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Rhetorical Analysis Of Into The Wild, By Jon Krakauer

Decent Essays

As human beings, do we make our own decisions or do we allow others to make them for us? Jon Krakauer, author of Into the Wild, analyzes Chris McCandless’s ability to do so. His purpose is to inform the reader of McCandless’s choices and how they led to his death. Mr. Krakauer concentrates on the individuality, death and dreams McCandless to bestow emotion to his readers. The author’s strongest appeal to pathos is when he considers McCandless’s individuality. He wanted to start a new life because of the constant battle he had against conformity. “He intended to invent an utterly new life for himself, one in which he would be free to wallow in unfiltered experience”(Krakauer 23). Krakauer uses the words “invent” and “wallow in unfiltered experience” to expresses to his audience the lifestyle McCandless was trying to achieve. McCandless didn’t want to live his life based on the social norm or follow the status quo, but to live a life of serenity and simplicity. He wanted to start over in every way possible, including, changing his name. While it may say “Christopher Johnson McCandless” on his birth certificate, he renamed himself …show more content…

Krakauer also appeals to pathos when explaining McCandless’s dreams. While McCandless’s original dream was to live a life of solitude, he later had a change of heart. “To shed a little of the armor he wore around his heart, that upon returning to civilization, he intended to abandon the life of a solitary vagabond, stop running so hard from intimacy, and become a member of human community”(Krakauer 189). The reader is now feeling a sense of mourning for what could have been. “Shed a little of the armor he wore around his heart” gives the audience a sense of hopelessness, fury and confusion. They are asking themselves “Why did you do this?” and “Why did he have to have this ending?”. The audience felt so connected to McCandless and now they must mourn the loss of someone they never knew. There is nothing worse than a failed

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