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Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, published in 1996, is a nonfiction book that tells the captivating and tragic story of Christopher McCandless. The narrative traces McCandless’s journey from his comfortable middle-class life to his ultimate adventure in the stark Alaskan wilderness.
- Chapter 3
A summary of Chapter 3 in Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild....
- Full Book Analysis
From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations...
- Full Book Summary
Into the Wild begins with the discovery of Christopher...
- Key Facts
Full title Into the Wild . Author Jon Krakauer. Type of work...
- Character List
Into the Wild characters include: Christopher McCandless,...
- Important Quotes Explained
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- Themes
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- Suggested Essay Topics
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- Suggested Further Reading
A suggested list of literary criticism on Jon Krakauer's...
- Chapter 3
A comprehensive overview of Jon Krakauer's nonfiction book about Christopher McCandless, who abandoned his life and died in Alaska. The summary covers McCandless's journey, character, motivations, and the author's investigation and analysis.
Learn about the true story of Christopher McCandless, who abandoned his life to live off the land in Alaska, and died of starvation or poisoning. LitCharts provides a concise and comprehensive overview of the book by journalist Jon Krakauer, who investigates McCandless's journey and legacy.
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Chapter 4
- Chapter 5
- Chapter 6
- Chapter 7
- Chapter 8
- Chapter 9
- Chapter 10
A man named Jim Gallien picks up a young hitchhiker calling himself “Alex” who says he plans to stay in Alaska’s Denali National Park. Because he can see that Alex is unprepared for such an experience, Gallien is concerned, but he assumes Alex will give up as soon as he faces hardships.
A group of hunters and hikers find an abandoned bus that has served as a shelter for people. There is a note stating that the occupant, Christopher J. McCandless, is sick and needs help. Inside the bus, they find a dead body that is later determined to be a human who died of starvation. Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 1 & 2
In an interview with Jon Krakauer, Wayne Westerberg, who employed McCandless for a while, describes him as having been handsome and hardworking. McCandless was from an upper middle-class family in Virginia, but he eschewed traditional values and measures of success. He graduated from college, but refused his parents’ offer to fund law school, telli...
Krakauer describes what he learned by tracing McCandless’s activities after his disappearance, which consisted mostly of hiking and wandering alone in national parks while occasionally doing farm work. After an unsuccessful foray into Mexico, McCandless lived on the streets in Las Vegas.
Krakauer is unable to find much about McCandless’s time in Las Vegas, but after that he was homeless in Arizona until an old man named Charlie took him in. McCandless actively engaged with others in an itinerant community called Slabs, where he lived with Jan Burres and her boyfriend. Read a full Summary & Analysis of Chapters 4 & 5
After Krakauer publishes a story he wrote about McCandless, he meets with a recovering alcoholic and veteran who looked after McCandless for a while and considered him not just a friend, but like family. The man, Ronald A. Franz, urged McCandless to find a job and settle, which McCandless countered by urging Franz to become less sedentary and more ...
Krakauer meets with Westerberg and a group of people who interacted with and grew fond of McCandless before he left on his fatal trip to Alaska. Their stories about his behavior along with speculation about McCandless’s distrust of his parents and his apparent celibacy feed Krakauer’s belief that McCandless sought the solitude of nature because his...
Krakauer summarizes some letters about McCandless that were written by experienced campers and Alaskans in response to his article about him. Krakauer describes three men who died under circumstances not dissimilar from McCandless’s and draws parallels and contrasts with each of them before concluding that a young man named Everett Ruess is a bette...
Everett Ruess was born to a middle-class family, and like McCandless, removed himself from society in favor of a solitary life in the wilderness. Also, like McCandless, Ruess showed little concern for personal safety and disappeared, leaving his worried family to search for him, although in Reuss’s case, they never found his body. Read a full Summa...
Through the help of Gallien and Westerberg, McCandless is finally identified as the man that the hunters and hikers found dead in the abandoned bus at Denali. His half-brother goes to Alaska to identify him.
From a general summary to chapter summaries to explanations of famous quotes, the SparkNotes Into the Wild Study Guide has everything you need to ace quizzes, tests, and essays.
Learn about Christopher McCandless's travels and adventures in the Western United States, from Lake Mead to Las Vegas, as he becomes Alexander Supertramp. Find out how he survives on rice and fish, meets other travelers, and rejects help from his family and friends.
LitCharts offers a comprehensive guide to Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild, based on the life and death of Chris McCandless, who gave up everything to live in Alaska. Find plot summary, analysis, themes, quotes, characters, symbols, and more.
