thesis for into the wild

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

• 168,891 literary resources
• 172 content providers
• 53,470 books

Into the Wild by John Krakauer Thesis Statements and Essay Topics

Below you will find four outstanding thesis statements / paper topics for “Into the Wild” by John Krakauer that can be used as essay starters. All four incorporate at least one of the themes found in “Into the Wild” and are broad enough so that it will be easy to find textual support, yet narrow enough to provide a focused clear thesis statement. These thesis statements offer a short summary of “Into the Wild” in terms of different elements that could be important in an essay. You are, of course, free to add your own analysis and understanding of the plot or themes to them. Using the essay topics below in conjunction with the list of important quotes from  “Into the Wild”  on our quotes page, you should have no trouble connecting with the text and writing an excellent essay.

Thesis Statement #1: The Allure of the Wilderness

To many people the wilderness has a certain allure as a pristine place free of the evils of modern society, a place where one can be free and get in touch with his soul. However, the reality of living in the wilderness can be quite different from the romantic notions harbored by those who see it as an escape. How does Chris McCandless handle this conflict between appearance and reality as he journeys into the wilderness alone? Is he deluded by a romantic view of the wilderness, or does he actually find what he is looking for there? Write an essay with textual support in which you explore this conflict and how McCandless deals with it.

Thesis Statement #2: Isolation

Chris McCandless isolates himself from the other students at Emory, from his friends, and from his family, resulting in his decision to make a solitary trek into the wilderness, where his isolation will be complete. Yet, at one point in the story, he pleads, “Mom, mom, help me.” Does McCandless really wish to be isolated? If so, why? If not, why does he behave as he does, pushing away the people who care about him the most and going headlong into a potentially dangerous situation? Write an essay using solid textual evidence in which you explain McCandless’s behavior as you understand it, keeping in mind his journal entries and reflections.

Thesis Statement #3: Forgiveness

Chris McCandless is a study in contradictions. On the one hand, he is a compassionate person, who feels a responsibility for the many people who are poor and hungry. On the other hand, his actions toward his family and friends are selfish and hurtful. His inability to forgive what he perceives as his parents’ greed and materialism affects his entire life, contributing to his decision to isolate himself at Emory and to his disgust with society, which prompts him to go alone into the wilderness. If he had found a way to forgive his parents for their mistakes, would he have gone to such extremes in his search to find himself? Write an essay using evidence from the text in which you explain how McCandless’s attitude toward his family and society and his inability to forgive contribute to his ultimate demise.

Thesis Statement #4: The Search for Identity

Many books about young people focus on the main character’s quest for identity. Chris McCandless, at nineteen, is no exception, as evidenced by his rejection of everything his parents stand for. Desperate to separate himself from them in every way possible to explore his very soul, he isolates himself physically and emotionally, hoping to find freedom and peace within. He will go to any lengths to avoid being like his parents, even, out of a sense of moral certitude, rejecting the gift giving he and his friends once enjoyed, oblivious to the fact that he is hurting his friends as a result. How could someone so kind, compassionate, and intelligent heartlessly reject his parents and friends, with no thought to their feelings? Is his kindness merely a charade by which he fools himself into thinking he is different from the others? Does his cruel behavior reflect the person he really is? Who is the real Chris McCandless? How does his identity struggle affect the decisions he makes for the rest of his all-too-brief life? Write a persuasive essay with textual support in which you explain who Chris McCandless really is and how you have come to that conclusion.

Pardon Our Interruption

As you were browsing something about your browser made us think you were a bot. There are a few reasons this might happen:

• You've disabled JavaScript in your web browser.
• You're a power user moving through this website with super-human speed.
• You've disabled cookies in your web browser.
• A third-party browser plugin, such as Ghostery or NoScript, is preventing JavaScript from running. Additional information is available in this support article .

To regain access, please make sure that cookies and JavaScript are enabled before reloading the page.

Into the Wild

By jon krakauer, into the wild themes, the allure of the wilderness.

To McCandless and many others of his ilk, the wilderness has a very specific allure. McCandless sees the wilderness as a purer state, a place free of the evils of modern society, where someone like him can find out what he is really made of, live by his own rules, and be completely free. And this is not just naïveté; McCandless's journal entries show that he does find some answers, some keys to living the way he wants to live.

