My thoughts on the book:
- Overall Chris McCandless is intelligent and idealistic, however he is naive to think 'the odds didn't apply to him' as his father announced
- Chris McCandless entered the wilderness unprepared and made a couple of crucial mistakes that cost him his life
- McCandless was friendly and easily likable which is why so many people took him under their wing
Main Characters
- Bob and Jan Burres- Nurtures: divided from her own son, she takes special interest in Chris
- Charlie- Caretaker: allows Chris to stay in empty RV
- Ronald Franz- Wants to adopt Chris as his grandson: gives McCandless a ride from Salton City, California, to Grand Junction, Colorado
- Jim Gallien-Picks up: Last person to see Chris alive, drops Chris off at Alaska's Stampede Trail, gives McCandless his boots
Main Characters
- Wayne Westberg- Employs: gives Chris a ride, a place to say and a job
- Billie McCandless- Mother
- Walt McCandless- Father
- Carine McCandless- Sister
- Anchorage Couple- Finds Chris's remains
Into the Wild
- Publication Date- 1996
- Writing Process- assistance from the McCandless family; giving Jon Krakauer full access to Chris's papers, letters, and photographs and talked for a great length of time
- Setting- McCandless spends two years throughout the western US until finally making it to his ideal location; Alaskan Wilderness
Literary Movement
Investigated Journalism
- Influences- Jon Krakauer uses a personal experience to help explain how many people have done such a thing like Chris McCandless.
- It gave a sense of 'I'm just like him' and a connection to how Chris thought.
Literary Movement
Investigated Journalism
- Concerns- Chris McCandless is believed to be crazy, psychotic, but really he is just like everyone else
- He made a couple of mistakes that cost him his life
- If he wouldn't of made these little mistakes, he would of eventually made his way out of the wild; leaving his odyssey just a book mark in his memories
Jon Krakauer
- Birth- April 12, 1954 (age 60)
- Grew up in Corvallis, Oregon, where his father introduced him to mountaineering at the age of 8
- Graduated from Hampshire College in 1976
- Divided life between Alaska, Colorado, and Pacific Northwest- supported himself as a commercial salmon fisherman and carpenter
- Life revolved around climbing mountains- climbed Mt. Everest in 1996
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer