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“In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do East Coast family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later his decomposed body was found by a party of moose hunters”
(Author’s Note).
INTO THE WILD
BY JON KRAKAUER
“It should not be denied…that being
footloose has always exhilarated us. It is
associated in our minds with escape from history and
oppression and law and irksome
obligations, with absolute freedom, and the road has always led west.” (Wallace Stegner, From: The American West as Living Space) "Colorado River." Online Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
2 June 2008 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/art-2636>.
“I NOW
WALK
INTO
THE
WILD.”
(ALEX,
1992)
Commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Mt_McKinley,_Denali_National_Park,jpg.
High Achiever: Academics, Athletics, Music
Entrepreneurial
Generous & Caring
Cold & Unforgiving
Impatient with others
Self-absorbed
Harsh judge of parents
Tolerant of artists& close friends
Passionate
Self-righteous
Intensely private
Gregarious
Socially conscious
www.datsunhistory.com/DATPICS/b210.jpg
“I am reborn. This is my dawn. Real Life has begun,” (Alex, June 1992).
“S.O.S. I need your help. I am injured, near death and too weak to hike out of here….This
is no joke…” (Chris McCandless, August?)
THE SLABS
Carthage, South Dakota
EXPLOITS
Detrital
Wash Colorado River --
canoe trip
Bullhead City McDonald’s
Salton City
Las Vegas
California/Mexico Border
ALASKA
Mt. McKinley…”Climb
Mountain!”
“ I finally got here.” (April 22, 1992)
“I’ve decided to head for Alaska
no later than May 1st…:
A babbling brook in spring, a rushing torrent in summer.
DENALI NATIONAL PARK & STAMPEDE
TRAIL
The Journey of Chris McCandless
Visionary or Fool?
Honest or Selfish?
Death Wish?
Desire to confront and overcome fear of death?
CHRIS WAS INSPIRED BY:
LEO TOLSTOY THOREAU JACK LONDON
•“I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence,” -Tolstoy
•“It was the masterful and incommunicable wisdom of eternity
laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life,” -London
•“Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth,” -Thoreau
CHRIS’S RELATIONSHIPS
Family Grandfather: Lauren Johnson Father: Walt Mother: Billie Sister: Carine
Alaska Jim Gallien
-Happiness is only real when shared -There is refuge in nature -Wealth is shameful, corrupting, and evil -Absolutes: Life, Truth, Beauty -Love of one’s Neighbor -Free personality -Life as Sacrifice
CHRIS’S PHILOSOPHIES: “I BELIEVE THAT…”
WHAT POISONED CHRIS?
SWEET PEA VS. WILD POTATO
“
I have had a happy life and thank the Lord..
Goodbye and may God bless all.” (August 1992)
Jim Gallien: Takes Chris to Denali National Park
Butch Killian: EMT who arrives soon after Chris’s body is discovered
Wayne: Closest version of family to Chris-works on a grain elevator for Wayne’s
company in South Dakota
Peter Kalitka: Private Detective hired to find Chris
Gene Rosellini, John Waterman, Carl McCunn and Everett Reuss: Similar men
who ventured into the wild
Ron Franz: Takes in Chris when he moves to Anza-Borrego
Ask Questions on any others…
PEOPLE CHRIS MET:
Krakauer’s use of methodology in Into the Wild is an important focus of his biography. It is inevitably what makes him a “partial” biographer.
Methodology: the methods of organizing principles underlying a particular art, science or other area of study.
*Manuscripts
*Maps
*Interviews
*Epigraphs
METHODOLOGY
Krakauer starts the novel with the ending completely in mind.
We know of Chris’ death by chapter two.
The epigraph is detailing his trip into the Yukon Territory.
Westerberg’s letter is introduced before he is.
How is this effective story telling?
Why are we given the letter before a literary quote?
STRUCTURE:
The maps are used to personalize the odyssey.
Visual rendering of where he’s been. We see Chris’s plight and the trek he has made.
Also see the absurdity of his journey: jumping from one place to the next.
MAPS:
Personal connection to Chris.
He seems very candid and real in the letters.
Detection of his spite, anger and arrogance in the letters.
Puts on a different face in front of strangers: benevolent, spirited,
kind.
The letters serve as his connection to the outside, evidence of his
journey, and his bitter farewell to society.
LETTERS AND MANUSCRIPTS
Story becomes real when we meet people Chris has befriended.
Provide personal account of his behavior.
Allow us to question his motives.
Aware of his inability to connect to humans.
Krakauer’s main attempt at being impartial.
INTERVIEWS
Symbolize Chris’s God
Religious connection for him.
Their imagination becomes his reality.
Inability to understand London, Tolstoy, Thoreau or Emerson, because he takes their
ideas literally: or is this what he’s supposed to do?
LITERARY ALLUSIONS
Transcendentalism New ideas in literature, religion culture and philosophy that emerged in New England in the early to middle 19th century. It is
sometimes called American transcendentalism to distinguish it from other uses of the word.
Transcendentalism began as a protest against the general state of culture and society and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard and the
doctrine of the Unitarian church. Among transcendentalists' core beliefs was an ideal spiritual state that 'transcends' the physical and empirical and is only realized through the individual's intuition, rather than through the doctrines
of established religions.
TRANSCENDENTALISM
Unless otherwise cited, the pictures are all from http://images.google.com/images
All quotes are from: Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor Books, 1997.
Constance D. Casserly, June 2, 2008
ATTRIBUTION