Summer Reading Guide Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
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Thoreau As a Mirror for Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild
Thoreau as a Mirror for Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild José Joaquín Sánchez Vera Faculty of Arts and Education Subject: English Points: 15.0 Supervisor: Magnus Ullén Examiner: Åke Bergvall Date: 7 June 2013 Serial number Abstract To tell the nonfiction biography of Christopher McCandless in Into the Wild Jon Krakauer uses a plethora of references to Henry D. Thoreau. In this thesis I study how Krakauer uses Thoreau while balancing on the fine line that differentiates the historian from the storyteller. Through an analysis of Krakauer‟s use of Thoreau‟s economic ideas, liberal ideas, and view of nature and wilderness I argue that Krakauer blurs a pragmatic understanding of Thoreau and uses techniques of fiction to characterize McCandless as a late Thoreauvian transcendentalist. By doing so, Krakauer explains and defends the protagonist‟s actions from criticism making him appear as a character whose story is exceptional. However, the characterization of the protagonist as a follower of Thoreauvian ideals by means of a partial and romantic interpretation of Thoreau is misleading and does not provide us with a better understanding of the life of McCandless. Moreover, the romantic image of Thoreau advanced by Krakauer reflects Krakauer, or at least his times; particularly, it reflects Krakauer‟s own view of wilderness and his concern for its impending demise. Consequently, I conclude that Krakauer‟s version of McCandless‟s story is perhaps too biased to amount to a strong historical narrative and be considered proper nonfiction. Nevertheless, the romanticized characterization of McCandless aids Krakauer to write a more appealing story. -
Into the Wild
Into the Wild Chapter Two Click to edit Master subtitle style Which of these sentences is best? A. Carrying nothing but a bag of rice, walking into the wilderness. B. Carrying nothing but a bag of rice, Chris walked into the wilderness. C. Chris walked into the wilderness, carrying nothing but a bag of rice. The Jack London Passage • Krakauer provides a quote from Jack London's White Fang about the mirthless (joyless) and merciless frozen Northern wilderness. • This quote sets the tone for the chilling struggle for survival which is about to unfold. Exposition: Setting • Blazed in the 1930s by an Alaskan miner, (Earl Pilgrim) the Stampede Trail originally led to Pilgrim's mining claims along Stampede Creek. • In the early 1960s, the trail was upgraded by Yutan Construction to an actual roadway meant to allow trucks to haul ore year-round from the mines. • Only 3 years later, the project was scrapped due to the harsh Alaskan conditions. Prime (and Illegal) Hunting • Moose hunters frequent the area where the bus lies because it is surrounded on three sides by protected wilderness preserves. • In September of 1992, by coincidence (fate?), three groups of people arrive at the normally deserted bus on the same day. – We know what they will find, but first they have to get there… • At this point in the season, the river is 75 feet across with swift currents. • The daring hunters (Thompson, Samel, and Swanson) drive through one by one, prepared to tow each other out with a strong winch. At the far bank, the hunters park their vehicles and continue on in the ATVs they carry in the back of the trucks. -
Thoreau As an Oblique Mirror: Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild
American Studies in Scandinavia, 47:1 (2015), pp. 40-60. Published by the Nordic Association for American Studies (NAAS). Thoreau as an Oblique Mirror: Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild José Sánchez Vera Karlstad University Abstract: In his nonfiction biography of Christopher McCandless, Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer uses a plethora of references to Henry D. Thoreau. In this article I analyze Krakauer’s use of Thoreau’s economic ideas, liberalism, and view of nature and wil- derness. I argue that Krakauer blurs a pragmatic understanding of Thoreau and uses techniques of fiction to create an appealing story and characterize McCandless as a latter-day Thoreauvian transcendentalist. By doing so, Krakauer explains and de- fends the protagonist’s actions from criticism, thereby making him appear as a char- acter whose story is exceptional. Although the characterization of the protagonist as a follower of Thoreauvian ideals by means of a partial interpretation of Thoreau does not provide us with a better understanding of McCandless’s life, Krakauer’s extensive research and the critical self-reflection in the text produces a compelling nonfiction narrative. Moreover, the romantic image of Thoreau advanced by Krakauer reflects the preoccupations and issues that concerned Krakauer, or at least his times. Particu- larly, it reflects Krakauer’s own ideas concerning the negative effects of materialism on both ourselves and the natural world. Key words: Jon Krakauer, Henry David Thoreau, Into the Wild, nonfiction, nature, transcendentalism Into the Wild is Jon Krakauer’s nonfiction biography of Christopher Mc- Candless, a talented college graduate who inexplicably leaves his family, his friends, and all the comforts of civilization in search of ultimate free- dom, a nobler form of life closer to nature and divorced from the extreme materialism of American society. -