Yet, it is also true that the reality of day-to-day living in the wilderness is not as romantic as he and others like him imagine it to be. McCandless spends so much time trying to find food to keep himself alive that he has little time to consciously appreciate the wilderness, as is evidenced by the fact that his journal consists almost solely of lists of the food that he finds and eats every day. Perhaps this explains why many of his heroes who wrote about the wilderness, for example, Jack London, never actually spent much time living in it.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness, and the danger inherent in the inability to forgive, are central themes in Into the Wild . Chris McCandless is shown to be a very compassionate person, who is unwilling to ignore the fact that so many people are starving or hungry around him, and feels a personal responsibility to help them. Yet his actions are ultimately selfish, and do great harm to those who love him most. Moreover, his inability to forgive his parents’ mistakes seems to be at the center of this seeming contradiction between his compassionate nature and his sometimes cruel behavior.

There is certainly more behind his odyssey than just anger at his parents, but his resentment of them does spread into the rest of his life, and seems to be closely connected to how isolated he becomes at Emory. This, in turn, adds to his revulsion against society generally, which is clearly a driving factor in his deciding to go into the wilderness. One is left to wonder if, had McCandless found a way to forgive his parents for their shortcomings, he would not have felt the need to go to such extreme lengths in his quest for answers.

Ultimate Freedom

McCandless describes what he is looking for on his odyssey, particularly on the Alaska trip, as “ultimate freedom.” It would seem that this largely represents, to him, freedom from other people’s rules and authority over him. Throughout his whole life he finds authority particularly oppressive, especially when exercised by anyone who he feels only has such power over him for arbitrary reasons. To live completely alone, in a world where the only laws he feels the need to follow are those of nature, is to him ultimate freedom.

Yet this level of freedom requires total isolation, for to be with others means to have obligations to them. Thus, McCandless’s quest for freedom becomes, also, a refutation of any and all intimacy with others. This kind of freedom is inherently selfish. By living only according to his own rules and those of nature, no matter how principled and deeply-thought, McCandless is implicitly living only for his own best interest. For example, he refuses to get a hunting license because he doesn’t think it is any of the government’s business what he eats; were everyone to act this way, animal populations would be destroyed, and food supplies threatened. McCandless's ultimate freedom is thus limited in scope, for on any larger scale it would be dangerous and potentially disastrous.

The Allure of Danger

The allure of danger and high-risk activities is central to Into the Wild . Krakauer does not believe that this allure is significant to everyone, but it certainly is to a specific kind of young man -- one who is intense, passionate, driven and ambitious, but not satisfied with the opportunities or challenges society presents to him. These young men also always seem to have some kind of demon driving them, whether it is a troubled relationship with their fathers, as with McCandless, Krakauer, and John Waterman , or something else.

For Krakauer, at least, the risk in his activities brought him to a point of meditation—because he is often only one mistake away from death, he has to focus utterly, and this allows him to escape from those problems that would otherwise eat away at him. There is also the thrill of pure accomplishment, man against only nature and himself, which allows him to feel that he truly knows what he is capable of, that he doesn’t need to rely on others, or on society, to survive.

Valuing Principles over People

One of the primary qualities McCandless constantly exhibited, which in turn led many to respect him, was his adherence to principles. He does not simply preach that his parents are too materialistic, or state that he won’t be as greedy as he believes them to be. Instead, he lives by his anti-materialism completely, giving away all of his life savings to charity, only making the bare minimum of money that he needs to survive, and keeping as few possessions as he possibly can.

While this adherence to principle is admirable and, unfortunately, unusual, McCandless does seem to put his principles above people, which leads him to cause hurt without really intending to do so. For example, in college Chris decides that he has a moral problem with gifts, and so will no longer accept or give them. Although this decision is based on a sense of morality, it in fact causes McCandless to hurt those who care about him. This may be related to his intimacy problems, for as long as he doesn’t let people get too close, he won’t be put in a position of having to choose them over his principles.

The Elusiveness of Identity

The elusiveness of identity, or of truly understanding someone’s identity, is a theme both explicitly and implicitly present throughout Into the Wild . Krakauer spends about three years putting together first the article on Chris McCandless, and then this book. He talks to almost anyone who met McCandless, even fleetingly. He follows McCandless's trails, reads his journals, even reads the articles he wrote for the student paper at Emory. Krakauer also feels he has an extra level of understanding, because he was much like Chris when he was in his twenties.

