Book Reflection: Into the Wild and Everett Rues: A Vagabond for Beauty “Everett was strange, “Sleight concedes. “kind of different. But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.” (67) John Krakauer’s book, Into the Wild, briefly makes a comparison between two young boys Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess and fills the reader with different perspectives about them and their experiences. While the author wrote about McCandless he is reminded of Ruess and his book Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty written by W.L. Rusho and it sparked an interesting comparison between the two. The use of storytelling and letters about McCandless and the use of Artwork, letters, …show more content…
and journal writings about Ruess describes the two boys in each book in a very detailed and personal way and we also understand how they could be compared from each other. McCandless story is about a young boy who decided after graduating college, through no waning for his parents, to set out on an adventure into the wilderness to/in Alaska. He wanted to be without material status such as money, wanted few people involved, no animals and other unnecessary things and wound up dying of starvation in Alaska, whereas Everett Ruess’s story is about a young boy that was born in an artistic household. He lovingly told his parents and brother of his planned adventure into the wilderness to/in Utah and along the way made many friends and kept in touch with his parents, brother, and friends, but wound up disappearing (no one knows what exactly happened to him but thought to have died or purposefully disappeared). In both book’s you can see a clear similarity of the two young boys and see strong differences by understanding their ethics, the differences between their travels, and what wilderness means to both of them. Ethics play an important role for Chris McCandless and Everett Ruess, especially for McCandless. In, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer describes McCandless with facts and evidence how his ethics play an important role of how his idea of wilderness affects the way he treated people, especially his family and how his behavior was portrayed and viewed by others. Whereas in, Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty, Ruess’s ethics and his behavior is extremely different from McCandless, the way he treated his family and friends and how his behavior was affected by the wilderness. Chris McCandless decided to disappear out of his parents/families lives right after he graduated college. He did not like the life style his parents had and wanted for him (new car, money, school, career) and he also disapproved of their behavior toward him (they didn’t really listen to what he wanted). He wrote a letter to his sister Carine before he disappeared, he writes, “…I’m going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live. I’ll be through with them once and for all, forever.” (46) Krakauer wanted to make the reader understand how McCandless felt about money, his parents and their lifestyle. In contrast to Everett Ruess, Everett decided to set out for his adventure but he told his whole family what he was going to do and wrote to them all the time (it was not a secret even his grandmother knew). He writes while on his travels, “My grandmother wrote one solicitous letter. “When are you coming home?” she asked.” (65) Ruess was brought up in an artistic family environment where his mother was an artist and encouraged him to seek out adventure, his father loved poetry and his brother traveled as a businessman (he had much appreciation for him and wrote him often). (18) Rusho wanted to explain just how much Ruess loved his family and the way he was bought up. The two boys are the same in the aspect that each one had an educated background and a passion for wilderness among many other similarities Jon Krakauer points out in his book. McCandless and Ruess are of extreme differences ethically because McCandless was extremely smart and got good grades but didn’t really have a good balance of family/forgiveness, he didn’t really view the wilderness as beautiful but viewed it as freeing (freedom is beautiful for him), he was also more of a recluse, (74) whereas Ruess got bad grades in school and was extremely artistic, poetic, and saw the wilderness as a beautiful poem, he was not recluse. (Ruess 66) McCandless seemingly did not care for his family the way Ruess cared for his. Ethics is of extreme importance in both books because it sets a tone for how the young boys felt about wilderness and what their differences are. Although the reader has a full understanding and a sense of how ethics are important to understand the two boys, their up-bringing and education, the biggest difference the reader understands is how the two boys traveled into the wilderness. Before McCandless set out on his adventure he donated his college trust fund money to a charity and took with him very little resources. (Krakauer 16) He ate rice mostly and took his trusted yellow Datsun but ended up abandoning it earlier on in his adventure due to a flash flood. (20, 74) He ended up burning his money before he went