Jon Krakauer’s books expertly toe the line between investigative journalism and gripping and tense non-fiction. In Missoula, he tackles the rape epidemic on college campuses and its complicated relationship with the criminal justice system. In Into Thin Air, he delves into his own experience as a mountain climber who witnessed the Mt. Everest Disaster first hand. In both publications, Krakauer strives to uncover a dark truth about a familiar institution. Although there is certainly variation in the means of accomplishing this purpose between the books, his characteristic technique is evident in their stylistic commonalities. Both Missoula and Into Thin Air utilize Krakauer’s ability to create atmosphere and mood in order to convey a message and make his commentary more poignant. Both books exhibit a dark tone, being about extremely heavy content. Yet despite this, Krakauer creates a unique atmosphere for each of the two books that embodies the specific purpose. Missoula is written to expose the failures of the criminal justice system in prosecuting rapists. While at times it has a sad or even remorseful tone, bemoaning the fates of victims, overall, the book is meant to strike the reader as more angry than sorrowful. For instance, Krakauer relays to the reader how attorney Kirsten Pabst obviously did not “take the time to listen to the recording… because a number of Pabst’s assertions… are just plain wrong” (Missoula 100). This sentence reads almost as an accusation and
What pushes Krakauer and his team to do it? Is there foreshadowing present to hint at a terrifying event or someone’s demise? What about these vivid images in this novel make me so solicitous about the upcoming events yet to take place? Jon Krakauer exploits a few literary devices to force me, the reader, to ask myself such questions. Literary devices, such as foreshadowing and imagery, are put into effect in Jon Krakauer’s novel, Into Thin Air.
The main character and protagonist, Jon Krakauer, is a United States client and journalist who is on an expedition to climb to the summit of Mt. Everest. He takes the reader through his horrifying experiences on the mountain, including the death of his team, lack of oxygen, and horrible weather. The conflict in this novel is an internal and external conflict. It is an internal conflict of man vs. himself. Jon Krakauer, had to go through mental states of giving up and dying on the mountain
The day is unlike any other. The mail has come and lying at the bottom of the stack is the favored Outside magazine. The headline reads, “Exclusive Report: Lost in the Wild.” The cover speaks of a twenty four year old boy who “walked off into America’s Last Frontier hoping to make sense of his life.” The monotony of the ordinary day has now vanished from thought as Jon Krakauer’s captivating article runs through the mind like gasoline to an engine. The article is not soon forgotten, and the book Into the Wild is happened upon three years later. The book relates the full story of Christopher Johnson McCandless and how he left his family and friends after graduating college in order to find himself. Krakauer based the book off of his article
[7] In his book, “Missoula,” John Krakauer analyses the issue of rape in the college town of Missoula. Krakauer begins his work by quoting the article False Allegations of Sexual Assault:
“As a youth, [Krakauer was] told, [he] was willful, self-absorbed, intermittently reckless, moody. [He] disappointed [his] father…. Like McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in [him]…confusing medley of corked fury and hunger to please. If something captured [his] undisciplined imagination, [he] pursued it with a zeal bordering on obsession, and from the age of seventeen until [his] late twenties that something was mountain climbing” (134).
I have never read any of Jon Krakauer’s books before and this was the first time I have heard of the author. At first, my intentions was to try to read endless amounts of book report and summaries online. After reading the summaries and reviews, I felt that it didn’t do the book justice. I felt an obligation to reading the book, after reading a couple random pages from the book, I started to love it. After examining the book, by reading the summary on the back, a few pages in the beginning of the book, and lastly made a commitment to reading the book.
In his novel, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer recounts the true tale of Chris McCandless, a recent college graduate who decided against a professional career and instead opted for a life of adventuring and self-reliance. Readers of Into the Wild have shared differing opinions of McCandless. Some view him as passionate, courageous, and admirable while others view him as reckless, arrogant, and “unworthy of the considerable media attention he received.” (Author’s Note) Though McCandless’ courage and steadfast dedication to his beliefs are admirable, I believe that his hubris, naivete, and his inadequate preparation should be the most important points in any discussion of his trips and subsequent death.
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.
John Krakauer’s novel Into The Wild, tells the story of a young man who intends to disappear from society, and contains numerous relatable themes. Although difficult for many to understand his reasoning in doing so, Krakauer intends to demonstrate to readers the positives and negatives of such an experience. Upon thorough examination of this piece of writing, it is possible to truly gain a vast amount of self-knowledge in relation to the text. A tale full of invitations to face ourselves, John Krakauer’s Into The Wild prompts me to examine myself in respect to concepts of great significance such as materialism, conformity, and intimacy.
Jon Krakauer is an author whose work primarily focuses on the wilderness and his experiences. His novel, Into the Wild, divulges into the life of Chris McCandless and his adventures into the wild Alaskan frontier. Chris seeks isolationism from his family and society and goes as far as to change his name to Alex Supertramp so he is not discovered or recognized by anyone. With mere long term survival experience, Chris makes several minor mistakes and dies; unbeknownst to anyone. After discovery, Krakauer devoted several years to Chris’ life story, going as far to use his journalism background to interview any family, friends and coworkers Chris encountered to synthesize a final overview of his life. Krakauer’s relationship with his own father
Throughout Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, there are many details that help give the reader a deeper, more profound, meaning of the book's intended purpose. Krakauer is one of the most renowned American writers, publishing many books focused specifically focused on nature, and people’s struggles in nature. Through much of the book, Krakauer incorporates many examples of diction and imagery to help the reader grasp the essence of the book. By using a wide range of literary techniques, Krakauer is able to communicate the events that transpired throughout the book.
In his work “Into The Wild”, Jon Krakauer writes about a young man who escaped on an expedition to invent a new life for himself. However, the reasons why he decides to partake on such journey raises many questions because Christopher McCandless lives a life of valuable possessions which his rejection of his economic class to disperse in a cultural background of nature steers Krakauer decision to report his story. Krakauer believes that a young man with a great amount of opportunities must have a logical reasons to abandon all the achievements and most importantly his family to live in the Wilderness. Although, Krakauer intends to portray McCandless as a genius of his choices and ethical to his ideas, as the book unfolds Krakauer
Vulnerability impacts any individual throughout each new and interactive experience. To become vulnerable is to open up to the consequences of frantic outcomes. Individuals will lead to vulnerability to cope with a trauma that has created a solemn change to a lifestyle. Jon Krakauer explains how the trauma of Mt. Everest changed his outlooks on reality, through different coping mechanisms. Krakauer uses his writing in his book, Into Thin Air, to cope with the guilt of surviving the terror that occurred upon Mt. Everest, as well as to understand what actions caused each outcome. Within an excerpt from Into Thin Air, Jon Krakauer is reflective towards his audience of how vulnerability shaped the experiences upon Mt. Everest to cope with the
In Krakauer’s story of fear, pain, and survival, he has ignited effects like suspense and tension, causing the reader to place themselves in his worn-out mountain shoes-mostly relying on devices like foreshadowing, pacing, manipulation of time and exposition as a cause.
Hunter S. Thompson is the literary equivalent to the peyote shaman who document the world around them. Pioneering a genre called gonzo journalism, Thompson spliced nonfiction with fiction while simultaneously documenting an event in first-person. In the middle of the battlefield, up close and personal, gonzo journalism brings the main subject of the novel directly into the heart of all events, reporting in a way that is not entirely nonfiction. Now, if one would take that concept and drown it in LSD, ether, marijuana, a galaxy of pills, Sin City’s finest and two journalists who have taken enough drugs to shock the 60s… then they would have Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. In