Alicia Jewett Master's Thesis
“Before the practice, mountains are mountains, during the practice, mountains are not mountains, and after the realization, mountains are mountains” – Zen Master Seigen University of Alberta Metaphor and Ecocriticism in Jon Krakauer’s Mountaineering Texts by Alicia Aulda Jewett A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Comparative Literature Office of Interdisciplinary Studies ©Alicia Aulda Jewett Fall 2012 Edmonton, Alberta Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission. Abstract This study examines Jon Krakauer’s three mountaineering texts, Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, and Into Thin Air, from an ecocritical perspective for the purpose of implicating literature as a catalyst of change for the current environmental crisis. Language, as a means of understanding reality, is responsible for creating and reinforcing ethical ways of understanding our relationship with nature. Krakauer’s texts demonstrate the dangers of using metaphor to conceive nature by reconstructing the events of Chris McCandless’ journey to Alaska, his own experience climbing The Devil’s Thumb, and the 1996 disaster that occurred during his summit of Mount Everest. -
Into the Wild
Into the Wild Chapters 1-7 Author’s Note • What does the author’s note tell us? – Timeline and Punchline – Tidbits of the journey/experience – Mistakes will plague the experiment – AsceGcism—deny worldly pleasures for spiritual elevaon – Themes of fathers/sons and young men/ challenges – Interpretaons of Chris McCandless Strategies • Strategies – Start with the end – Open chapters with notes/quotes/excerpts – Nonlinear—jumps in Gme and space— pieces of puzzle—put together fragments like detecGve or psychologist – Language—terse, uGlitarian, concrete imagery, stats/facts/maps/photos, travelogue Chapter 1 • Into the wild (April 28, 1992) • What does first notecard establish? 3 • Jim Gallien – Thoughts on Chris McCandless (Alexander Supertramp) 4 – Problems with journey into the wild 5 – Foreshadow—references to water Chapter 2 • Out of the wild • Reset of Naturalism (Jack London) and Transcendentalism (Henry David Thoreau) • What does Alaska conjure/connote? • Origin of the Fairbanks Bus 142 10 – Stampede Trail between Teklanika River (East) and Sushana River (West) —Pocket of Denali Naonal Park, Outside of Healy Chapter 2 • The discovery (Sept 6, 1992) – Irony – 6 people / 3 parGes – Facts of the end • Blue sleeping bag • 67 pounds • SOS note Chapter 3 • What does the West conjure/connote? • Carthage 15,18 • Cabaret 16 • Wayne Westerberg 16,19 • Revelaons of Chris / Alex – Tramps 17 – Physical 16 – EmoGonal 18 – Familial 19 • Car—Roadtrip/Odyssey—July/Aug 1990 22 Chapter 4 • Southwest journey – July 1990 – February 1991 • What are the associaons -
The Chris Mccandless Obsession Problem
The Chris McCandless Obsession Problem Diana Saverin, Outside Magazine, December 18, 2013 On the isolated shore of the Savage River, in the backcountry of interior Alaska, there‘s a small memorial to a deceased woman named Claire Ackermann. A pile of rocks sits on a metal plaque with an inscription that reads, in part: ―To stay put is to exist; to travel is to live.‖ Three years ago, Ackermann, 29, and her boyfriend, Etienne Gros, 27, tried to cross the Teklanika River, a couple of miles west from the Savage. They tied themselves to a rope that somebody had run from one bank to the other, to aid such attempts. The Teklanika is powerful in summertime, and about halfway across they lost their footing. The rope dipped into the water, and Ackermann and Gros, still tied on, were pulled under by its weight. Gros grabbed a knife, cut himself loose, and swam to shore. He waded back out to try and rescue Ackermann, but it was too late—she had already drowned. He cut her loose and swam with her body 300 yards downstream, where he dragged her to land on the river‘s far shore. His attempts at CPR were useless. Ackermann, who was from Switzerland, and Gros, a Frenchman, had been hiking the Stampede Trail, a route made famous by Christopher McCandless, who walked it in April 1992. Many people now know about McCandless and how the 24-year-old idealist bailed out of his middle- class suburban life, donated his $24,000 in savings to charity, and embarked on a two-year hitchhiking odyssey that led him to Alaska and the deserted Fairbanks City Transit bus number 142, which still sits, busted and rusting, 20 miles down the Stampede Trail. -
HOUSE RES COMMITTEE -1- April 5, 2010 WITNESS REGISTER
