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What is a perspective? A perspective is someone’s point of view. It could also mean a particular belief toward or a way of regarding something. In Chapter 14 of Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer says, “My suspicion that McCandless’s death was unplanned, that it was a terrible accident, comes from reading those few documents he left behind and from listening to the men and women who spent time with him over the final year of his life. But my sense of Chris McCandless’s intentions comes, too, from a more personal perspective” (134). This personal perspective that Krakauer talks about is his own viewpoint of how McCandless died, “From all the available evidence, there seemed to be little doubt that McCandless- rash and incautious by nature- had committed a careless blunder, confusing one plant for another, and died as a consequence. In the Outside article, I reported with great certainty that H. mackenzii, the wild sweet pea, killed the boy” (192). When comparing the experience of the …show more content…
According to what McCandless was trying to say, “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” (Krakauer 155). Similarly, Krakauer stated that, “When I decided to go to Alaska that April, like Chris McCandless, I was a raw youth who mistook passion for an insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic” (155). He presumed that if he climbed the Devils Thumb, then it would fix everything that was wrong with his life. Krakauer said that, “In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing. But I came to appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams. And I lived to tell my tale” (155). However, McCandless did not come to that realization and unfortunately did not live to tell his
An essential part of Krakauer's argument rests upon convincing the reader that he has the authority to accurately interpret the facts of McCandless’s life. His attempt begins in chapter fourteen, where his main focus is explaining why he thinks McCandless did not go to Alaska seeking death. Krakauer establishes his credibility by drawing upon his own experiences and comparing them to McCandless’s. “If something captured my undisciplined imagination, I pursued it with a zeal bordering on obsession...” (134). This passion, he believes, is the same feeling McCandless felt while traveling across the country. At age 23, only a year younger than McCandless at the time he went to Alaska, Krakauer's preferred thrill was mountain climbing (135). During ...
Many people were puzzled on why the young man decided to go on such an expedition without being properly prepared. His death has led to a controversy between whether he should be idolized for having the courage to follow his dream or repulsed for his grand stupidity. Although Krakauer never met McCandless, he provides his readers with personal examples that explain why the young man went on this journey. Expecting his readers to comprehend McCandless, Krakauer’s primary purpose is to help his readers understand the importance of embracing one's personal dreams. In order to achieve his purpose, he uses a variation of literary and rhetorical techniques. Some of these techniques include epigrams and ethos. These devices are essential to Krakauer’s purpose because they illustrate and explain the reasons why McCandless went into the inhospitable landscape of Alaska.
Throughout Into the Wild, Krakauer portrays Christopher McCandless as an infallibly eager young man hoping to distance himself from the society he so obviously loathes, to "live off the land," entirely independent of a world which has "conditioned [itself] to a life of security." Chris, contrarily to this depiction, is disparagingly viewed by some as a "reckless idiot" who lacked the sense he needed to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. This derogatory assessment of Chris's mindset is representative of the society he hopes to escape and contains all the ignorance that causes him to feel this way. Nevertheless, he is misjudged by these critics, allowing Krakauer to hold the more accurate interpretation of Chris's character, his goals, and his accomplishments.
Throughout the novel, Christopher McCandless’s character changed over time. Up to McCandless’s death, he wanted to live with the wild and to be away from civilization as far as possible. He changes his mind when he writes “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” (189). His purpose of living in the wild is to live with freedom and do whatever he wishes to do. However, he realizes he was a “refuge in nature” (189) and intended to abandon his solitary life and rejoin the human community. It is assumed that McCandless died a preventable death because of his unpreparedness, but it is now undeniable that his adversity is what caused his mortality. “…McCandless simple had the misfortune to eat moldy seeds. An innocent mistake, it was nevertheless sufficient to end his life” (194). Had he not eaten the moldy seeds, he would have remained alive to tell the tale.
Ultimate freedom is an odyssey everyone, at least once in their lifetime, tries to conquer. Chris McCandless did everything in his power to try and capture that freedom he was searching for. He ultimately gave up his own life during that quest. Did he find what he was searching for? We may never know. Very many people have diverse opinions on this character. Chris McCandless was not selfish. He was a young, well-educated boy. His parents handed him everything on a silver platter; he wanted to prove not only to himself but to everyone else he could do things on his own. His possessions did not define who he was as a person. He thought towards everyone else he was just another brick in the wall, a pretty rich boy, and that did not “fly” with him. He had to prove his worth.
Chris McCandless is regarded as being something as a spiritual figure almost as a cult hero, some call him a disillusioned fool, some call him a great adventurer, and the debate still continues. As Matthew Power calls in his article, an article where he tells the story of McCandless,“The debate falls into two camps: Krakauer's visionary seeker, the tragic hero who dared to live the unmediated life he had dreamed of and died trying; or, as many Alaskans see it, the unprepared fool, a greenhorn who had fundamentally misjudged the wilderness he'd wanted so desperately to commune with.” Like so many stories covering Christopher McCandless’ death, both ends of the argument are discussed in an unfavored manner in the hopes to help develop an opinion on the McCandless story. This open ended question can only be answered open-endedly based on what the readers base for themselves as covered stories intend. Like Power has done, ...
