Literature Analysis 2

Into the Wild

1) a) Into The Wild is about a man leaving civilization and going on a journey to find himself in nature. He tried to live outside of the system without our so called necessities. He travels and lives for free but gives back with work and company. He shows that human kindness will get you where you want to go.

b) Attaching ourselves to unessential objects will never allow us to find our true selves.

2) My author chose to write about the journey of Chris McCandless because he was inspired by his story. How a college student gives up everything he owns and goes of on a journey across North America. He wanted to tell the story of Chris’s journey and the people he met. The story was told through people’s accounts of meeting Chris, where you learn how much of a determined, down to Earth person he was.

3)I choose this book because Terry told me about it, and I knew this was a story I would relate to because I want to go on adventures like that. Except minus the dying part. Once I began reading I couldn’t stop, I found all the stories in it so interesting and by the time I put the book down, I was almost finished with it.

  

4) I found this book extremely realistic, because its is an adventure I want to take in my life time. I felt connected to Chris because he didn’t believe he needs all the intangible items to survive and made due with the bare essentials.

PEOPLE

1)I think the author didn't create the character of Chris McCandless, but the people he met did.  The story of Chris is told through stories from other people who had the chance to meet him on his journey or his few journal entries.  Although we are only told the stories that show the better sides of Chris, I truly believe if I had the chance to meet him, he would be a genuinely nice guy that is described by the people he met.  The tone around McCandless is amazement, which makes the readers fall in disbelief of the task McCandless achieved on his own throughout his travels.

2) Chris McCandless- He was an average sized guy, not much mass on him, a lot like me. This tall and skinny man often had a shaggy beard grown out unless he was feeling the decency to clean up for something. When you meet him you feel the confidence in his stature, almost borderline arrogant, yet the twinkle of his eyes show his compassionate side. I would use indirect characterization for him.

Jon Krakauer- We never actually get a description of the author of the book, but through analysis of the reading and the stories he told I infer that he is a tall, athletically built man.  He has always had immense interest in the wild and its challenges.  He challenged himself to accomplish new things, such as being the first person to climb the Devil's Thumb.  Direct characterization would be the best way for me to show him to the readers because he is such a small character.

Russel Fritz- A old man, who is still fit and acts as if he was young.  He is ex-military and lost his family to a drunk driver.  He acts like a hard ass who has everything he wants, but when he meets Chris his life changes. He leaves his home and travels and becomes a different person who goes out to seek adventure and enjoy life. I would use indirect characterization so as he changes it is more an emotional feeling for the readers than if it was direct.

3) I think these people are so interesting because they all have a sense of adventure and want to see the world.  They face challenges for the thrill and excitement they get out of it.  They try to find the deeper meaning in life and avoid stopping where others tell them to.

STYLE

1) He used a journalistic approach to tell the story of Chris. The entire book is split up into accounts from other people about their time with Chris, Chris's journal entries, and Krakauer's journal entries and stories.

2) Krakauer uses little description about places or people and sticks mainly to what happens there and between Chris and the other characters.  The few times he goes deeper in description are when he talks about his journeys. This gives you a more emotional connection to the characters because you get to make up what they look like and are not stuck with a specific image

3)Krakauer uses accounts from people to set the tone of adventure and freedom.

4) His attitude towards Chris's journey was pure amazement.  He finds the fact the Chris was able to accomplish so much with such little experience amazing. He kayaked the Colorado River and Gulf of California, backpacked around the United States, survived through an Alaskan winter in the wild, and touched many people's lives.

5)The story relies heavily on interviews from people who met Chris on his travels.  I think this increases the reader's interest in the story because they get multiple perspectives on Chris and it show's how Chris was determined to go into the wild.

ENDURING MEMORY

This story will leave the idea that all we need in life is inner peace and happiness through living and not intangible objects that give us false happiness.  His journey gives you the deeper understanding of true kindness and how beautiful nature can be.  As I want to go on a similar journey as him to search the world for the answers to my deepest questions, I will use this story as a blueprint of my journey of delving into inner peace and happiness.  As Chris carried around Jack London and Thoreau, I will carry Into the Wild.


At the end of the book, Krakauer talks about Chris's final journals, where he is dying.  As Chris is going through immense pain and suffering and he knows he is not going to be found in time to be saved, he is happy.  Most people would regret what their decision to go out into the wild, but Chris found everything he was looking for and although he didn't want to die, he had all the answer in life he needed before he died.