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Hunter Sellier

Mrs. Tatum

4th period AP Lang

15 December, 2019

Argument Essay

Jon Krakauer’s account of Chris McCandless’s journey in the book Into the Wild is a

naturalist, or realistic, story based on the harsh realities and truths described throughout the

novel. Krakauer takes the reader on the discovery that Chris, himself, went on in third person

omniscient point of view, depicting the reasoning behind why Chris ventured out onto the

frontier and what happened along the way. Realism is, by definition, “the tendency to view or

represent things as they really are” (dicionary.com), and Krakauer executes his version of this

definition by telling McCandless’s story how it really is without sugar coating any aspects of it;

even Chris’s death. Krakauer uses his unbiased account of the story to interpret what truly entails

on one’s journey to finding themselves in a space where they have the freedom to explore.

An example of realism used in the story is the truth behind people not necessarily finding

happiness in their circumstances, no matter now privileged they may be. Krakauer explains how

Chris, though he seemed to have everything planned out, was never truly happy with what he

was given and strived to discover his true self. Chris longed to explore not only nature, but

himself as stated in “but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a

man than a secure future” (Krakauer 40). Those who do not find solace in their current state will

find it in something else, which is the reality of the journey to one’s true happiness and

contentment. Once again, realism is telling it how it is without romanticizing the circumstances.

Krakauer also exposes the truth behind unpreparedness leading to failure in the example that
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Chris did not bring the right supplies to survive in the frontier and ended up not making it. When

Chris got a ride from Gallien, Gallien claimed: “’He wasn’t carrying anywhere near as much

food and gear as you’d expect a guy to be carrying for that kind of trip’” (Krakauer 4). This is

foreshadowing on Krakauer’s part that McCandless was not going to make it through is

expedition. In the end, though McCandless ended up eating something that poisoned him, if he

would have been prepared he would have known what to and what not to eat.

Some may argue that Jon Krakauer’s account of Chris McCandless’s story was a

transcendental view, in which he romanticized aspects of Chris’s journey. Those who view the

novel as an example of romanticism believe that Krakauer used nature as the main setting which

in romanticism nature is above all. Though it is true that the novel revolves around nature, that is

not the main component of transcendental writing. The main component is the freedom and free

play of imagination, but the main purpose of the story is that Chris has struggled before with

being tied down by his lack of freedom, and though he has freedom physically, mentally he was

being dominated by the truth that he did not truly know himself. Without the realistic view that

Krakauer entailed, the main goal of the story would be the topic of the freedom that Chris now

felt rather than his past life of emptiness that stayed to haunt him on his journey.

Krakauer’s account of Chris’s story is realistic because he tells the true story, and only

the truth. He does not make it seem like Chris’s journey is one that everyone needs to follow to

find themselves. If the story was romanticism the reader would not have been able to understand

Chris’s struggles and doubt within his story, but because it is realistic nothing is being held back

from the reader in the story of life, struggle, and death. The death of McCandless was not only in

his physical death but in his self-doubt that held him back form truly being free when he wanted
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to be. Due to all of these aspects of Into the Wild it is only fair to identify Jon Krakauer’s story

about Chris’s expedition as naturalist.