Yet even with all of this, at the end of the book, Krakauer acknowledges that McCandless’s presence remains elusive. As closely as he may have studied him, as well as he has come to “know” him, there are a few fundamental questions which no one, not even Chris’s parents, can find a satisfactory answer to. Most important of these is how someone so compassionate, kind, and intelligent could have ended up devastating his parents, and all of those who loved him, so profoundly. The ultimate inability to truly know another person is thus at the heart of Into the Wild .

The Father-Son Relationship

The father-son relationship, and the potential for dysfunction within it, is an important theme in Into the Wild . Both Krakauer and McCandless are highly ambitious, and have highly ambitious fathers. The problem arises in that their fathers’ ambitions for them are very different from their own, and their strong wills and passion for their own kind of ambition—in Krakauer’s case, mountain climbing, and in McCandless’s, the wilderness and anti-materialist living—cause great rifts between father and son.

For both McCandless and Krakauer, the combination of trying to please a difficult-to-please father, resenting authority, and discovering their fathers’ own great failings leads to an almost insurmountable rift. Krakauer was able to forgive his father only once he was no longer the same man. McCandless died before he had the opportunity to grow out of his anger.

Into the Wild Questions and Answers

The Question and Answer section for Into the Wild is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.

Remembering that the Latin prefix ir- means "not," use the context clues in the first paragraph of the passage to define the word irrelevant.

I do not know what specific passage you are referring to.

This chapter begins with a quote from Jack London. Who is he and what has he written?

Jack London is a famous author. He wrote The Call of the Wild, White Fang, To Build a Fire , and a variety of other books.

The purpose of ch 4 in into the wild

The purpose of chapter 4 is to show Chris's wish to shed his worldly possessions, even his identity, and make his way unencumbered by societal possessions. In October 1990, McCandless’s Datsun is found abandoned in the Mojave Desert by Bud Walsh,...

Study Guide for Into the Wild

Into the Wild study guide contains a biography of author Jon Krakauer, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

• About Into the Wild
• Into the Wild Summary
• Into the Wild Video
• Character List

Essays for Into the Wild

Into the Wild literature essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

• Jim Casy and Chris McCandless: Transcendentalism Gone Wrong
• The Many Mistakes of Chris McCandless
• Fatherly Influence in Into the Wild
• Feeding by Starvation
• An Unconventional Genre: Evaluating John Krakauer as a Biographer

Lesson Plan for Into the Wild

• About the Author
• Study Objectives
• Common Core Standards
• Introduction to Into the Wild
• Relationship to Other Books
• Bringing in Technology
• Notes to the Teacher
• Related Links
• Into the Wild Bibliography

Wikipedia Entries for Into the Wild

• Introduction

84 Into the Wild Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best into the wild topic ideas & essay examples, 📌 most interesting into the wild topics to write about, 👍 good research topics about into the wild, ❓ into the wild essay questions.

