Into the Wild Essays

  • Into the Wild

    946 Words  | 2 Pages

    Into the Wild was written by Jon Krakauer in 1996. It is a nonfiction book with a main theme of finding your own happiness. In this book, the main character, Chris McCandless, journeys into the wild both literally and figuratively. Chris literally goes into the wild when he leaves civilization behind and ventures down a dangerous trail into the unpopulated forest of Alaska. Chris figuratively goes into the wild when he decides to leave everything and everyone that he knows behind. Chris goes into

  • Into The Wild

    1678 Words  | 4 Pages

    Into the Wild Sometimes a character may be pushed over the edge by our materialistic society to discover his/her true roots, which can only be found by going back to nature where monetary status was not important. Chris McCandless leaves all his possessions and begins a trek across the Western United States, which eventually brings him to the place of his demise-Alaska. Jon Krakauer makes you feel like you are with Chris on his journey and uses exerts from various authors such as Thoreau, London

  • Into the Wild

    1378 Words  | 3 Pages

    start off by just one day deciding he would climb the Devils Thumb after he was inspired by making it up the climbing wall at the local county fair. Both men had to gradually work their way up to a... ... middle of paper ... ...s, the men of the wild frontier” (Wayne 1). This drive, this manifest destiny, “the great pressure of people moving always to new frontiers, in search of new lands, new power, the full freedom of a virgin world, has ruled our course and formed our polices lake a Fate,” (Weinberg

  • into the wild

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    Into The Wild Explorers are always pushed to their limits. Their motivation varies but also shows their human ability. Great journeys are from the motivation from within and are either made or broken. Many have tried and many have failed but it is what you bring from it that really matters. In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer states that exploring nature brings personal awareness. Chris McCandless, a North Carolinian, has gone through a rough childhood. Chris didn’t get along with his parents very well

  • into the wild

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    Johnson McCandless in the biographical novel Into the Wild. McCandless was a 24-year-old young man who completely severed his connection to the world, his family, and all of his tangible possessions in hope to survive off the land in Alaska. In the two years that led to his Alaskan Odyssey McCandless created a new life for himself and lived by the name Alexander Supertramp, in hope to leave his old life behind. Krakauer starts his novel “Into the Wild” by bluntly revealing to the audience that he had

  • The Call of the Wild Versus Into the Wild

    1248 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chris McCandless and Buck serve as examples of the archetype of the wild through their experiences of leaving where they feel most comfortable and answering the call of the wild. They show that each experience is inimitable because the wild is unique to every individual. For Buck, the wild is a place outside of civilization and his dependence on man, where the external threats of nature exist and he must prove himself as a true animal with instincts for survival. In McCandless' case, the place

  • Outline For Into The Wild

    884 Words  | 2 Pages

    Chris McCandless was a fearless, charming, smart and determined boy. Into the wild explores the dauntless and rather dangerous lifestyle of Chris. Chris grew up in a well-off family who used their money to treat themselves to everyday luxuries. Chris was a conservative boy who set out to live in the wild, untamed Alaskan woods in March 1992, after being estranged from his parent for 2 years due to a rough patch in his fathers love life prior to, and during the marriage and life he lived with Chris

  • Wild Plums

    611 Words  | 2 Pages

    society people are judged primarily on their looks and the amount of money that they have. As we take a look into the short story, “Wild Plums”, one can agree that the primary purpose of this short story is to illustrate how people believe they are inferior to others because of the way they look or act. The main family in the story thinks they are too good to go pick wild plums with the slumps and they think they are too good to be around them. When the little girl talks about visiting the Slump’s

  • The Call of the Wild

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    The best chapter of The Call of the Wild is chapter six “For the Love of a Man.” Chapter six is the chapter in which Buck, the protagonist, begins to live with John Thurston. John saved Buck from his masters that were whipping him and clubbing him nearly to death. Nursing Buck back to health, the pair begins to form a bond like no other, a bond of unconditional, passionate, genuine love. The exuberant John always played with the carefree dogs, including Buck, Skeet and Nig. The bond that Buck

  • Into The Wild Essay

    511 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer, is a very noteworthy story of a young man, Christopher McCandless, who tragically ventures alone into the wilderness. It should be pointed out that the story is quite original and the main character is full of contradictions. At any rate, it is quite difficult to understand his real motives that influenced his decision to abandon the civilized world and head for the wilderness where he turned to be unable to survive. This is why it is very important to define the

  • The Call Of The Wild

    1369 Words  | 3 Pages

    Title: The Call of the Wild Author: Jack London Type of book: Fiction Date Completed: September 12, 2001 Summary: The novel, The Call of the Wild, follows a four-year-old mixed Saint Bernard and Scottish shepherd, named Buck. In the beginning of the story, Buck lives in the home of Judge Miller, located at Santa Clara Valley, California. In Santa Clara, Buck lives a luxurious life. At the time of the story, gold is discovered in the North. With this discovery, the value of large dogs like Buck escalated

  • Into The Wild Analysis

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Various people hold different opinions on what is wrong with the world today. Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild is the novel of a young man named Chris McCandless. Chris’ heterodox views about the government and society cause a rift between his friends, family, and himself. In 1990, he decides to leave his family and friends behind while he embarks on a wild adventure to get closer to nature. J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye is a tale written in the 50’s, of a seventeen-year-old boy named Holden

