into the wild jon krakauer essay

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Into the Wild

Jon krakauer.

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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.

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Into The Wild

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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?

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“Into the Wild” a Book by Jon Krakauer Essay

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Introduction

Mccandless purpose in life, works cited.

Chris McCandless does not pass as an ordinary person; no, he is a complicated person living a life defined by his principles, not by society. 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 his survival and eventual death in the Alaskan forest. The book explores people who influenced McCandless like Jack London and Leo Tolstoy, among others. Based on his journal entries and the books he read coupled with ideas he shared with others, it is evident that McCandless was greatly influenced by Thoreau’s writings viz. Civil Disobedience and Life without Principle.

As exposited in Into the Wild, McCandless went missing sometimes in April 1992, probably due to the influence of Thoreau’s writings; for instance, in Civil Disobedience, Thoreau talks of government being at best when it rules not. Probably McCandless was displeased with the form of leadership in America at that time. Thoreau talks of the American government as one lacking, “the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will” (Thoreau 4). The issues of bad governance and discrimination towards blacks stand out clearly in Thoreau’s arguments, and this might have angered McCandless, something that made him feel like a prisoner to the government.

In his Journal, McCandless says he “basked in his newfound freedom” (Krakauer 19). However, why did he need freedom? This is because, as previously mentioned, governance had never measured to Thoreau standards, an influential figure in McCandless’ life. McCandless, “shed unnecessary baggage” (Krakauer 20). The baggage of being governed by a government without the verve of one living man. Therefore, to show his displeasure, McCandless opted to live in solitude where he would not see the irregularities and injustices that stained governance because, according to Thoreau, these are the only ways a person could rebel.

Thoreau insisted that citizens had the right to resist and rebel against the government, and this must have gotten well into McCandless’s heart. Thoreau believed that the only tool that people would use to correct the government where necessary was conscience and rebellion. “All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance, to resist the government…” (Thoreau 10).

McCandless understood this principle very well and decided not to be a part of the government that was violating human rights. By paying taxes, he would support this governance, something contrary to his beliefs. Therefore, the only way he would ‘practically withdraw’ his support for the government was to live in forest where he would, neither pay taxes nor see violation of human rights. Krakauer notes that McCandless was “stubborn and hot-headed” (45).

This stubbornness, coupled with Thoreau’s philosophies, gave McCandless the impetus to go on and live in the forest. Moreover, by the time McCandless entered university, he had developed “a sense of outrage over injustice in the world at large” (Krakauer 96). American governance was full of injustices that McCandless loathed. Therefore, his outrage led him to leave and live in the forest. He chose to live a solitary life that would prevent him from seeing human injustices. The only alternative that he had was to live in forest with minimal human interactions.

As aforementioned, McCandless had idiosyncratic logic, and living in the forest was one of his personal decisions, which he did not expect everyone to agree with just as Thoreau believed. Thoreau posits, “The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think is right” (7). Moreover, McCandless opted to live in solitude at the heart of an Alaskan forest due to the influence of another Thoreau’s short story, Life without Principle.

As aforementioned, McCandless was a traveler; therefore, he chose to follow his dreams and pursue the things he treasured most viz. traveling and discovery. Krakauer insinuates that McCandless was probably a “pilgrim…he was not incompetent or an outcast” (76). Based on this argument, McCandless had all the reasons to leave the city and live in the forest. Thoreau in Life Without Principle says, “do not make religions and other such institutions the sort of intellectual comfort zone that prevents you from entertaining ideas that are not to be found there” (vii).

Consequently, McCandless could not allow societal institutions to bar him from ‘entertaining’ his ideas. In forest, McCandless knew he would find this ‘entertainment’; therefore, “he donated the balance of his bank account (to charity), loaded up his car, and vanished from (his family’s) lives” (Krakauer 103). These idiosyncratic logics led McCandless into the forest, logics he got from Thoreau’s writings.

McCandless believed that “what is valuable about a thing is not the same as how much money it will fetch on the market” (Thoreau vii). McCandless’s most valuable thing was an adventure, a priceless thing in his life. This understanding justifies why he had the strength and guts to live in solitude. Finally, McCandless understood Thoreau’s last principle that “Don’t mistake the march of commerce for progress and civilization – especially when that commerce amounts to driving slaves to produce the articles of vice-like alcohol and tobacco.

There is no shortage of gold, of tobacco, of alcohol, but there is a short supply of high and earnest purpose’” (Thoreau viii). Therefore, McCandless went into the forest to look for ‘purpose’. To him, increase in commerce did not translate into progress in civilization, a direct influence from Thoreau. This resonates well with the first reason that he went to the forest as a sign of rebellion against governance.

