Into The Wild Research Paper
Period 3
Honors English 12A Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer Jon Krakauer was in the search for great ideas for his next best seller after Into Thin Air, a personal experience were he almost died and escaped the grasp of death itself. As Krakauer was known as a best selling author, Outsiders Magazine offered him the opportunity to write about a young man who died in Alaska by unknown circumstances. As Krakauer wrote the reported death of this unknown young man, he became obsessed with the mans death. Later on in the investigation the young mans identity was known as Christopher Johnson McCandless and Krakauer found many things about himself in Chris, deciding to do extensive research …show more content…
Some sources show that Christopher McCandless had money, identification, and a map. Krakauer himself doesn’t make a straight answer when asked “Why didn’t Chris have a map with him?” His answer changes, in the interview he had with Rose he states that Chris didn’t have a map because “Chris felt it would make the challenge of going into Alaska less of a challenge.” Later on in the interview he states that when Chris was ready to return to civilization and tried crossing the Teklanika River his map didn’t show the pulley that hunters used to get across nor did it show that the Teklanika River branched out a couple of miles down from where he was. Also in the first publishing of his book, Krakauer later changes a couple of lines. “‘...he left the map in Gallien’s truck, along with his watch, his comb, and all his money, which amounted to 85 cents.’ However, when the book was published, these lines were changed to the following: ‘Alex insisted on giving Gallien his watch, his comb, and what he said was all his money: eighty-five cents in loose change’ (p. 7).” (Lamothe) The Alaska Coroner 's list of belongings returned to McCandless ' family following his autopsy shows that Chris did have a map with him. So which is it, who knows only Krakauer knows, and by the looks of it, he doesn’t have an intention of revealing this information to the public. Furthermore, a man named Will Forsberg found Chris’s backpack after the Alaskan authorities took Chris’s remains for the autopsy. In a secret bag hidden in the backpack, Forsberg found that Chris had identification. “Right there in the bus with him was a wallet that contained his social security card, birth certificate, driver’s license, health card, voter identification, and three library cards. Most significantly, this new evidence seems to indicate that Chris had no “death wish,” as some of
Honors English 12A Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer Jon Krakauer was in the search for great ideas for his next best seller after Into Thin Air, a personal experience were he almost died and escaped the grasp of death itself. As Krakauer was known as a best selling author, Outsiders Magazine offered him the opportunity to write about a young man who died in Alaska by unknown circumstances. As Krakauer wrote the reported death of this unknown young man, he became obsessed with the mans death. Later on in the investigation the young mans identity was known as Christopher Johnson McCandless and Krakauer found many things about himself in Chris, deciding to do extensive research …show more content…
Some sources show that Christopher McCandless had money, identification, and a map. Krakauer himself doesn’t make a straight answer when asked “Why didn’t Chris have a map with him?” His answer changes, in the interview he had with Rose he states that Chris didn’t have a map because “Chris felt it would make the challenge of going into Alaska less of a challenge.” Later on in the interview he states that when Chris was ready to return to civilization and tried crossing the Teklanika River his map didn’t show the pulley that hunters used to get across nor did it show that the Teklanika River branched out a couple of miles down from where he was. Also in the first publishing of his book, Krakauer later changes a couple of lines. “‘...he left the map in Gallien’s truck, along with his watch, his comb, and all his money, which amounted to 85 cents.’ However, when the book was published, these lines were changed to the following: ‘Alex insisted on giving Gallien his watch, his comb, and what he said was all his money: eighty-five cents in loose change’ (p. 7).” (Lamothe) The Alaska Coroner 's list of belongings returned to McCandless ' family following his autopsy shows that Chris did have a map with him. So which is it, who knows only Krakauer knows, and by the looks of it, he doesn’t have an intention of revealing this information to the public. Furthermore, a man named Will Forsberg found Chris’s backpack after the Alaskan authorities took Chris’s remains for the autopsy. In a secret bag hidden in the backpack, Forsberg found that Chris had identification. “Right there in the bus with him was a wallet that contained his social security card, birth certificate, driver’s license, health card, voter identification, and three library cards. Most significantly, this new evidence seems to indicate that Chris had no “death wish,” as some of