A Rhetorical Analysis Essay On Into The Wild

The general argument made by the author, Henry David Thoreau, in his work Where I Lived, and What I Lived For is that humans need to change their routine lifestyles. More specifically, the author argues in paragraph 7 that individuals need to live in pure nature. He writes, “If we are really dying, let us hear the rattle in our throat and feel cold in the extremities,” (280). In this passage, the author is suggesting that humans need to abandon their industrial lifestyles and go back to our prehistoric roots. In conclusion, the author’s belief is nature prevails anything modern society can build up. In my view, the author is partly right because humans need to experience nature firsthand. More specifically, I believe that we can’t blindly

He essentially enforces the readers to live in absolute nature in order to live their lives to the fullest. Christopher McCandless follows this ideal throughout the novel, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. In Into the Wild, a young McCandless embarks on a significant journey to Alaska. Throughout the way, he abandons his family, identity, money, and his car in order to “live off the land” in the Alaskan wilderness. However, this ultimately led to McCandless’ demise, when his body was found dead on September 6, 1992, on the Stampede Trail. The cause of death was ruled to be as starvation, which brings me to my main point. In a world where technology is constantly taking over our lives, individuals should experience nature firsthand sometimes. However, purely living off the land as Thoreau suggests, is severely consequential. Even for experienced outdoorsman such as McCandless risk their lives to live in the isolation of pure nature, and it’s truly costly. So, I don't endorse this extreme

He asks, “Why should we knock under and go with the stream?” (280), meaning “why should we follow society's rules?”. This questioning of normality can be seen throughout history: Martin Luther King Jr., George Washington, Susan B. Anthony, Mahatma Gandhi, etc. These are all respected leaders who rebelled against their society’s rules and led change for the betterment of future generations. Even leaders of pop culture such as John Lennon and Prince chose not to abide by society’s standards. It’s perfectly acceptable for individuals to challenge the rules presented to them. It’s what makes people unique. If everyone were to follow the rules, we would be living in a robotic world where no significant change to our ways of living would