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE HOUSE RESOURCES STANDING COMMITTEE April 5, 2010 1:06 p.m. MEMBERS PRESENT Representative Craig Johnson, Co-Chair Representative Bryce Edgmon Representative Paul Seaton Representative David Guttenberg Representative Scott Kawasaki Representative Chris Tuck MEMBERS ABSENT Representative Mark Neuman, Co-Chair Representative Kurt Olson Representative Peggy Wilson COMMITTEE CALENDAR CONFIRMATION HEARING(S): Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission Bruce C. Twomley - Juneau - CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED Big Game Commercial Services Board Robert D. Mumford - Anchorage - CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED Board of Game Ben Grussendorf - Sitka Allen F. Barrette - Fairbanks - CONFIRMATION(S) ADVANCED PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION No previous action to record HOUSE RES COMMITTEE -1- April 5, 2010 WITNESS REGISTER BRUCE C. TWOMLEY, Appointee Alaska Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission (CFEC) Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Commercial Fisheries Entry Commission. ROBERT D. MUMFORD, Appointee Big Game Commercial Services Board Anchorage, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Big Game Commercial Services Board. BEN GRUSSENDORF, Appointee Board of Game Sitka, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Board of Game. ALLEN F. BARRETTE, Appointee Board of Game Sitka, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified as appointee to the Board of Game. VIRGIL UMPHENOUR Fairbanks, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of Mr. Mumford's appointment to the Big Game Commercial Services Board. KELLY WALTERS Anchorage, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in support of the appointment of Mr. Grussendorf to the Board of Game. TINA BROWN, Board Member Alaska Wildlife Alliance Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Testified in opposition to Mr. Barrette's appointment to the Board of Game. KARLA HART Juneau, Alaska POSITION STATEMENT: Expressed concerns with the appointment of Mr. -
Into the Wild Libro Pdf Español
Into the wild libro pdf español Continue To the Wild Routes John KrakauerGenerous Biography Original English Edition Original title in the wild edition of VillardCompanhia das Letras Ciudad MichiganPais USA Publishing Date 1996 Pages 224Dition translated to spanishTitle K routes Wild Traduced Albert FreixaEditorial Editions BCity BarcelonaPa's SpainPages 285SerieEiger Dreams to Wild RoutesIn thin air (edited by Wikidata data) to wild routes (in its original English version) Into The Wild - book , written by John Krakower in 1995, which in 2007 was adapted into a movie directed by Sean Penn under the original name Into the Wild. Christopher McCandless, a young man from a wealthy family, in 1990, graduating from Emory University in Atlanta, decided to go on a journey without telling anyone about his purpose or his intentions. Two years later he was found dead in an Alaskan interior. His case was reported by Outside journalist John Krakover. The latter, interested in the motives and conditions that Chris experienced, decided to go even further into the story of this young man. To the wild routes, he almost completely tells the facts from the point of view of the last people with whom Chris communicated before entering the wild lands of Alaska, where he eventually found his death. In addition, the author adds excerpts from his life as a lover of nature and mountain life, citing the slight similarities he shares with Chris. At the same time, he is trying to clarify the key factors in the young man's life that led him to decide to follow this last path, completely moving away from his family and any hint of civilization. -
ACR 18 - Prohibit the Take of Wolves on Lands in GMU 20 Adjacent to Denali National Park
ACR 18 - Prohibit the take of wolves on lands in GMU 20 adjacent to Denali National Park SUBMITTED BY: Alaska Wildlife Alliance and Denali Citizens Council ACR SUBMITTED FOR: Board of Game Meeting in March 2016 CITE THE REGULATION THAT WILL BE CHANGED IF THIS ACR IS HEARD. 5 AAC 92.510. Areas closed to hunting. 5 AAC 92.550. Areas closed to trapping. WHAT IS THE PROBLEM YOU WOULD LIKE THE BOARD TO ADDRESS? STATE IN DETAIL THE NATURE OF THE CURRENT PROBLEM. The problem is low numbers and densities of wolves that den in Denali National Park and venture onto state lands north of the park. The park’s spring 2015 survey counted just 48 wolves in the park (a record low number), and the fall 2015 survey showed 57 wolves, only a 7% gain overall. However, the five wolf families that occupy the northeastern portion of Denali National Park experienced no population gain at all. These five groups, East Fork, McKinley Slough, Myrtle Creek, Riley Creek and Grant Creek, totaled 27 wolves in both spring and fall 2015. It is wolves in these packs that are most vulnerable to hunting/trapping pressure on lands adjacent to the northeast corner of the national park. Although not the only reason for these low numbers, hunter/trapper harvest of wolves that den in Denali National Park is significant for individual packs. The well-known East Fork Pack experienced the greatest losses between spring and fall 2015. Three wolves that are known to have died as a consequence of hunting/trapping activities on state lands adjacent to the park in 2015 were from the East Fork Pack. -
Alaska Park Science Anchorage, Alaska