To him, money, gold, and all material things were insufficient to supply; however, purpose in life was outstandingly missing in humanity, and he set out to fix this shortcoming. He was “heedless of personal safety” (Krakauer 45). He did not care much about his personal safety; thus, he would make it. Again, he was “undeterred by physical discomfort” (Krakauer 46). Therefore, the fact that he would face discomfort would not deter his resolve. Consequently, into the forest, he went and lived a life of ‘purpose’ and solitude.

Chris McCandless was a peculiar person by all standards. He lived according to his principles regardless of whether they were popular amongst other people or not. Being an adherent of Thoreau, there are two reasons that probably pushed McCandless into solitude forest life. Bad and poor governance has been around for quite some time now. Given the fact that Thoreau was against poor governance, and McCandless was his disciple, then it is logical to conclude that McCandless went into the forest in ‘silent resistance’ against bad governance. In the forest, he would not pay taxes; hence, not support poor governance in any way.

Secondly, McCandless went into the forest to pursue his dreams and entertain his life. As an adherent of Thoreau, he must have read Life without Principle and adopted its philosophies. This short story calls for people to get out established institutions if they cannot find enjoyment in life. McCandless did exactly that; he moved to where he would entertain his life. McCandless’s purpose in life was to live according to his principles that called for following one’s heart and rebelling against poor governance.

Krakauer, Jon. “Into the Wild.” New York: Anchor, 1997.

Thoreau, Henry. “Life Without Principle.” Forgotten Books, 2008.

Thoreau, Henry. “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience.” New York; Filiquarian Publishing, 2007.

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IvyPanda. (2020, June 24). "Into the Wild" a Book by Jon Krakauer. https://ivypanda.com/essays/into-the-wild-a-book-by-jon-krakauer/

""Into the Wild" a Book by Jon Krakauer." IvyPanda , 24 June 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/into-the-wild-a-book-by-jon-krakauer/.

IvyPanda . (2020) '"Into the Wild" a Book by Jon Krakauer'. 24 June.

IvyPanda . 2020. ""Into the Wild" a Book by Jon Krakauer." June 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/into-the-wild-a-book-by-jon-krakauer/.

1. IvyPanda . ""Into the Wild" a Book by Jon Krakauer." June 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/into-the-wild-a-book-by-jon-krakauer/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . ""Into the Wild" a Book by Jon Krakauer." June 24, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/into-the-wild-a-book-by-jon-krakauer/.

Into the Wild

By jon krakauer, into the wild study guide.

In January 1993, Jon Krakauer published an article in Outside magazine about the death of Chris McCandless, a young Emory graduate who had donated all of his money to charity, gotten rid of all his belongings, changed his name, and, in April 1992, after two years of itinerant living, walked alone into the Alaskan wilderness with few supplies, intending to live off of the land. His body was found about four months later, in September 1992.

The article in Outside magazine garnered a great deal of attention, and Krakauer found himself obsessed with the question of what led McCandless to this extreme end. He also saw many parallels between McCandless’s personality and behavior, and his own as a younger man. He thus decided to do significantly more research and to make a book out of the tale, and spent nearly three years researching the story in an effort to discover what exactly happened to McCandless.

Krakauer interviewed McCandless's family, friends, and as many of those as McCandless came across in his two years on the road as he could find. He also had access to McCandless's books and journals, all of his photos, and the letters he sent to people like Wayne Westerberg and Jan Burres . Using this information, as well as information about McCandless's childhood and time at college, Krakauer pieced together much of what drove McCandless to his rootless existence, and what he did during that time.

Into the Wild was the result of this research, and was published in 1996. The book, in trying to discover what exactly led McCandless to his mysterious end, and what happened once he was alone, also discusses Krakauer’s own history, and the stories of many other famous or infamous figures who met their ends in the wilderness.

Into the Wild was published to great success, spending more than two years on the New York Times bestseller list. The book was also made into a movie in 2007. One of the questions Krakauer tried to answer in his research was what exactly had killed Chris McCandless. In the Outside magazine article, he posited that McCandless had mistaken the poisonous wild sweat pea for the nearly indistinguishable edible wild potato, and thus had inadvertently poisoned himself. This was what almost all journalists at the time also believed.

While continuing to research for the book, however, Krakauer found it hard to believe that McCandless had made that mistake, after successfully distinguishing between the two plants for weeks, and he decided that instead, the wild potato was poisonous, but only in the seeds. Analysis eventually showed this not to be true, however, and it was only long after the first edition of Into the Wild came out that Krakauer came up with his final theory--that McCandless's seeds had developed a poisonous mold when he stored them, and that that was what poisoned him.

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

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

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