Thresholds Of Violence In Jon Krakauer's Into The Wild

Loud and dangerous riots are occurring constantly throughout the US taking different forms. In Jon Krakauer 's novel, Into the Wild, Chris McCandless joins the uproar of people disposing their past and an adverse society to head to the vast openness of nature to find peace. In Malcolm Gladwell 's article, Thresholds of Violence, however, students are buying guns or making bombs to dispose of people in their schools and homes; They join a homicidal uprising that began after the mass shooting at Columbine. Militants from both movements are revolting against society, they feel detached and not in need of serious relationships. For example, Chris McCandless and John Ladue both wanted to rid themselves of their parents and Chris refused to allow

Chris, for example, enjoyed being disconnected from society. He could sit through long periods of solitude without speaking to another human being and go unfazed. Chris even called himself Alex as a symbol of not belonging to anyone. In an excerpt from the novel, Into the Wild, when Gallien asked whether or not he had a license for hunting, Alex scoffed, “‘Hell no. How I feel myself is none of the government’s business. Fuck their stupid rules’” (Krakauer 6). He had set aside regulations made in society and replaced them with his rules carved from his own morals. In a way, he doesn’t want to be part of a society a man like his father had so much success and respect in. He saw the inner workings and power of a man held so high in his field; Walter could turn his household into a battlefield. Another nature dweller, Krakauer, reflected on what led him to engage in those life risking activities, something Chris never had a chance to do because his trip proved fatal. With a more experienced perception of reality, he wrote, "At that stage of my youth, death remained as abstract a concept as non-Euclidean geometry or marriage. I didn 't yet appreciate its terrible finality or the havoc it could wreak on those who 'd entrusted the deceased with their hearts" (Krakauer 155). Chris didn’t care for in a high enough degree what the loss of his life could do to those who entrusted him with it, and neither did Krakauer when he had his mind set on reaching the top of the Devil’s Thumb alone. These patterns are critical because it’s another component that ties rioters together under one cause and can help us make an educated guess on who is most likely to join