Blog post, whyd they leave

"As we continue reading, we find the author giving more examples of men very similar to McCandless. Specifically, Ruess and McCandless both have an immense desire to be in the wild, but they also both have issues with their families. Do you think that their desire to go on these fatal journeys were caused more by their love for the wild or their issues at home? Also, do you think Chris exaggerated his family issues to use as an excuse to leave?"

It's definitely caused more by the love of the wild. Chris McCandless was a dreamer who felt trapped by the routine of his daily life. Life came easy to Chris, when it came to sports or school or money. he wanted something to challenge him. Yes his family had deep issue that Krauker touches briefly (mostly because he wasn't there). He already loved road trips, and perhaps his parents were the last straw, but this was definitely premeditated. I mean the guy donated all his money to charity, it's not so simple to say, well one problem caused his whole abandonment. And no he didn't use his family as an excuse, at all. He just felt freer and happier in the wild.

Rhetoric prompt

"In writing Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer has obvious opinions about the subject and employs rhetoric to show this. If you were writing the story of Christopher McCandless, how would your rhetoric differ from that of Krakauer? Would it? What types of rhetoric would you use, and why? What might this story be called?"

My rhetoric wouldn't differ very much from Krakauer. What I would do differently though is be more biased, because thats just who I am. I have trouble just telling a story, he doesn't. He uses a great way of siding people to his opinions by showing Chris's bravery, and his courage. He doesn't ever at any point make him look bad or selfious for abandoning his parents. To Krakauer, it's just something Chris had to do.

I would definitely be far more biased and use more narrative instead of telling a story. For instance, I wouldn't describe the events, instead I would just say, he showed courage by taking that boat so far! No one else could do what he did. My story would be called, Survival, or A Courageous Journey, or something corny like that.

Adoption Response

"If you were Christopher McCandless, you weren't fond of your family and didn't want to go back to them, and someone who you liked, respected, and enjoyed being with asked to adopt you would you do it? Why do you think Chris didn't want to? If he did would he have still gone to Alaska?"

Of course I wouldn't randomly go with some family as a new member of theres. This is silly. He never was going to get adopted, he just randomly needed jobs, and friends he met along the way in his life provided him with such. For Chris McCandless it wasn't about finding a new family, but finding all the places in the world that he hadn't explored yet. He needed to eat so he dropped by a friend and worked and at there. Chris was very independent. he didn't have to rely on anyone else. He went to Alaska because he wanted to be one with the wild, and live life with all of the animals and nature. Theres a point in the book where he wass so proud he could identify berries to eat. He didn't want to be fed those berries, he wanted to feed himself.