Into the Wild

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Into the Wild

• By Jon Krakauer

The Journey of Chris McCandless 1990-1992
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On the Book Cover

• In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do
  family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into
  the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name
  was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given
  25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car
  and most of his possessions, burned all the cash
  in his wallet, and invented a new life for
  himself. Four months later, his decomposed body
  was found by a moose hunter

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Why did he do it?

• McCandless went into the wilderness not
  primarily to ponder nature or the world at large
  but, rather to explore the inner country of his
  own soul. Krakauer
• What does that mean the inner country of his own
  soul?

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POSTCARD FROM CHRIS MCCANDLESS TO WAYNE
WESTERBERG IN CARTHAGE, SOUTH DAKOTA
Greetings from Fairbanks! This is the last you
shall hear from me Wayne. Arrived here 2 days
ago. It was very difficult to catch rides in the
Yukon Territory. But I finally got here. Please
return all mail I receive to the sender. It
might be a very long time before I return South.
If this adventure proves fatal and you dont ever
hear from me again, I want you to know youre a
great man. I now walk into the wild. Alex
APRIL 27TH, 1992
Notice his changed name
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Where is the wild?

• Stampede Trail
• Kantishna Plain
• Denali border
• 20 miles west of Healy, Alaska

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Close-up map (from book p. 8)
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• He was
  an
  extremely intense young man and possessed a
  streak of stubborn idealism that did not mesh
  readily with modern existence.

Chris McCandless
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Chris Influences (mentioned in the book)

• Henry David Thoreau
• Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Leo Tolstoy
• Jack London

Transcendentalists
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Transcendentalism (Thoreau and Emerson)

• The movement placed great emphasis on the
  individual, nature, freedom, nonconformity, and
  spiritual wealth.

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Characters
Family
Friends

• Jim Gallien Picks up
• Chris drops him at the
• Stampede Trail
• Wayne Westerberg
• Chriss boss and friend
• Chris works on his farm
• in South Dakota
• Ronald Franz
• A man who takes a
• special interest in Chris
• and even says he would
• like to adopt him

• Chris McCandless
• (Alexander Supertramp)
• Billie and Walt McCandless
• Chriss parents
• Carine McCandless
• Chriss sister

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About the Author Jon Krakauer

• Krakauer never considered writing as a career
  until 1974, when a climbing magazine asked him to
  recount a first ascent in Alaska.
• In 1980, he started with Outside magazine in
  which he published Lost in the Wild, an
  exclusive report about McCandless experience, in
  1993.

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Outdoor Experience

• Krakauer is an adventure seeker as well. His
  climbing résumé features numerous ascents, many
  of them solo.

He is, perhaps, most well-known for Into Thin
Air, his personal account of climbing Mt. Everest
in 1996. As he turned to begin the perilous
descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers
were still pushing doggedly to the top, unaware
that the sky had begun to roil with clouds...
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Reading Alerts

• Chapters begin with interesting excerpts and
  passages DO NOT skip these!
• Chapters about plot are interspersed with
  chapters about related adventures, some of which
  are Krakauers
• Difficult vocabulary Use a dictionary!
• Time/setting shifts

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Themes/Main Ideas?

• Krakauer writes in the Authors Note, In
  trying to understand McCandless, I inevitably
  came to reflect on other, larger subjects as
  well the grip wilderness has on the American
  imagination, the allure high-risk activities hold
  for young men of a certain mind, the complicated,
  highly charged bond that exists between fathers
  and sons.
• Other main ideas to think about
• Non-conformity, technology, minimalism,
  materialism, self-reliance, happiness, success,
  etc.

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Interview with Krakauer

• The following audio is from Krakauers
  interview with NPR regarding Sean Penns movie
  version of his novel.
• http//www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story
  Id14564827
• How do you think youd feel if you were Chriss
  brother or sister? Would you be OK with all of
  the media attention/ book/ movie?
• What is the difference between the book and the
  movie in terms of how how the family/parents are
  portrayed?
• How does Krakauer explain Chriss decisions?
• How did Chriss mom cope with her son being
  gone/missing?
• What is starvation like, according to Krakauer?
• How was Krakauer like Chris?
• Which artifacts are still at the bus?