• Ignorance of Christopher McCandless in the Book “Into the Wild” The first evidence to support their ignorance of McCandless is his lack of knowledge and experience to understand and survive the wilderness.
• Sociology in the Films ‘Into the Wild’ by Penn and ‘Superbad’ by Mottola Socialization being an ongoing and educational process begins from childhood, and the role of the family in the process of socialization is immense.
• The Ultimate Freedom in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer In the process of pursuing his freedom, he experiences different dramatic life events as he heads to the Alaskan wilderness. The theme of ultimate freedom comes out here because he is not around to explain […]
• “Into the Wild” by Krakauer I think that the author of this book does this in order to reveal a mixture of events to the readers of the book in his own way.
• Into the Wild by John Krakauer The author expresses the desire of the main character to know himself, to purify himself and live in the wild, through recommendations not to sit in one place and be active nomads.
• Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild” Krakauer, inspired by the deeds done by Christopher, repeated his travels, following his steps in accordance with the diary notes left by the deceased.
• Chris Mac and Sam Patch in “Into the Wild” Movie From the story, it can be depicted that, Chris was very considerate about the poor in the society; as can be seen in this case where he advocated for alleviation of hunger and gave much […]
• John Krakauer’s “Into the Wild” The main point of the novel is that there is a certain, indescribable element that draws us out into the wild and out of the confines of society.
• The True-Life Story Film “Into the Wild” by Sean Penn McCandless the boy knew there was more to life than just money and possessions and, to prove it, he destroyed all his credit cards and identification and took off in a used car to Alaska, […]
• “Into the Wild” the Book by Jon Krakauer The unusual character of these events resulted in the creation of the book Into the Wild by Krakauer, who tried to repeat the same way and explain the main causes of the main character’s actions.
• The Movie “Into the Wild” Overall, the evaluation of the two works of art suggests a conclusion that the book is more focused on demonstrating the main character’s inner world along with the implications of his world vision that led […]
• “Into the Wild” a Book by Jon Krakauer Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer tackles McCandless’s life, starting with the discovery of McCandless dead body in a bus, Krakauer takes a journey back into McCandless life as a graduate through his disappearance to […]
• The Concept of Idealism in the Book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer The article, Into the Wild, has addressed the concept of idealism through the activities outlined in its plot. The concept of idealism has been brought out in the text as an attempt to describe life […]
• Into the Wild: Characters, Themes, Personal Opinion Overall, the protagonist of the book does not arouse sympathy because his actions were unreasoned, and he was unprepared for his adventure, which eventually caused him to die from poisoning in a forest.
• Into the Wild by Krakauer The whole story is full of secrecy for it is evident that one of the characters in the narrative, Gallien, is in a similar position as the reader for he cannot possibly understand why Alex […]
• Into The Wild by LaMarche As a young man he did not enjoy the company of his family and kept to himself as he sought what he had considered as important to him: “…it was important for him to see […]
• Wilderness and Its Influence on American Imagination in “Into the Wild”
• The Purpose of the Wilderness in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• A Journey Into the Mind’s Abyss in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• A Positive and Negative Perspective of Homelessness in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• The Search for Happiness in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• The Feeling of Fear in the Book “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• Biographical Discourse of Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• The Self-Discovery Journey of Chris McCandless in the Novel “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Death of Chris McCandless in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Search for Freedom in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• The Madness of Chris McCandless in “Into the Wild” by John Krakauer
• The Confidence and Hubris of Chris McCandless in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Fatal Mistakes Chris McCandless Made in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• Ground Reality vs Illustrated Fiction in “Into the Wild”
• A Comparison of Krakauer’s Story “Into the Wild” and McCarthy’s “The Road”
• The Influence of the Idea of Transcendentalism on Chris McCandless in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Ethics of Individuality in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Views and Values of Transcendentalism in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Search for Meaning in Solitude in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• The Impact of Isolation and a Lack of Intimacy on Chris McCandless in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• Paternal Symbols in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• Jon Krakauer’s View of the Role of the Badlands as Depicted in “Into the Wild”
• The Core Setting and Theme of “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Importance of Light and Color as Portrayed in Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• Chris McCandless’s Extreme Ethics and Own Decisions in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Importance of Following Dreams in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• Theme and Author Perspective of the Book “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• Analyzing the Theme of Selfishness as Characterized by Christopher McCandless in “Into the Wild”
• The Struggles to Alaska in “Into the Wild” by Jan Krakauer
• The Determination of Chris McCandless in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• The Existence of Education Outside the Classroom in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Quest for Adventure, Freedom, and Solace in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• Finding the Meaning of Life in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• The Inconsiderate Behavior of Chris McCandless in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Hero’s Journey in “Into the Wild” by John Krakauer
• The Role of Epigraphs in Creating Atmosphere in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Unwavering Motivation of Chris McCandless in the Book “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• The Portrayal of McCandless in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”
• The Individual Lifestyle of the Protagonist of “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• Use of Literary Techniques by Jon Krakauer When Writing “Into the Wild”
• Chris McCandless as a Transcendental Philosopher in “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer
• Was Chris McCandless Prepared When He Went “Into the Wild”?
• When Was Chris McCandless Found Dead in “Into the Wild”?
• What External Forces Influence the Protagonist’s Development in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild”?
• What Happened to Chris McCandless in “Into the Wild”?
• Is Christopher McCandless From “Into the Wild” Real?
• What Influence on American Imagination in “Into the Wild”?
• Was “Into the Wild” a True Story?
• How Understanding Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild” Through a Reader Response Lens?
• Did Chris From “Into the Wild” Have Suicidal Impulses?
• How Long Was Chris McCandless From “Into the Wild” in Alaska?
• What Is the Central Message of “Into the Wild”?
• What Is a Good Thesis Statement for “Into the Wild”?
• What Is the Conclusion of “Into the Wild”?
• What Does Chris McCandless From “Into the Wild” Teach Us?
• How Did the Character in Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild” Live in the Wilderness and Society?
• What Is the Central Conflict in “Into the Wild”?
• What Is the Summary of “Into the Wild”?
• Where Was Chris McCandless From “Into the Wild” Found Dead?
• Why Did Jon Krakauer Write “Into the Wild”?
• What Are Some Questions for the Call “Into the Wild”?
• What Is the Irony in “Into the Wild”?
• Why Christopher McCandless’ Escape From the Confines of Society in “Into the Wild”?
• Why Is “Into the Wild” Important?
• How Understanding Materialism and Modern America Through “Into the Wild”?
• How Chris McCandless’ Search for Truth in “Into the Wild”?
• The Crucible Research Topics
• The Cask of Amontillado Research Ideas
• The Tell-Tale Heart Research Ideas
• The Bluest Eye Titles
• The Alchemist Questions
• In Cold Blood Titles
• The Awakening Questions
• The House on Mango Street Research Topics
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2023, December 7). 84 Into the Wild Essay Topic Ideas & Examples. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/into-the-wild-essay-examples/