  • Was the WIld West Really Wild

    524 Words  | 2 Pages

    If you said the words Wild West to someone, no doubt they would picture a mustached man sitting at a card game in an old saloon surrounded by cowboys and prostitutes. A player opposite him would be hiding an extra card up his sleeve, and soon enough he would be called on it and face off in the city square. Both players would step back and there’d be a long moment before the cheater moved for his hip holster, however he wouldn’t be fast enough. The gamer would draw his revolver and shoot the cheater

  • Assessment of Into the Wild

    839 Words  | 2 Pages

    Assessment of Into the Wild Although precisely on target in his assessment of Chris McCandless being "in touch with the bare-bones essence of nature", Gordon Young's preceding description of Chris should be rephrased: A profoundly Un-American figure, uncompromising in his approach and thoroughly optimistic about the future. For Chris McCandless did not set out to show or prove his American character. Neither does he approve or want to exemplify a true modern American character, because true American

  • Fate In Into The Wild

    532 Words  | 2 Pages

    fate. But with many edvidence and claims in both story the question ¨How much in our lives do we actually controls?¨ wanders through our mind. Fate has opinions however it is us who make the choices. Destiny is ultimately in our hands. In Into the Wild by Krakauei, Which is about Chris McCandless a 3.72 student has a choice of going to a good university with his grades and the money his parents have saved for him to go to a university but instead he decides to take a different path as ¨ he intended

  • Mediocrity In Into The Wild

    1108 Words  | 3 Pages

    following: The Crucible by Arthur Miller, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, and Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson. In today’s standards, to be ordinary

  • Wild Child

    882 Words  | 2 Pages

    diaries of Jean-Marc-Gaspard Itard, The Wild Child is a movie made in 1970, with a setting in France from the18th century, and based on a child who had lived in nature his whole life without any human contact. Itard, a well known French doctor for working with deaf-mutes, had taken in this feral child under his care for the purposes of his studies on the child’s intellectual and social education. Given the time period of the movie Itard had taken the “wild-child” in under his own care, and helped

  • Into The Wild Analysis

    913 Words  | 2 Pages

    These are some rave reviews by renown critics. The most interesting points are highlighted in bold: Author: Roger Ebert in Chicago Sun-Times Date: September 27, 2007 Source: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/into-the-wild-2007 “Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, which I read with a fascinated dread, tells the story of a 20-year-old college graduate who cashes in his law school fund and, in the words of Mark Twain, lights out for the territory. He drives west until he can drive no farther, and then north

  • Call of the Wild

    709 Words  | 2 Pages

    Call of the Wild BUCK, A POWERFUL DOG, half St. Bernard and half sheepdog, lives on Judge Miller’s estate in California’s Santa Clara Valley. He leads a comfortable life there, but it comes to an end when men discover gold in the Klondike region of Canada and a great demand arises for strong dogs to pull sleds. Buck is kidnapped by a gardener on the Miller estate and sold to dog traders, who teach Buck to obey by beating him with a club and, subsequently, ship him north to the Klondike. Arriving

  • The Wild Bunch

    1023 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Wild Bunch is Western genre film that showcases phenomenal directing, editing techniques, revolutionary cinematography and action like no other Western film produced to date. In this film critique, the author will analyze The Wild Bunch through the lens of the genre theory. Genre theory is the application of studying films in order to allow viewers to categorize the films into different groups before they even watch the film. Genre is a type or category of film that allows viewers to have certain

  • Into the Wild

    Into the Wild

    Published in 1996, Into the Wild is a bestselling non-fiction book written by writer and mountaineer Jon Krakauer. It traces the footsteps of 22-year-old Chris McCandless as he abandons his comfortable life and family to undertake a dangerous journey of self-discovery and enlightenment that finally ends in his death. The book was the result of an 8400 – word article by Krakauer published by Outside magazine in 1993 and has been adapted into a movie of the same name. It is widely used in college reading curricula, so you will find several Into the Wild essays and assignments here.

    Overview of Into the Wild

    Upon graduating college in 1990, Chris McCandless has had enough of mindless materialism and decides to walk away from it all. He gives away his money, abandons his used car, cuts off communication with his family and begins a new life as Alexander Supertramp.

    During the initial months of this homeless existence, unfettered by money or belongings, Chris wanders from place to place, doing odd jobs in return for food and lodging. He finds inspiration for this vagabond lifestyle in the lives and works of his favorite authors – W.H. Davies, Henry David Thoreau and Jack London. His ultimate goal is to travel Into the Wild and experience the raw, unfiltered aspects of nature and live off the land. This turns out to be a life-changing experience that ends only four months later in his death through starvation and poisoning on the outskirts of Denali National Park, Alaska.

    Krakauer, as the omnipresent narrator of Into the Wild, tracks McCandless’ catastrophic journey as a young man woefully unprepared for the unpredictable challenges of nature. Simultaneously, he also creates a psychological portrait of McCandless, helping the reader gain a better understanding of his character and motivations.

    Below is a list of essays containing an exploration of the themes, settings and characters of Into the Wild, the book as well as the movie.