on his adventure and said that flying would be cheating that he wanted to hitch a ride to Alaska instead, whereas Ruess made sure he was properly equipped with art supplies and pretty much ate very well throughout his adventure, as an example of what Ruess ate Ruess writes to his brother, “I cooked pancakes for everyone then we all had bacon and trout.” (27,28) he asked for money and supplies throughout his adventure and also had burro’s (the burro’s helped to carry his supplies), horses (one time) and even had a dog named Curly (for companionship). Ruess would write to his family and friends and would go into town and nearby post offices along the way. He even came back to his home from his travels, McCandless did not write nor did he ever come back or even call his family. Ruess also lived in San Francisco city for a bit and met a girl, Frances, that he loved. Everett Ruess writes to his brother Waldo, “In many respects my life here in the city has been a fulfillment…I have some fine, sincere men, and several fine women, and one girl with whom I am intimate.” (140) The difference between the two boys are extreme because Chris McCandless thought it is cheating to use money and resources for his journey whereas Everett Ruess felt it was a necessary thing to have money and resources in the world we live in, but also knows how money does not equal happiness, McCandless throughout the reading hated money and remained to hate it, hence burning of the money he had before heading to Alaska. By understanding how the two young boys journeyed on through their adventures it makes the reader see the differences between McCandless and Ruess and exactly what wilderness and wildness means to them. “…The very basic core to man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure…” McCandless writes to an old man named Ron.
(Krakaure 40) “…Beauty has always been my god; it has meant more than people to me. And how my god, or goddess, is flouted in this country, which to me is the most beautiful I’ve known in all my wanderings…” Ruess writes to a friend named Bill. (Rusho 169) The Letter that McCandless wrote to Ron (an old man that helped him out and even wanted to adopt him) seems to best describe what wilderness/wildness means McCandless, whereas a letter written to a friend named Bill Ruess wrote best describes what wilderness/wildness mean to him. McCandless probably felt that he had to prove himself to maybe, himself, that he can live in the wild and live off the resources that nature provided. He did not care about maps nor did not care of places that has been previously explored (because it was new to him). McCandless unlike Ruess just wanted to be wild and free of the mundane life and material possession and that to him is the beauty of the wilderness. Unlike McCandless, Everett Ruess’s definition of wilderness/wildness is of strictly on beauty and art. Ruess had really nothing to prove to people or even himself he just wanted to see beauty. He started to love other cultures and overall wanted to explore the beauty of wilderness and make art and friends along the …show more content…
way. The two boys had a couple of things in common, how they both were careless about their wellbeing and how they needed to be wild and free from society in the end.
The two authors really wanted the reader to see and feel what McCandless and Ruess went through to pursue what they considered happiness and their willingness to be in the wilderness. They used ethics, personal definitions of wilderness/wildness and as readers we got to compare the two boys. Chris McCandless was a selfish, educated and emotional individual and in contrast Everett Ruess was the meaning of being wild and free. Ruess was not ever selfish but only selfish through the way he wanted to live and his family respected him for that, because he was so open about it all. He loved his family unlike McCandless. And Ruess, through his letters, would keep in contact with his family and friends, even though people speculated why he disappeared (wanting to be left alone, being killed, and even hiding with the Native American people) (Rusho 232). It does not seem like he disappeared on purpose unlike Chris McCandless. Either way the reader views how McCandless and Ruess lived their life, at least they wanted to live their life the way they felt like it should be
lived. Work Cited Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. Anchor Books, a Division of Random House, Inc., 2015. Rusho, W. L., et al. Everett Ruess a Vagabond for Beauty. Gibbs Smith, 2011.
Many individuals decide to live their life in solitary; though, only a few choose to live in the wild. The book, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer vividly paints the adventurous trek Chris McCandless went on. From the friends he made, to the hardships he went through, McCandless is portrayed as a friendly, sociable person despite the fact that he was a vagabond. Other than McCandless, there are even more individuals that have taken the risks to live in the wilderness such as, Jon Krakauer and Everett Ruess. All three of them had both similarities and differences between their own qualities as a person and their journey.
