Krakauer's Point Wasn’t Clear Little things in one’s childhood can affect them in the long run and affect the decisions you make. In the book, Into the Wild, the author Jon Krakauer, tries to make the valid point that Chris McCandless was a hero, a noble and inspirational character. In the book, Krakauer fails to persuade the reader into the belief of the role that Chris McCandless was a “hero.” Chris McCandless was the son of two wealthy parents, and had so much great things going for him with a chance to a good working job and great opportunities, but instead to pursue in those opportunities he decided to get rid of all his possessions, and give everything up, even his family, and went on the journey to Alaska. …show more content…
If Chris was a real hero, he would’ve came up with his own trail and followed his own footsteps and discovered something new, and something no one has never been on. In the authors note Krakauer writes, “..McCandless particular admired how the great novelist had forsaken a life of wealth and privilege to wander among the destitute.” Chris following another person’s footsteps doesn’t make you a hero, it makes you a follower. Krakauer has the belief that Chris was a hero due to all the brave things he done, and the things that he left behind. Chris was a coward and did cowardly things that a “hero” wouldn’t naturally do. A hero brings joy, and help towards people not disappointment and mournful. “...I don’t know anymore. If Alex was here right now, I’d be tempted to chew him out good: ‘What the hell were you thinking? Not speaking to your family for all that time, treating them like dirt!...” (64) If someone was to define Chris as an hero, the definition of a hero wouldn’t match up to the actions that Chris
In conclusion, krakauer has a bias towards chris’s life story. From chris’s life matching his own in many ways to how carine requested some of chris’s life to not be disclosed. Each bias keeps the book from telling a completely truthful depiction of chris mccandless’s
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.
One thing he said was “But I believe we were similarly affected by the skewed relationships we had with our fathers. And I suspect we had a similar intensity, a similar heedlessness, a similar agitation of the soul.” Him and Chris had similar experiences with their harsh fathers, they also shared the same hatred of conformity and society. Krakauer really does understand McCandless better than anyone else could because of all these things. You may not believe that Chris was courageous or intellectual, but it’s hard to deny the relationship between him and Krakauer.
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.
Seven billion people in the world, all with unique personalities, on this earth to serve a purpose in their own life, or someone else’s. Chris McCandless was a man with unique qualities, and served to please himself and coincedently others as well. In the book “Into the Wild” the author, Jon Krakauer, explains the adventures and mishaps Chris McCandless went through in his life. Krakauer admired Chris for his personality, and his ability to be determined and hardworking at everything he did. Chris McCandless was an admirable man, with his individual view on life, and the way he could touch a person’s life and impact them forever.
Many people have read the story “Into the Wild” By Jon Krakauer, when mentioning the name Chris McCandless he is either viewed as hero or as a dumb man. The people who view him as a hero tend to believe that he was determined enough to want to do something. Others view him as an idiot who just wanted attention. Him being unprepared and not knowing much about how to survive in the wild made McCandless an idiot, the dumb jerk. Also causing him to be a poor role model to multiple people causing them to end up in dangerous situations that could be threatening to their lives.
Shaun Callarman says “I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas.” (Krakauer, 1997) While he is entitled to his own opinion, so am I. I do admire Chris for doing something that many of us want to do but are too afraid. We may not all want to go into the wild but just about everyone has a wild, nonconformist, grand thing that we want to do but are too scared too. Chris was brave enough to follow his heart, and to me, that’s something that should be admired by
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
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.
Chris also looks to transcend into a greater level of understanding of himself and the world Even Everett Ruess, a figure that krakauer compares to McCandless because of his similarity journey and life story, he writes a letter about his adventure. Like on page (91) by saying i have always been unsatisfied with life. He also went into the wild to be free. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual revolution (163) Chris was not satisfied with the world so he felt really fulfilled going into the
In the novel, Into the wild, author Jon Krakauer follows the journey of Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless is a twenty-four year's old boy who graduated from college when he decides to leave his family to go into the wilderness. Although Chris McCandless’s journey proves fatal, he lives on through the ongoing debate whether he was ignorant or not. According to the article, “The beatification of Chris McCandless”, Medrid shares the feelings of many readers who believe McCandless was selfish, arrogant, and ignorant. However, Chris McCandless was not what people thought of.
To most people, Chris McCandless is a brave and courageous man who went into the wilderness at his own will. Jon Krakauer is one of these people. In his book called Into the Wild, Krakauer writes about the case of Chris McCandless. It has multiple findings and interviews from people and objects that Chris McCandless had. While reading his book, Krakauer shows multiple signs of supporting McCandless’s actions. His reasoning comes from the fact that McCandless reminds him of himself. Krakauer feels that he understands the reasoning behind Chris McCandless’s sudden disappearance, making him biased towards the thought Chris McCandless being a noble and inspirational person. This isn’t a bad thing, it just makes Krakauer’s opinion turn more to Chris McCandless’s side. It gives him a different point of view
Krakauer felt Chris was heroic and noble/pioneer. “It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right to have it. When I decided to go to Alaska that April, like Chris McCandless, I was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic. I thought climbing the Devils Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing.
The author’s main purpose for writing Into The Wild was to explain exactly what happened to Chris on his trail and find a motive for why Chris decided to do this. Krakauer also wanted to provide reasoning for McCandless's actions, or at least provide more detail about McCandless's personal life. Also Krakauer wanted to motivate readers to do what makes them happy by providing justification for Chris’s actions. A quote that describes this is, “Make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing, or been too hesitant to attempt." ( Page 56 ) Krakauer also explains “many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation.” (Page 57) This doesn’t mean that you should go out into the wild like Chris, unprepared. The author just wants to identify that going to Alaska isn’t a horrible idea, a person just needs to be well equipped and go along with friends because he doesn’t want nobody to go through what Chris had to go through.