National Park Service U.S. Department of Interior Alaska Regional Office Alaska Park Science Anchorage, Alaska PROCEEDINGS OF THE CentrCentralal AlaskAlaskaa PParkark SciencSciencee SymposiumSymposium SeptemberSeptember 12-14,12-14, 2006 2006 Denali Park, Alaska Volume 6, Issue 2 Parks featured in this Table of Contents issue of Alaska Park Science Keynote Address Alaska Parks in a Warming Climate: Conserving a Changing Future __________________________ 6 S K A Yukon-Charley Rivers Synthesis L A National Preserve Crossing Boundaries in Changing Environment: Norton Sound A A Synthesis __________________________________________12 Monitoring a Changing Climate Denali National Park and Preserve Long-term Air Quality Monitoring Wrangell-St. Elias in Denali National Park and Preserve __________________18 National Park and Preserve Monitoring Seasonal and Long-term Climate Changes and Extremes in the Central Alaska Network__________ 22 Physical Environment and Sciences Glacier Monitoring in Denali National Park and Preserve ________________________________________26 Applications of the Soil-Ecological Survey of Denali National Park and Preserve__________________31 Bristol Bay Gulf of Alaska Using Radiocarbon to Detect Change in Ecosystem Carbon Cycling in Response to Permafrost Thawing____34 A Baseline Study of Permafrost in the Toklat Basin, Denali National Park and Preserve ____________________37 Dinosauria and Fossil Aves Footprints from the Lower Cantwell Formation (latest Cretaceous), Denali National Park and Preserve ____________________41 -
Within “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau and “The Death of An
Transcendentalism: Ethereal Experience or Tragic Naiveté? Within “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau and “The Death of an Innocent by Jon Krakauer, the individual’s search for isolation and a transcendental experience is illustrated with drastically different results. While both Thoreau and McCandless are indeed idealistic, Thoreau walked away from Walden Pond, McCandless did not. Your assignment is to analyze the similarities and differences of their transcendental experiences. Use: Thoreau’s “Walden” on page 205 of your texts. Krakauer’s “The Death of an Innocent” from Outside magazine (see below) Venn Diagram Outside Magazine January 1993 Death of an Innocent How Christopher McCandless lost his way in the wilds By Jon Krakauer James Gallien had driven five miles out of Fairbanks when he spotted the hitchhiker standing in the snow beside the road, thumb raised high, shivering in the gray Alaskan dawn. A rifle protruded from the young man's pack, but he looked friendly enough; a hitchhiker with a Remington semiautomatic isn't the sort of thing that gives motorists pause in the 49th state. Gallien steered his four-by-four onto the shoulder and told him to climb in. The hitchhiker introduced himself as Alex. "Alex?" Gallien responded, fishing for a last name. "Just Alex," the young man replied, pointedly rejecting the bait. He explained that he wanted a ride as far as the edge of Denali National Park, where he intended to walk deep into the bush and "live off the land for a few months." Alex's backpack appeared to weigh only 25 or 30 pounds, which struck Gallien, an accomplished outdoorsman, as an improbably light load for a three-month sojourn in the backcountry, especially so early in the spring. -
Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer
Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer An Introduction Christopher Johnson McCandless • Grew up in an affluent D.C. suburb • Excelled academically • Elite athlete • Graduated from Emory University • Donated his savings, abandoned his possessions, broke contact with his family, hitchhiked to Alaska AUDIOBOOK for Into the Wild (If you choose to use the audiobook, be sure to follow along with the physical copy of your book.) https://www.schooltube.com/media/Into+the+Wild+Audio/1_k9r8ph7p The Journey of Chris McCandless – 1990-1992 Author—Jon Krakauer • An outdoorsman and journalist • Focuses his writing on nature • Began career as a journalist reporting on his love of mountain climbing • Published in numerous magazines (e.g., Outside, National Geographic, and Rolling Stone) • He has published both fiction and nonfiction novels • Chapters 14 & 15 in Into the Wild provide a parallel between McCandless’s life and Krakauer’s life Synopsis of Into the Wild • Tells the true story of Christopher McCandless • Abandons his family and friends to walk alone into the wilderness of Alaska in April of 1992 • The nonfiction narrative tells the story of McCandless’s privileged background & his possible motivations for giving up everything to trek into the wilderness Interviews with • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVSR4zEJvtg Jon Krakauer • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNp3CIJPoB0 about Into the &t=61s Wild Text Structure and Organization of Into the Wild • Journalistic, narrative-driven nonfiction plot • 18 titled chapters that highlight locations from McCandless’s life • Author’s Note, Epilogue, Afterward • Epigraphs precede every chapter • Maps are included at the beginning of four chapters • Story told through multiple perspectives • Story told in a nonlinear structure • Readers learn about Chris McCandless through the many individuals who encountered him along his journey west.