McCandless was different to other people, Westerburg saw this, explaining how McCandless ”tried too hard to make sense of the world. To figure out why people were bad to each other so often”(18). When McCandless originally left, he had felt betrayed by his parents and in college he slowly started pushing his friends away. He was disgusted by all the lies and began to shut down and came the plan to leave in his Datsun. Anybody else in his place would have decided to take charge and take a decisive turn turn in their life, hoping it would be for the better. Many don 't realize that although the beginning he was escaping, he later preferred living in nature and didn 't want to stop. He said it himself in a letter “ The freedom and simple beauty of it is just too good to pass up”(33). Also, in McCandless story you’re able to see the evolution of McCandless mentality. At first, he is alone trying to cope with the setbacks he encounters, in which he almost dies from. Then, needing to recharge, he makes friends like Franz and the Westerburg that allow him to see the positives of having someone there for you. However, he still was not convinced that human relationships were necessary, he keeps a safe distance sending them postcards when he can. It is not until at Alaska that McCandless discovers what happiness consists of, he writes in bold letters, “Happiness only
Chris McCandless was a young man who did everything in his power to try and represent that freedom he was searching for. McCandless had everything before we went out but he decided to go out and travel by choice. He was considered a selfish man because when someone offered him to help him he rejects it in a nice way since we wants to do things himself. In the book Into the wild he states that,"You don't need to worry about me. I have a college education. I'm not destitute. I'm living like this by choice."
The epigraphs presented by Krakauer before each chapter of the memoir Into the Wild dive deep into the life of Chris McCandless before and after his journey into the Alaskan wilderness. They compare him to famous “coming of age characters” and specific ideas written by some of his favorite philosophers. These give the reader a stronger sense of who Chris was and why he made the decision to ultimately walk alone into the wild.
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.
...elligence to help him last an extended period of time in the Alaskan wilderness. In truth, McCandless was someone who wanted to find himself. He wanted to get away from a life in which he could not find fulfilment, which is something many others would be able to relate to. Although most people would not go to such extremes to find fulfilment, everyone has a different way of finding happiness and going after what their heart truly desires. For McCandless, his desire was to live out in the wild. Unfortunately, this man of great character did not succeed in getting out alive. However, that does not change the fact that he tried. McCandless knew what he wanted for himself and he persisted, regardless of the obstacles he faced. He put an incredible amount of effort into accomplishing his goals and never gave up, and that is why Christopher McCandless is someone to admire.
The author skillfully uses literary techniques to convey his purpose of giving life to a man on an extraordinary path that led to his eventual demise and truthfully telling the somber story of Christopher McCandless. Krakauer enhances the story by using irony to establish Chris’s unique personality. The author also uses Characterization the give details about Chris’s lifestyle and his choices that affect his journey. Another literary element Krakauer uses is theme. The many themes in the story attract a diverse audience. Krakauer’s telling is world famous for being the truest, and most heart-felt account of Christopher McCandless’s life. The use of literary techniques including irony, characterization and theme help convey the authors purpose and enhance Into The Wild.
In 1990, when he was 22 years old, Christopher McCandless ventured out into the Alaska wilderness in search for true happiness, and 2 years later he suffered a tragic death. An aspiring writer, Jon Krakauer, found McCandless’ story fascinating and chose to dedicate 3 years of his life to write a novel about him. The book entitled “Into the Wild” tells the tale of Christopher McCandless, an ill prepared transcendentalist longing for philosophical enrichment, who naïvely, failed to consider the dangers of isolating himself from human society for such a long period of time. Though Christopher McCandless made a courageous attempt to separate himself from society, in order to achieve self-fulfillment, the stubborn nature of this reckless greenhorn led him to his unfortunate demise.