In the book “Into Thin Air,” by Jon Krakauer, Jon describes his experience summiting and descending the one and only Mt. Everest. The tallest mountain in the whole world.During his journey he endured many life threatening events such as almost blacking out, getting caught in a storm, and many others. However he was one of the lucky ones, because out of that whole crew, 8 people died. That is the most recorded in one expedition ever.I believe there are two things that contributed to the deaths in this book. The greed of Nepal primarily is a factor, and also the lack of knowledge the people have that seek this rush of climbing Mount Everest. It is not anyone's fault in particular but there is topics to be blamed. A lack of knowledge can mean life or death in many various scenarios.
“Into The Wild” by John Krakauer is a non-fiction biographical novel which is based on the life of a young man, Christopher McCandless. Many readers view Christopher’s journey as an escape from his family and his old life. The setting of a book often has a significant impact on the story itself. The various settings in the book contribute to the main characters’ actions and to the theme as a whole. This can be proven by examining the impact the setting has on the theme of young manhood, the theme of survival and the theme of independent happiness.
Within many people, there lies a fascination that cannot be quenched unless people explore it to their hearts’ content. This zealotry devours the mind, leaving behind a maddening obsession that takes complete control. In Jon Krakauer's nonfiction work, Into the Wild, the main character, Chris McCandless, displays such a yearning as he travels to Alaska’s countryside, ignoring the advice of others, obsessively seeking to free himself from the chains that hold a materialistic world center. McCandless exists as a zealot searching for the wilderness, fanatically pursuing its fruits of spirituality and blessings of liberty.
“Two basic ideals of modern man [are] the idea of free personality and the idea of life as sacrifice.”(Doctor Zhivago). When Zhivago wrote this he meant that people have the right to be who they are and live as they want. As long as they understand that throughout their life they will have to give up certain things in order to get by. Even in modern society this statement proves to be true. The book Into the Wild a true story written by Jon Krakauer proves this assertion through it’s main character Chris McCandless. His life was marred with painful sacrifices in order to find out who he wanted to be as a person. For example after college Chris left his family behind to go wander the country. Through this adventure Chris hoped to find out what
Everyone has struggles and challenges in their lives that they're trying to overcome and accomplish. Having to deal with mental illness on a daily basis affects one's ability to be “normal” and have a social life is my challenge. I deal with depression and anxiety, from time to time i'll have my anxiety attacks and depression will hit me like bullet out of nowhere. It has gotten so deficient to the point where throughout my four years of highschool I miss so many school days because I can't feel anything, my mind goes absolutely blank and not even therapy can help, that I can't get up to go to school. As in the story told,“there was no little oxygen reaching my brain..”(Krakauer 218).That is how it feels when both anxiety and depression hits.
When thinking about the wild we often look to places like the woods and uncharted territory. These places are in fact wild, but we often overlook the wild we experience every day. Everyone has their own opinion about what the wild is to them. William Cronon says that the wild is not real, that is a human creation that is a mirror of what we believe the wild is, and that we can only define wild as a place that has been untouched by man. In the novel Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, we are told the story of a young man, Alex McCandless, who travels across the United States trying to find such a wild place, and once he found such a place he walked in and never walked out. But along the way we see how his travels can be considered wild. We learn how the people around us and the places we go can be
Krakauer first unveils the protagonist’s blatant unpreparedness and over-confidence as Chris embarks on his journey, hitching a ride to Denali Park from local Jim Gallien, an experienced hunter and woodsman. Gallien, alarmed by McCandless’ lack of critical supplies needed for his journey, “trie[s] repeatedly to dissuade him,” even offering to buy the young man proper equipment, to which Chris conceitedly replies, ‘“I’ll be fine with what I’ve got...I won’t run into anything I can’t deal with on my own”’ (Krakauer 5-6). Tragically misled by the notion he possesses both the supplies and knowledge needed to travel into the perilous wild, Chris puts himself at risk before his journey begins. Ignorance regarding the proper provisions, paired with arrogance in not heeding Gallien’s
Reading Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer, was an experience that made the reader feel as if he or she was actually climbing on Mount Everest in the Himalayan Mountains with Krakauer himself. He brought the reader into the story by making the reader feel like an extension of the adventure. Standing at 8848m above sea level, Mount Everest is the highest mountain in the world. Humans have tried to conquer Everest since the early 1900's however it was not until the 29th May 1953 that Sir Edmond Hillary, John Hunt and Tenzing Norgay officially reached the summit.The dream of climbing Mount. Everest is a very exciting thought. What a rush it would be. To feel the wind in your face, all the excitement coursing through your body. To think of all the
Krakauer said “McCandless change his name, gave the entire balance of a 24 thousand-dollar saving account to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his pocket” (Author’s note). Family is an important factor in everyone’s life; apparently that was not enough for Christopher McCandless. I have been fortunate to live with my family my whole life.