Into The Wild

The philosophies of transcendentalism are exemplified through Emerson’s Self Reliance and Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience. Transcendentalism is also shown throughout Jon Krakauer’s investigative report, Into the Wild. Transcendentalism has three main ideals to live by: individualism, idealism, and indian religion. These ideas have influenced the works of philosophers, Emerson and Thoreau, and inspire the main character Into the Wild, Chris McCandless. The impacts of Individualism on the writing of Emerson, Thoreau, and Krakauer are evident in works such as Self Reliance,…...

It is difficult in the start Into The wild by Jon Krakauer to grasp why Chris Mcandless would go into the Alaskan wilderness so unprepared. Chris is dynamic character at first appearance but can be summed up pretty easily. Chris is a spoiled and ignorant kid that can’t handle the pressure of modern day society so makes an attempt to live a simple, nomadic life style, which includes a fatal trip into the Alaskan wilderness. Chris realizes from his experience…...

One needs to understand to accept the truth. For if it is denied, there is nothing to do, but suffer, as denial of the truth can lead to devastating consequences: “How dreadful the knowledge of the truth can be”. This quotation by play writer Sophocles demonstrates that the truth can torment people. As painful as it appears, there is no avoidance. The Sophoclean tragedy is a model, which exhibits one major cause of human tragedy; hubris. People are only able…...

"And though you think the world is at your feet, it can rise up and tread against you"-Ian McEwan, Atonement. Into The Wild, written by Jon Krakauer discusses the life of Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless, a 25 year old, was an independent, spontaneous adventurer. Most outsiders would say he lived the American Dream, with seamlessly perfect parents. But life isn't always as it seems, there was a dark underside to Chris's life and this ultimately lead to the decisions that…...

Into the Wild is the story of a young man which has been transformed into a novel, written by Jon Krakauer, and a movie, directed by Sean Penn. It follows the journey of Chris McCandless, a 22 year old man, who left civilization to live in the wilderness of North America. Both Krakauer and Penn were greatly inspired by Chris McCandless and were eager to learn as much from him as they could. Their interpretations on McCandless's story are not…...

Appeals to Logos *Strategy 1: describing McCandless’s intelligence. Ex. 1: In the third chapter of the novel, where Krakauer describes McCandless’s relationship with Wayne Westerberg, he discusses Chris McCandless’s family and education in brief. Specifically, Krakauer mentions, “In May 1990, Chris graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, … and had distinguished himself as a history and anthropology major with a 3.72 grade-point average” (Krakauer 20). This presents a side of Chris that appeals to people’s logos and makes them think.…...

Many people have come to the conclusion that Chris McCandless’ untimely death was a result of his arrogant nature or a possible psychological disorder. However, his death was caused by a simple mistake, his lack of geographical knowledge, and his desire to find himself. When Krakauer’s moving article in Outside magazine was published, copious amounts of hate mail was received regarding McCandless’ cause of death. Initially it was believed that he mistook two similar plants, the wild potato and the…...

This chapter introduces one of the primary motifs of Into the Wild, that of documents. Because the book's subject, Christopher McCandless, has died before author Jon Krakauer can meet him, Krakauer must rely on the testimony of the people McCandless encountered in order to stitch together the story of the young man's journey — and especially on the documents McCandless left behind. The first of these documents is McCandless's S.O.S. note. Others will include his journals, the notes he made…...

Although, Chris’s father Walt McCandless and Ronald Franz spent a lot of time with him, both offered him different level of support. Walt McCandless was stubborn and controlling parent. The relationship between him and Chris was complicated. Walt was a hard worker and self-made man. Chris was raised in the comfortable middle class family. So, he could get anything he wanted, but not happiness. Chris wasn’t happy with the fact that Walt was living double-life (121). Discovering that, Chris did…...

You will have 45 minutes to plan and write an essay on the topic assigned below. Before you begin writing, read the passage carefully and plan what you will say. Your essay should be as well-organized and carefully written as you can make it. I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going into Alaska with his Romantic silliness. He made a lot of mistakes…...