"84 Into the Wild Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." IvyPanda , 7 Dec. 2023, ivypanda.com/essays/topic/into-the-wild-essay-examples/.

IvyPanda . (2023) '84 Into the Wild Essay Topic Ideas & Examples'. 7 December.

IvyPanda . 2023. "84 Into the Wild Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." December 7, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/into-the-wild-essay-examples/.

1. IvyPanda . "84 Into the Wild Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." December 7, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/into-the-wild-essay-examples/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "84 Into the Wild Essay Topic Ideas & Examples." December 7, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/topic/into-the-wild-essay-examples/.

Into The Wild

75 pages • 2 hours read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Author’s Note-Chapter 3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapter 16-Epilogue

Key Figures

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Many Alaskans feel that McCandless brought death upon himself due to his own ignorance. After reading Into the Wild , do you agree with them?

McCandless refused gifts of food and advice throughout his travels. Why do you think he did this?

After graduating college, McCandless cut off all contact with his parents. Do you think he was justified in doing so? Or was this unnecessary for his freedom?

Related Titles

By Jon Krakauer

Into Thin Air

Under the Banner of Heaven

Where Men Win Glory

Featured Collections

Action & Adventure

View Collection

American Literature

Audio Study Guides

Inspiring Biographies

• Ask LitCharts AI
• Discussion Question Generator
• Essay Prompt Generator
• Quiz Question Generator

• Literature Guides
• Poetry Guides
• Shakespeare Translations
• Literary Terms

Into the Wild

Jon krakauer.

Ask LitCharts AI: The answer to your questions

When the body of a young male hiker is discovered in Alaska’s Denali National Park, Outside magazine assigns journalist Jon Krakauer to cover the story. The young man turns out to be the runaway son of a well-to-do East Coast family, Christopher (Chris) McCandless , who after graduating from Emory University in May 1990, gave away his savings to charity, abandoned his car, burned all his cash , and hitchhiked across the country “to live off the land” in the Alaskan wilderness.

Five months earlier, on April 28, 1992, Jim Gallien , driving on the outskirts of Fairbanks, Alaska, spots a young hitchhiker and offers him a ride. The young man is Christopher McCandless, but he introduces himself as “ Alex ” and says that he intends to “live off the land for a few months” in Denali National Park. Gallien, noticing that Chris’s backpack is far too light to be carrying enough supplies for an extended camping trip, tries to dissuade from hiking alone into the woods. But Chris refuses Gallien’s advice, so Gallien insists that the young man take his lunch and boots with him. Chris reluctantly accepts these gifts and walks onto the snowy Stampede Trail . Gallien figures that the boy will reemerge out of the forest when he becomes hungry .

Later that year, in September, a trio of moose hunters, a couple from Anchorage and an ATV driver, happen upon an abandoned bus in Denali National Park, where they discover Chris’ decomposing body. Alaska State troopers recover the corpse, taking it to a crime lab, which determines the cause of death to be starvation.

Two months after the discovery of McCandless’ body, Krakauer interviews grain elevator operator Wayne Westerberg , who recounts the day he picked up Chris, (going by “Alex” at the time), on his way back to Carthage, South Dakota. Chris works so hard on Westerberg’s grain elevator crew that Wayne offers him a job. Yet Wayne is arrested for stealing satellite TV codes, forcing Chris to hit the road in search of work.

