truly does not have a rightful
Jon Krakauer had the same experience as McCandless with his family and travel to Alaska, but Krakauer knew more about survival and had company in case of any danger. Krakauer compares, “as a young man, I was unlike Mccandless in many important regard… And I suspect we had a similar intensity, a similar heedlessness, a similar agitation of the soul” (55). Acknowledging McCandless’s background, Chris left society because, in Krakauer’s point of view, of the “agitation of the soul” and the “similar heedless” of society. McCandless didn’t agree with society’s standards that being successful meant having a well paid occupation, especially when McCandless’s parents enforced it onto him. McCandless truly did not want to uphold the wishes of his parents, for Chris to go to college and get high paying career, but it wasn’t what Chris really wanted, so he left all of his conflicts with his parents and his values or “agitation of the soul” to create a new identity as Alex Supertramp and live in the wild. In today’s modern world, humanity lives in an environment where people are controlled and dependent on others. Chris’s father is someone he despises because of his characteristic of being controlling. Walter becomes controlling over Chris, who pressured him into college. As a result, Chris has an “agitation of the soul” to become independent, and a “heedlessness” for society and had an “intensity” for
Krakauer is now an adult person with greater experience of a 23 year old, in where he lived a life like McCandless, which is a person that has the experience to talk about Chris McCandless’ death. Krakauer and McCandless both went into the wilderness of Alaska, but for different reasons. About the same age “I was twenty-three a year younger than McCandless”(Krakauer 135). Krakauer decides to go into the wild because of the idea of claiming of his idol Edward, edward “Climbed not for sport, but to find refuge from the inner torment that framed his existence”(135). Krakauer puts this similarities, and experiences related to nature in order to make himself to appear as a person that knows of what he is talking about. Other than Krakauer adventures
In his novel, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer establishes young Christopher McCandless as a heroic and brave figure. Krakauer supports his portrayal of Chris by utilizing a narrative form and focusing on the relatable, human aspects of Chris, and by contrasting his story with the cautionary tales that are scattered throughout the history of the Alaskan wilderness. The author’s purpose is to promote his own theories and opinions on the boy’s life and death in order to establish what he believes to be the truth. The author writes in a fond tone for aspiring wilderness explorers and their critics.
In Jon Krakauer's novel Into the Wild, the main character, Chris McCandless, seeks nature so that he can find a sense of belonging and the true meaning of who he is. However, it is the essence of nature that eventually takes his life away from him. At the end of his life, he is discovers his purpose and need of other people. After Chris McCandless death in Alaska, Krakauer wrote Into the Wild to reflect on the journey that McCandless makes. Krakauer protrays McCandless as a young man who is reckless, selfish, and arrogant, but at the same time, intelligent, determined, independent, and charismatic. Along with the irony that occurs in nature, these characteristics are the several factors that contribute to McCandless death.
Chris McCandless was a man who had everything to have a successful life. However, Chris McCandless decided to leave it all behind. Chris thought that he was going to go leave all society behind to go live in the wild. Chris thought that it was going to be very hard. Krakauer He was arrogant and ignorance toward the nature and society. In Into the Wild Chris leaves his life behind to live a life alone in the wild. In Into the Wild Krakauer’s message from Chris’s journey is for people to never get too ignorant or too confident because anything can go wrong at anytime.
The author skillfully uses literary techniques to convey his purpose of giving life to a man on an extraordinary path that led to his eventual demise and truthfully telling the somber story of Christopher McCandless. Krakauer enhances the story by using irony to establish Chris’s unique personality. The author also uses Characterization the give details about Chris’s lifestyle and his choices that affect his journey. Another literary element Krakauer uses is theme. The many themes in the story attract a diverse audience. Krakauer’s telling is world famous for being the truest, and most heart-felt account of Christopher McCandless’s life. The use of literary techniques including irony, characterization and theme help convey the authors
As soon as I picked this book up, I could not put it down. Every chance I got, I was reading. I was begging in class for you to let us have down time so I could submerge myself into this virtual reality that I wanted to experience. Unfortunately at the end of this memoir, Chris McCandless dies of what Krakauer believes to be starvation. The cool thing about how Krakauer revised this novel is how he relates it to all teenagers. At one point in time mostly all teenagers have a fight with their parents and they feel as if running away from it all is their only escape. He focuses on Chirs McCandless’ life so much to create the theme that no matter how much you fight and argue, your parents love you and they want the best for you no matter what.
Christopher Johnson McCandless is a respectable man in so many ways but, yet such a foolish man in many others. Chris McCandless possessed a seemingly ever-lasting bravery that constantly shined through his unique and matchless character. He was very righteous in himself to the point in which he kept himself from any sin or evil, committing his life to what seemed like an idea of celibacy, not just in refraining from any desire of flesh but also in all lusts of life with his diligent power of will that constantly shined through his exterior. Onto the contrary of his good characteristics, McCandless remained to be very foolish in his decisions and under takings, whether it be by his arrogance of sheer narrow mindedness.
Jon Krakauer reveals the good in McCandless that is hidden from all his other previous mistakes. Although McCandless struggles with the concept of intimacy, he is gifted in the act of perseverance. Another thing McCandless has learned is survival, as presented with how long he stayed alive with limited resources. McCandless is a hard working individual as Krakauer as stated through the theme of perseverance. McCandless has many travel experiences, he’s traveled across vast parts of America, which is quite challenging especially with the lack of money because the world is a very materialistic place. His adventure through Mexico is another example of his survival skills as he only had very limited amounts of rice as food. Lastly, before he died
Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, describes the adventure of Christopher McCandless, a young man that ventured into the wilderness of Alaska hoping to find himself and the meaning of life. He undergoes his dangerous journey because he was persuade by of writers like Henry D. Thoreau, who believe it is was best to get farther away from the mainstreams of life. McCandless’ wild adventure was supposed to lead him towards personal growth but instead resulted in his death caused by his unpreparedness towards the atrocity nature.
Jon Krakauer, fascinated by a young man in April 1992 who hitchhiked to Alaska and lived alone in the wild for four months before his decomposed body was discovered, writes the story of Christopher McCandless, in his national bestseller: Into the Wild. McCandless was always a unique and intelligent boy who saw the world differently. Into the Wild explores all aspects of McCandless’s life in order to better understand the reason why a smart, social boy, from an upper class family would put himself in extraordinary peril by living off the land in the Alaskan Bush. McCandless represents the true tragic hero that Aristotle defined. Krakauer depicts McCandless as a tragic hero by detailing his unique and perhaps flawed views on society,
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.
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.
Is difficulty forgiving a driving force in people’s lives? People tend to have trouble letting things go and moving on. Instead they will bury things within themselves and walk in day to day life holding on to negativity. Chris McCandless sister Carine said in The Truth About Chris McCandless: “Perhaps I cannot escape the irony that as children, throughout dads gin, induced rages, we were told that he himself, was God, so his actions could not be wrong.” The home when they were younger was fairly stable, it included dad, mom, Carine, Chris, Shelley and Shawna but there father was a drunk and he kept secrets Chris could've never imagined. In a new memoir The Wild Truth, Carine writes that she believes her brother's sudden disappearance and journey reflected his determination to separate
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