The point of view alternates between the author and McCandless which makes the story a little less fluid, and occasionally a little difficult to follow. Throughout the book he draws parallels between his life – his own rebelliousness, his own struggles with his parents, his loss of faith in mankind, God and society, and his extreme efforts to find his “place” – and the life of Christopher McCandless. Finally, it is also, in a sense, a memoir of the author, Jon Krakauer. Second, in my opinion, this book could be considered an autobiography or memoir of the main character Christopher McCandless since it is written mainly from his own diaries, letters and notes. There are occasional flashbacks to McCandless’ childhood and adolescence, but these are merely to flesh out a point or explain part of his rationale for this trek. First, I think it can be called a partial biography since it deals mainly with the two year time period that Christopher spent wandering and hitchhiking trying to make it to the Alaska wilderness. This book could be categorized in several different ways. Literary elements at work in the story: The book takes place during 1990-1992, and follows the two year ordeal of the main character, Christopher McCandless. The book is written using Christopher’s diaries, letters, and notes found with the body, as well as from interviews with family members and friends McCandless made during his trek to self-discovery.
McCandless lives here until he eventually dies of starvation, due to accidentally poisoning himself with berries. Eventually he arrives at his destination, the wilderness of Alaska, where he finds an abandoned transit bus turned hunting “lodge”. Why? To begin an almost 2 year journey, hitchhiking around America, to “find himself”. Summary: In 1992 Christopher McCandless graduated from Emory University, gave his $25,000 savings account to charity, burned all his money and identification, gave away the vast majority of his possessions, and eventually abandoned his car. Audience: Although this is written for adults, I think this book could be used effectively with high school age adolescents through young adults.
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