DeGraves 1

Natalie DeGraves

Mr.Smith

H 11 ELA

Date

McCandless Philosophies Varying Throughout Into The Wild

In the book Into the Wild, the main character Chris McCandless impulsively drops

everything to explore the wild, not telling anyone his thought process or where he was going.

Will he regret his decision in the end? Chris McCandless was 22 years old when he started his

journey with a hopeful destination of Alaska. His decision to take on this journey was very

impulsive and he didn't think it through as much as he should have. The author Jon Kakuar

shows that McCandless is a very inspiring figure. However, McCandless had a different view of

society compared to other people which allowed Krakuar to write this book distinctively.

Analyzing the intertextuality and use of the structural elements in Into the Wild contributes to a

heightened understanding of Krakuar's displaying McCandless philosophies throughout his

journey to vary. He is described as impulsive and reckless and he is looked at as selfish in the

first part of his journey. Towards the end of his journey when his life was soon to be coming to

an end, he starts to realize he wasn't able to enjoy his happiness with others and he sorely realizes

happiness was supposed to be shared with others.

Krakuar demonstrates McCandless having a strong belief in living a simple life in the

wild. He believed that he would be happier and more free all alone in the wild. He makes a

spontaneous decision to start his journey that he believes will be the best decision for himself.

Krakuar states, “It is easy, when you are young, to believe that what you desire is no less than

what you deserve, to assume that if you want something badly enough, it is your God-given right
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to have it ” (Krakauer 155) describing how when you are young you make decisions that you

don't always think through completely and not everything is given right to you, you have to work

for success. McCandless had good parents who pushed him to be successful. His dad especially

was very hard on him in school to get good grades to get into a good college. However,

McCandless did not necessarily care about going to college and doing what every other kid in his

class wanted to do but he ended up going anyway. He wanted to do his own thing and live his

own life. Shortly after graduating from Emory University in Georgia, he set off on his journey

with the hope of a final destination being Alaska. When first starting his journey, “He was

unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life. He was alone and young and wilful and

wild-hearted, alone amid a waste of wild air and brackish waters and the sea harvest of shells and

tangle and veiled gray sunlight” ( chapter 4 ) he enjoyed the nature around him because that's

what he loved most. He used his skills of self-reliance to catch food and he made many friends

helping him to find safe places to sleep at night. His journey continued as he lived his simple life

alone in the wild with few resources.

Towards the last bit of McCandless’s journey, he starts to feel remorse that he

wishes he had shared his happiness with others because he realizes that happiness is a special

feeling and should be shared with others. In McCandless's last moments of life, he writes on a

piece of dry wood his last few thoughts, one of the things he noted was, “HAPPINESS ONLY

REAL WHEN SHARED'' (Krakauer 189) he regrets not sharing the happiness that he captured

during his journey with others because he was all alone. At the beginning of his journey, he

makes friends with a few different people he made one close friend with an older guy named

Ronald Franz who he learned a lot from. After reaching Alaska he was in the middle of nowhere

so making friends with new people wasn't an option, he didn't have a telephone or any way of
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contacting people so he talked to a lot of different objects and animals to keep him company. In

the beginning part of his journey, he states, “You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or

principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and

anything we might experience.” (Krakauer 57) he talks about how human relationships aren't

important and at the end of his journey he realizes that human relationships are important and

they helped him frequently get to where he got in his journey. As far as rides, places to sleep, and

even just company and someone to talk to. McCandless was a very independent figure who

needed little interaction with others to be happy as he thought but he came to realize he needed

more than he had in his lifetime.

Throughout McCandless's journey in the wild Krakauer characterizes McCandless's

philosophies to ultimately vary. McCandless comes to a realization towards his last living

moments that he was not able to share his happiness with others when he should have. He was

seen as selfish before realizing that he was grateful for what he was given in his life and

therefore he fixed his mindset and cared for others. Many readers may take in the way Krakuar

expresses McCandless differently than others and some may view his journey differently.

Overall, McCandless was a very inspiring figure who many still look up to still as of today.
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Works Cited

KRAKAUER, JON. Into the Wild. PICADOR, 2024.

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Skill N Foundational Proficient Advanced

Y

Thesis Establishes Specific mention Effectively

a basic of structural makes a claim
claim elements (and) incorporating a
Includes some complex idea;
aspect of author’s contrast, cause
purpose/ readers and effect, etc.
interpretation

Claims Makes a Previous (and) Previous (and)

statement Somewhat Considers the
that considers the thesis of the
requires thesis paper
evidence to Effective use of
support transition
words/phrases

Evidence Some Includes multiple Includes a

evidence pieces of variety of
relates to evidence/ specific,
the thesis examples that meaningful, and
clearly relate to well-chosen
the thesis and evidence that
individual claims relates to the
Includes multiple thesis
pieces of
evidence in each
body paragraph

Analysis Sometimes Accurately Explains

identifies identifies and well-selected
structures conveys points of
Somewhat structures comparison
explains Explains how among
how evidence evidence and
evidence supports topic their connection
supports sentence of to the thesis
topic individual
sentence paragraphs
and thesis Explains how
evidence
supports the
thesis of the
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essay

MLA Format Some Heading is No errors in

elements correctly MLA format
missing or formatted
some errors Pages are
in MLA numbered
format Most in-text
citations are
correctly
formatted
Works Cited:
each source entry
is in correct MLA
format

Conventions Shows Most quotes are All quotes are

evidence of correctly correctly
basic integrated integrated
proofreadin Follows essay Shows evidence
g organization of careful
Shows evidence proofreading
of proofreading

Fluency Simple use Demonstrates Strong use of of

of use of grade level vocabulary,
vocabulary vocabulary, diction,
Simple diction, sentence sentence
sentence structures structures
structures Accurate use of
unit specific
vocabulary
(non-linear,
epigraph)