Ethos In Into The Wild

(Krakauer 109). In this quote Walt told Krakauer that he and his wife had to control Chris because he was reckless. This led to an unstable relationship because Chris felt like he could not be himself around his parents since his parents thought they could control how he lived his life, treating him poorly. Not only did Chris’ parents want to control Chris’ life, but also his education. A few pages later, Billie, Chris’ mother admits to Krakauer that she sat Chris down and gave him a talking to about how he was living his life.

Jon Krakauer makes various claims about how Chris McCandless is a very noble person. Krakauer’s bias is throughout the book Into the Wild. The book is about Chris McCandless and his adventures across America. The book is his life story covering how he died and how he came to the point of his death. Krakauer uses his bias and various claims to show what type of person Chris really was and to show some of how Chris thought about the world and government.

Into the Wild recounts the story of a young man, Chris McCandless, who tries to escape from society in order to find himself. Fascinated by nature, Chris gives up most of his material possessions to hitchhike around the western United States. Interestingly enough, he severs all ties with his family and believes that he can find happiness within himself, yet makes connections with several people along his journal. Fueled by the ideology of writers such as Tolstoy, London, and Thoreau, Chris camps alone in the Alaskan wild to find a purer version of himself until his death. Throughout Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer develops the idea that Chris McCandless’ quest for solitude is essential to obtain true freedom; however, Chris ultimately realizes

Krakauer was instead the author and detective for Into The Wild interviewing each person Chris had crossed paths with and left an impact. This long process gave Krakauer a new insight into why Chris had gone to Alaska. In the end ,although not living, Chris affected Krakauer by giving him a new outlook on the transcendentalist way of life and why it was so appealing to him. Krakauer felt closer to Chris than many of those that actually crossed his path. He had a similar experience when he was younger going out on his own and scaling the “Devils Thumb” in Alaska.

He ends his note with commenting that all of notes, journals, and postcards that McCandless wrote were like work that was done from an above average high school kid. Chris was another person who came to

- yeah, he talked about going to Alaska. Maybe to find whatever it was he was looking for” (Krakauer 42). If this man, who spent hardly any time with Chris, new about his obsession with Alaska, would his family also not likely know as much also? Just how much did Chris hide from his

Chris was very well known among his few friends for his insightful and radical conversations. One such quote from Krakauer’s novel includes “he was like that about everything. You aren’t supposed to think about heavy-duty stuff in high school. But I did, and he did, too, which is why we hit it off.” (Krakauer 113).

Rhetorical Analysis of Jon Krakauer’s “Into the Wild ” Jon Krakauer ’s purpose in writing Into the Wild is to recount Chris McCandless’ journey, physical and metaphysical, from college in Georgia to his death in Alaska, through the use of factual, and anecdotal evidence. Krakauer uses factual evidence to establish that he is a trustworthy narrator capable of giving the reader a realistic scope on the events in the story. Jon uses anecdotal evidence to see into Chris’ psyche from the various perspectives found in the book’s excerpts, including how Jon understands the events.

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is a novel about a young man (Chris McCandless) who died while surviving in the alaskan bush. A central theme in this novel is that the ultimate freedom is to live in a world where the only laws one has to follow are the laws of nature. The author, Krakauer, reveals this theme through Chris showing solitude, hatred towards society, and the love of nature. The ultimate freedom is revealed through Chris’ solitude.

Thank you, Chris McCandless. August?”(Krakauer,12) Journal: (P)At this point in the book two different parties have found Chris McCandless's note. I think at this point he is already dead with this things written at the start of the book and the rotting smell. I do not think the two parties will trust one another and help report him in fear that the other party killed him. I did not understand why Chris spend all day searching for food while already being really weak.

He urged adults to see the world through the way a child would adore it, in a purer loving way. This goes against many Americans’ viewpoints on life, then and even now. He also mentions that he believes nature is a kind force to everyone, and is never cruel. On the other hand, Chris McCandless’s life is documented by the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. Within the book, Chris’s past is documented by his inability to conform.

Yet Krakauer himself does see how Chris was a stubborn man. story, although there are times when his opinion of Chris, as someone to be admired, becomes apparent. These little more on his interjections could be persuasive towards the reader. Krakauer see’s Chris as a smart young man. Krakauer says “He was green, and he overestimated his resilience, but he was sufficiently skilled to last for sixteen weeks on whits and ten pounds of rice…

"I think that Chris McCandless was bright and ignorant at the same time. He had no common sense, and he had no business going to Alaska with his Romantic silliness. He made a lot of mistakes based on ignorance. I don’t admire him at all for his courage nor his noble ideas. Really, I think he was just plain crazy."

Krakauer came to the conclusion that Chris’s death wasn’t at all suicide or that he granted himself a death wish, but that it was all just an accident. He had based his thoughts upon the passages written in Chris’s journal that he had left along with other items. John also knew that it must have been an accident due to his similar past experiences. Chapter 14 is mainly about Krakauer’s reflection on his own youth, and how much he loved to climb. He chose to climb the Devil’s Thumb on the Stikine Ice Cap when he was only 23 years old.

Throughout chapters 8 and 9, the author showed his bias towards Chris McCandless, which is an act of defiance to his position as an objective journalist, when he attempted to alter the readers’ negative point of view towards Chris by the introduction of different people who had similar experiences and characteristics as him and then making comparison. After reading the previous chapters, the readers have already made their own judgement on Chris, which are probably mostly negative. To address this issue, Krakauer initiates chapter 8 by introducing negative comments and mails not only about Chris but also to him, the author. These will serve as an argument that he will later attempt to disprove while at the same time, still informing the readers about what makes Chris special and unique.