Into the Wild, written by John Krakauer tells of a young man named Chris McCandless who 1deserted his college degree and all his worldly possessions in favor of a primitive transient life in the wilderness. Krakauer first told the story of Chris in an article in Outside Magazine, but went on to write a thorough book, which encompasses his life in the hopes to explain what caused him to venture off alone into the wild. McCandless’ story soon became a national phenomenon, and had many people questioning why a “young man from a well-to-do East Coast family [would] hitchhike to Alaska” (Krakauer i). Chris comes from an affluent household and has parents that strived to create a desirable life for him and his sister. As Chris grows up, he becomes more and more disturbed by society’s ideals and the control they have on everyday life. He made a point of spiting his parents and the lifestyle they lived. This sense of unhappiness continues to build until after Chris has graduated college and decided to leave everything behind for the Alaskan wilderness. Knowing very little about how to survive in the wild, Chris ventures off on his adventure in a state of naïveté. It is obvious that he possessed monumental potential that was wasted on romanticized ideals and a lack of wisdom. Christopher McCandless is a unique and talented young man, but his selfish and ultimately complacent attitude towards life and his successes led to his demise.
Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, is the story of a young man named Christopher Johnson McCandless who ventured off to Alaska and tried to survive in the wild. McCandless grew up in Annandale, Virginia where he attended school and made very good grades, rarely bringing home anything below an A. His father, Walt worked for NASA for a little while, before starting his own business with Chris’s mother, Billie, out of their own home. They worked hard and for long hours to get the business up and running and it finally paid off. The McCandless family was wealthy, but had many emotional problems. After graduating from Emory University in 1990, Chris McCandless donated twenty-four thousand dollars from his savings account to charity, changed his name to Alexander Supertramp, and then disappeared. This book tells the story of his life and travels. Some critics say that Chris McCandless was a very admirable person. He was a brave man that followed his dreams. However, given all of his flaws, attitudes, and actions, he is un-admirable. McCandless walked into the wild very unprepared and stubborn. He also treated his family poorly as well as anyone who got emotionally close to him. Chris was additionally too impressionable in a way that he admired authors along with the books they wrote, and tried to imitate them. He was very rebellious in his actions as well, and did not try to change the world or help others.
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, his final demise in the Alaskan Bush, and his recognition of the truth, to reveal that pure happiness requires sharing it with others.
The author wrote this story in response to a magazine company, and eventually published it into a book. He used many styles and techniques to describe the life and death of McCandless. The mood throughout the novel constantly varies with the excitement of McCandless’s adventures and the emotions caused by his disappearance. Krakauer’s ability to engage multiple senses of a reader truly makes his novel special.
“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.
Into the Wild, a novel written by Jon Krakauer, as well as a film directed by Sean Penn, talks about Chris McCandless, a young individual who sets out on a journey throughout the Western United States, isolating himself from society, and more importantly, his family. During his travels, he meets a lot of different people, that in a way, change his ways about how he sees the world. There are many characteristics to describe McCandless, such as “nave”, “adventurous”, and “independent”. In the book, Krakauer described McCandless as “intelligent”, using parts in his book that show McCandless being “intelligent”. While Krakauer thinks of McCandless as being “intelligent”, Penn thinks of McCandless as a more “saint” type of person.
In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer explores the human fascination with the purpose of life and nature. Krakauer documents the life and death of Chris McCandless, a young man that embarked on an Odyssey in the Alaskan wilderness. Like many people, McCandless believed that he could give his life meaning by pursuing a relationship with nature. He also believed that rejecting human relationships, abandoning his materialistic ways, and purchasing a book about wildlife would strengthen his relationship with nature. However, after spending several months enduring the extreme conditions of the Alaskan wilderness, McCandless’ beliefs begin to work against him. He then accepts that he needs humans, cannot escape materialism, and can never fully understand how nature functions. Most importantly, he realizes that human relationships are more valuable than infinite solitude. McCandless’ gradual change of heart demonstrates that exploring the wilderness is a transformative experience. Krakauer uses the life and death of Chris McCandless to convey that humans need to explore nature in order to discover the meaning of life.