Into the Wild Book Report

Into the Life of a Fascinating Man
Jon Krakauer's novel Into the Wild explores the mystery surrounding Christopher McCandless, a 24-year-old man who disappeared into the Alaskan wilderness in April of 1992 and never returned. McCandless’ body was found three weeks after his death from some type of poisonous berry. Christopher McCandless was born into an upper-middle class family in Virginia. In 1990, he graduated from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia with a degree in Anthropology and History. He never had a good relationship with his parents and kept them distant. This is thought to be one of the reasons he left. McCandless admired many writers, mainly David Thoreau; this also greatly influenced his choice to wander off and live in solitude. Krakauer captures Christopher McCandless story with great finesse and empathy.
Jon Krakauer does not want the reader to feel bad for McCandless, or make him or her think what Christopher did was a good or bad idea. He simply wants the reader to understand why Christopher McCandless did what he did. Krakauer is able to present a man,once a stranger to the reader, as a man the reader feels like he or she knows personally. While Krakauer is empathetic towards McCandless situation, he ultimately lets the reader make his or her own opinion about McCandless’ behavior. Into The Wild shows that Christopher McCandless was clearly a strong man with some fatal flaws, and the author points out every trait in full detail.
What makes this biography so interesting is Jon Krakauer’s dedication to discovering what truly happened to Christopher McCandless. When Krakauer started writing his book, he knew nothing about Christopher's life or what happened to him after he disappeared. Krakauer followed the trail Christopher left across the country and interviewed any person he interacted to piece together the story of Christopher McCandless. The author also has an emotional connection to the subject, and expertise in the field. Near the middle of the book, he writes, “I understood what he was doing, that he had spent four years fulfilling the absurd and tedious duty of graduating from college and now he was emancipated from that world of abstraction, false security, parents, and material excess” (Krakauer 67). Krakauer then goes on to explain how when he was younger he too went into the wild. He lived in seclusion for a couple of month and describes how he feel that he truly found himself through the experience.
Since no one knew what really happened to Christopher McCandless, the author had to speculate. This was interesting to read because the book seemed more like a story instead of a biography. It is easy to see that Krakauer put his heart and soul into the book. He wanted people to read the story and be able to relate to Christopher’s life. He did not intend to make people think that seclusion is the best way to find one’s self. Nor did he intend for people to think that wandering into the wilderness would always be life threatening. He wanted the reader to understand why Christopher did what he did. Krakauer wants the reader to be able to relate Christopher's story to his or her own life.
Into the Wild, analyzes the life, disappearance, and death of Christopher McCandless. The author, Jon Krakauer, takes the reader inside the mind of McCandless to truly understand his reasoning for going into the wild. Krakauer expresses his reasoning in neither a good or bad light. He lets the reader develop his or her own feelings towards Christopher. Krakauer’s main objective was for the reader to understand why Christopher chose solitude. If the reader could relate to Christopher McCandless’ life, then Jon Krakauer accomplished his goal. One could see the passion that Krakauer had towards this book and that is what made this biography truly special.