Eyewitness In Into The Wild

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Recommended: Krakauer's point of view on McCandless

“Never judge a book by it's cover.” This statement is heard hundreds of times throughout one's life, but for some reason it is a natural reaction to do just the opposite. The notion should not have a pre thought opinion of someone because of the way they look or the things they do is baffling to some individuals. Chris McCandless, the main character of the novel “Into The Wild” by Jon Krakauer, is a victim of this scenario. In the Novel, Chris McCandless leaves the comfort of the “perfect” life that he has been given to live an independent life on the road. With no money and his own two feet, McCandless travels the country in hopes of eventually making it to Alaska to live off the land in the bush. As the reader moves through the book, they …show more content…

Because Chris McCandless died before Krakauer ever had the chance to meet him, he had to rely solely on the information that he was given from the people that knew him on a personal level. This added the use of logos to the text so that the reader would be able to trust the information Krakauer gives them. As McCandless traveled the country, he was able to leave a lasting impression on many people along the way. As Krakauer talked with them after the death, he was able to see that people who actually knew him saw him as a stand up guy. For example, some readers might see McCandless as a lazy individual who wants to live on his own in order to avoid working a job in the real world.Krakauer is able to disprove this theory in chapter four by gathering information from Westerberg himself. McCandless was described as “Working hard, doing dirty, tedious jobs that nobody else wanted to tackle:.. (62)” Through this one account, the readers are able to see that McCandless did in fact work hard. In fact, one of the reasons why he was on his own in the first place is that he did not want things to be handed to him on a silver platter. He wanted to earn them. Another example of this occurs in chapter twelve when Krakauer uses a quote from Chris’ father Walt. Walt stressed that “if you tried to talk him out of something, he wouldn't argue. He would just nod …show more content…

Through his use of special organization, factual accounts and complex syntax, he is able to display McCandless as a person who was living the life that he wanted to live. He was kind and respectful to the people he met along the way, even helping them through their own hardships at times. This is the type person that Krakauer wanted to paint a picture of. He wanted to make sure that people did not see McCandless as the “nut” who did himself in. To make sure that the McCandless family could be proud of their son for being brave and doing what many would be too scared to attempt even if they wanted to. By writing this novel with the impressive rhetoric that he did, Krakauer was able to defend the actions of the late Chris McCandless and paint him as the bright young man that he

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