James

=Into the Wild  Overviewer: James, By Jon Kr akauer  = =   = =  = =   = =   = = Summary:  = =  = =  In April 1992, a young man aged eighteen from a wealthy family in Virginia hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in college savings to the charity Oxfam International, abandoned his car and most of his possessions in Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and tramped throughout the U.S. and northern Mexico inventing a new way of living for himself. Having troubles with his family parents back home in Virginia, Chris constantly drew in new friends throughout the States on his travels: Wayne Westerberg, Jan Burres, Ronald Franz, … Chris McCandless was always on the move, but he settled in Bullhead, Arizona and Carthage, South Dakota for year or two with Westerberg and Franz. Finally, Chris followed his dream of entering the wild of Alaska as he crossed the Teklanika River, towards the wilderness. There he found an abandoned, sheltered bus where he resided for 112 days, alone until his death. 19 days later, Ken Thompson, Gordon Samel, and Ferdie Swanson, eager moose hunters, discovered Chris Johnson McCandless in the bus, nuzzled and decaying in a sleeping bag. = = = = = = = =  = =  Theme Analysis:  = =  = =  The theme of a story is the overall subject of talk, the evident or ambiguous exhibition of existence that the author strives to inject into the minds of readers. The theme of //Into The Wild// is that you must have goals and dreams for your purpose of life (if you don’t have this, you’re a complete failure and a permanent loser), and if possible, chase after them. The words of Sleight, a countryman who met Everett Ruess, depicts the thesis lucidly in one of his quotes: “Everett was strange; kind of different. But him and McCandless, at least they tried to follow their dream. That’s what was great about them. They tried. Not many do.” Adding on to following your dreams, the thesis also includes the fact that one must be moved by their courage, their reckless innocence, and the urgency of their desire; these traits exemplify Christopher McCandless clearly by all. Krakauer focuses his main point on expressing and informing us on the life of Chris McCandless. He does this by throwing us into the mind of Chris McCandless as well as showing similarities and contrasts between McCandless and other tramps such as Everett Ruess. He tries to encourage and persuade his readers to overcome their timid natures and tread after their craziest imaginations. = = = = = = = = Opinions: = = = = Overall, I felt that Chris Johnson McCandless was both courageous but stupid, in the extreme. The term I use as courageous; I use this word for expressing that Chris did something few or no others would and could have possibly done…and he almost pulled it off too. It means that I believe he’s pretty intelligent, in the wild indirect kind of way. Basically, what he does inspires countless others that following your dream is not impossible; you can do anything you want if you just put your mind to it. The word stupid; these six letters are used to show that I think what he did has no point to it. What does he prove by living all alone, with nobody except his wits, to survive??? The result was death, and that was unfortunate. But say Chris McCandless survived and made it back to civilization. What would it have changed? = == =[|Jon Krakuer's Chris McCandless Overview Articl] = [|Jon Krakauer Into the Wild] [|Chris McCandless Awesome Video!!!]