Into The Wild (TOW #4)

     John Krakauer is most famous for his books Into The Wild and Into Thin Air, both of which are number one best sellers and ranked among Time's best nonfiction books of all time. John Krakauer is a mountaineer and most of his books revolve around the themes of nature and adventure. I chose read the first, whcih details Christopher McCandless's death in Denali national park as well as the many months leading up to it.
     The Details of McCandless's death were very cloudy when his boy was first found and the story became quickly famous. Krakauer initially wrote an article on McCandless, but became so interested and invested in the story that he wrote a book.
     Krakauer forms the story by piecing together accounts of Christopher McCandless from the people he met along his travels. He includes journal entries and letters written by McCandless, as well as many anecdotes from the people who McCandless spent time with. This helps to characterize McCandless incredibly as well as further establish Krakauer's ethos, as the events surrounding McCandless's death were just as much a mystery to him as they were to others. Through the stories about McCandless Krakauer establishes him as a very educated and driven young man and continually draws parallels between him and the authors who inspired him. He also establishes McCandless as very disciplined and almost monk like. He gave up nearly all his earthly possessions and moved to the wilderness.
     It is important to consider the way Krakauer characterizes McCandless when we look at his purpose. The first traits that come to mind when you hear a story about a college student who tried to survive in the Alaskan wilderness, woefully unprepared would be foolish or dumb. This, however, is not how McCandless is painted in Into The Wild. Krakauer makes him into an altruistic hero, searching for something pure, and ultimately adventuring to find himself. To me there was something profoundly inspiring, in McCandless's devotion, and faith in good, as well as his unrelenting search for himself, and I fell as if this this the purpose Krakauer was arguing through his stories. McCandless is someone, who although completely foreign, can be related to by everyone, and should be an inspiration to everyone.