Going back to October 1990, McCandless’ yellow Datsun is found abandoned in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Through his research, Krakauer figures out that after a flash flood dampened the Datsun’s engine, Chris abandoned the malfunctioning car to conceal his predicament from his parents and the authorities.

Chris then hitchhikes throughout the west. Along the way, he camps with drifters Jan Burres and her boyfriend Bob , flips burgers at McDonald’s in Bullhead City, canoes the Colorado River to Mexico, and befriends eighty-one-year-old Ronald Franz .

On March 14, 1992, Chris returns to Carthage to work for Wayne Westerberg, but leaves at the end of the month, having gathered just enough money and supplies to pursue his dream of living out in the Alaskan wilderness.

Hitchhiking north, Chris arrives in Alaska on April 18, 1992 and crosses the Teklanika River onto the Stampede Trail ten days later. Off the Sushana River, Chris discovers an abandoned city bus, where he makes camp. Throughout the summer, Chris hunts and forages, eventually shooting down a moose . Butchering the moose’s messy carcass to preserve its meat fills Chris with regret, but through reading, journaling and self-reflection, McCandless comes to terms with his kill and decides to return to civilization.

However, the thawing summer floodwaters of the Teklanika River prevent Chris from crossing, so he returns to the bus to regroup.

On July 30, Chris frantically writes in his journal that he is very weak and in grave danger, but also mentions potato seeds . Too weak to hunt or gather, McCandless dies soon thereafter, having spent his last days discovering that the greatest happinesses in life must be shared with others.

Investigating the potato seeds further, Krakauer theorizes that McCandless died of swainsonine poisoning after consuming wild potato seeds laced with a toxic mold.

Having solved the mystery of McCandless’s death, Krakauer accompanies Chris’ parents’, Walt and Billie , to pay their respects at the bus where Chris died. Though comforted by the surrounding landscape’s beauty, Walt and Billie leave still nursing heavy hearts.

• Quizzes, saving guides, requests, plus so much more.

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Into The Wild — Into The Wild Figurative Language

Into The Wild Figurative Language

• Categories: Into The Wild

About this sample

Words: 645 |

Published: Mar 19, 2024

Words: 645 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, metaphors in into the wild, similes in into the wild, personification in into the wild.

Cite this Essay

Let us write you an essay from scratch

• 450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
• Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Verified writer

• Expert in: Literature

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

4 pages / 1606 words

1 pages / 642 words

2 pages / 724 words

2 pages / 1022 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Into The Wild

Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, is a non-fiction book that follows the journey of Christopher McCandless, a young man who gives up his possessions and money to live a life of solitude in the Alaskan wilderness. The book [...]

"Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer is a captivating and thought-provoking exploration of the life and death of Christopher McCandless, a young man who rejected societal norms in pursuit of a more authentic existence in the [...]

Alexander Supertramp, also known as Chris McCandless, has been the subject of much fascination and analysis since the publication of Jon Krakauer's book "Into the Wild" and the subsequent film adaptation. McCandless, a young man [...]

Into the Wild is a non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer, which tells the story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who ventured into the Alaskan wilderness with little equipment and no plan for survival. McCandless's [...]

In conclusion, Chris McCandless's decision to venture into the wild was undoubtedly risky and ultimately led to his tragic death. However, it is important to view his actions within the context of his motivations and personal [...]

Into the wild is about a young man name Chris McCandless otherwise known as Alex, who is a transcendental. In the beginning of the book, Alex grew up in a very puritanical family but Alex becomes rebellious and transcendentalism [...]

Related Topics

By clicking “Send”, you agree to our Terms of service and Privacy statement . We will occasionally send you account related emails.

Where do you want us to send this sample?

By clicking “Continue”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy.

Be careful. This essay is not unique

This essay was donated by a student and is likely to have been used and submitted before

Download this Sample

Free samples may contain mistakes and not unique parts

Sorry, we could not paraphrase this essay. Our professional writers can rewrite it and get you a unique paper.

Please check your inbox.

We can write you a custom essay that will follow your exact instructions and meet the deadlines. Let's fix your grades together!

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

• Instructions Followed To The Letter
• Deadlines Met At Every Stage
• Unique And Plagiarism Free