Who is Chris McCandless? Jenson Benoit Chloé Robichaud Beth Foreman

Into The Wild: Overview – Middle-High class family – Disappears after college – Journey across North America – Detached from traditional society – Final voyage to Alaskan Bush – Found dead 6 months later

Thesis – Through the authors perspective as well as journal and letter excerpts, our novel shows that Chris McCandless believed he had found his true identity by discarding physical possessions from his life.

-Open road represents McCandless history of hitchhiking, where he started his journey to find his true self

“Two years he walks on earth, no phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road.” - Alex SuperTramp (Chris McCandless) (Journal Entry) – “No” repetition represents his happiness with discarding physical possessions. – “Home is the road” shows his content with not having a permanent residence or security for his future days.

The belt McCandless made during his journey showing where he had been

“The climatic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual revolution… no longer be poisoned by civilization, he flees and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild.” - Alex SuperTramp (Chris McCandless) (Journal Entry) – He is killing “the false being within”, and creating his true identity. -Civilization has poisoned him, and he believes the wild will lead him to his true self.

The bus where McCandless lived during his time in the Alaskan Bush showing his seclusion

“Can this be the same Alex that set out in July 1992? Malnutrition and the road have taken their toll on his body. Over 25 pounds lost. But his spirit is soaring.” -Jon Krakauer – Even though his body is in critical condition, his spirit is fulfilled because he is doing exactly what he wanted to do. – His physical body is what is truly suffering but Chris knew that what he was fulfilling his purpose which was living without depending on anything else but himself in Nature.

A grain elevator in which Chris worked during his time with Wayne Westerburg on the way to finding himself

“ McCandless distrusted the value of things that came easily. He demanded much of himself – more, in the end, then he could deliver” –Jon Krakauer – He was confident until the very end of his voyage. – He distrusted man-made things so much that he stopped depending on his field guide to the region’s edible plants, Taniana Plantlore by Priscilla Russle Kari, which resulted in his death.

A broken family, representing where Chris started on his path to self identification

“McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but, rather, to explore the inner country of his soul.” - Jon Krakauer – The quote illistrates the will that Chris had to find himself. – Even though it seems like he was running away and a lot of people thought he was losing his mind, in all actuality he was just trying to find it.

“No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander SuperTramp, master of his own destiny.” -Jon Krakauer – Symbolic to his new self-identification – He has found who he really wants to be

Crafts of Writing – Dialog – “One thing I do remember is that he had a thing about socks, […], he always wore shoes without socks – just plain couldn’t stand to wear socks.” (40) – Inclusion of journal excerpts – “I don’t know what time it is, I don’t know what day it is or where I am. None of that matters.” –Chris McCandless

– Tone: neutral – Chooses to “leave it to the reader to form his or her own opinion of Chris McCandless” (author’s note) – Krakauer takes up an empathetic tone around the last bit – “Immediately inside the door is a torn mattress, stained and moldering, on which McCandless expired. For some reason I am taken aback to find a collection of his possessions spread across its ticking: [list of objects]” (178)

– Figurative language: metaphore – Krakauer tells his story and lives relative experiences. – “The hint of what was concealed in those shadows terrified me, but I caught sight of something in the glimpse, some forbidden and elemental riddle […]” (156)

Poetry Readings

Conclusion… – Krakauer tells the story of Chris McCandless with care and detail and aims to connect with the reader in a way by including personal journal entries and quotes from Chris McCandless himself. He gives us Chris McCandless through various point of views. He draws direct connections between McCandless and himself while seemingly trying to comprehend the core of McCandless’ choice to walk Into the Wild. – The mystery remains concealed forever.