Bill Gifford provides an account of Chris McCandless deciding to “Enter the Wild”, highlighting the various places he visited and the people he met. Gifford then explains McCandless’s “frightfully inadequate mental and physical preparation” by summarizing the adventure. McCandless’s tendency to ignore his closest friends and get himself into trouble is also mentioned. Gifford explains how Krakauer, who clearly believes McCandless had a good mind, actually believes McCandless was a naive, arrogant child that could have avoided his fate.
Bill Gifford’s description of Chris McCandless is sardonic in Washington Post Book World Volume 26 Number 3. Gifford uses satirical language to show McCandless’s faults and to support his opinion of Chris’s madness. McCandless comes across as a snobby kid that shouldn’t be looked up too. Gifford uses Krakauer’s views of McCandless in a counter-argument, but then goes on to use critical diction and disprove Krakauer’s belief that Chris was courageous.
John Krakauer talks about his feelings after Melissa Block tells the story of McCandless. He also shares how he felt and what it was like for McCandless’s family. Krakauer describes the reactions of Chris’s parents and sister to the movie and how they felt. He then explains the differences between the two and expresses his “identification” with McCandless. Krakauer’s experience is similar to McCandless’, and he believes Chris was not insane.
Jon Krakauer’s description of the emotions McCandless’s family members felt after watching the Sean Penn film and Corrine McCandless’s visit to the “international harvester” bus in Alaska, while on NPR’s podcast All Things Considered with Melissa Block uses pathos multiple times. This repeated use of pathos gives the reader a somber and sympathetic tone, allowing them to feel the pain of the McCandless’s family following their tragic loss. The author uses his own experience of climbing Devil’s Thumb at Chris’s young age to help him relate with Chris.
Rand Richards Cooper tells how the story of Chris McCandless was turned into a movie by Sean Penn. Cooper describes Krakauer as being “fascinated with the harshness” of nature. This led him see McCandless’s journey as one of courage and bravery to reach his goal of “solitude”. Cooper demonstrates that the film has a somewhat different perspective on McCandless, while still following a similar route. Cooper finishes by describing the way that the film portrays McCandless, a young man who would not have died if he had only listened.
Chris McCandless appears in the biography as a self-confident boy who ignored advice and did not adhere to the Boy Scout Motto ‘Be Prepared’. The biography tells the story of McCandless’ childhood and how his friends and family shaped him to be a confident, adventurous and brave boy who loved the outdoors. The biography shows how McCandless’s ignorance and overconfidence led to his unfortunate fate. The biography says that Chris wasn’t prepared at all for his Alaskan journey, but his ignorance and overconfidence were the cause of his unfortunate fate.
The biography expresses annoyance towards Chris McCandless for his disrespect towards his parents and his overconfidence in his abilities. This attitude is not reflected in the overall description of his life. Instead, it uses a complementing tone to emphasize that, even though Chris was overconfident and arrogant, he had the courage to defy society’s expectations to live his dream. This tone helps us to understand that McCandless is not a crazy kid who has thrown his life away. He was a man who went through trials and struggles in his life.
Charles Mcgrath narrates the tragic odyssey and death of Chris McCandless. Mcgrath explains the “Into the Wild”, directed Sean Penn. He describes the effort, time, and dedication it took for the film to portray Chris’s journey accurately, both physically and emotionally. Mcgrath compares McCandless’s views from Alaskans and Krakauer, as well as a group of “pilgrims”. Mcgrath explains that Alaskans believed Chris to be “mentally unbalanced” which led him to make an unintelligent choice of travelling alone in the wilderness. Krakauer, however, saw Chris as a brave hero who was “a solitary quester” who took on nature’s challenges to satisfy his adventurous spirit.
Mcgrath uses the vexed tones when describing McCandless’s view from the Alaskan perspective. This is done to show that Alaskans believe McCandless had a mental disorder and shouldn’t have been idolized due his untimely death. Mcgrath uses idolizing diction when describing Krakauer’s views of McCandless. The author believes he identifies with Chris as a result of his similar experiences. Krakauer is able to understand McCandless’ perspective because of the experience. Krakauer’s view of McCandless is one of understanding. He says that McCandless was not crazy, and that his pride and immunity were high.
