1) Provide 2 examples where you feel your author clearly used research methods to gather info about the topic being written about. Please provide quotes from the novel for each example and THOROUGHLY explain why you chose that quote and why you feel the novelist was also a researcher.
Throughout the book, Jon Krakauer proves that he did much research. Since Chris was somewhat a nomad, he met a lot of people. People that Krakauer had to track down and interview. Most of the interviews are on a face to face basis, so Krakauer traveled a lot throughout his research as well. A great example of this would be when he visited Alaska himself. The same place on the Stampede Trail where Chris spent the last months of his life, “A year and a week after Chris McCandless decided not to attempt to cross the Teklanika River, I stand on the opposite bank—the eastern side, the highway side—and gaze into the churning water. I, too, hope to cross the river. I want to visit the bus. I want to see where McCandless died, to better understand why” (Krakauer, p173). I chose this quote because it’s a great example of the amount of research that he did. When many people are writing, they often don’t go visit the site where the event occurred, etc. They rely on others accounts and go off of that.
Krakauer also went door to door in search of Chris’ friends and family. Throughout the book, it jumps from one account of McCandless to another, and Krakauer is often very descriptive about these interviews. For example, “Two framed photographs occupy the mantel in Carine McCandless’s Virginia Beach home: one of Chris as a junior in high school, the other of Chris as a seven-year-old in a pint size suit and crooked tie, standing beside Carine, who is wearing a frilly dress and a new Easter hat” (Krakauer,p127). Krakauer doesn’t just go to hear the story but researches the people themselves and observes how strong the ties were between Chris and themselves. The author also borrows many of Chris’ books that he often commented in and has them in random order throughout the novel. I think that Krakauer is a great researcher because he actually cared enough to go out and see for himself.
2) How does the author hook in the reader at the beginning of the novel? Please provide 2 quotes from the novel and THOROUGHLY explain why you chose those quotes and why you feel the novelist did what he/she did.
I think there are two specific ways in which the author hooked in the reader at the begging of the novel. The first one doesn’t lay directly in the story, but in the Author’s Note before the story actually begins, “In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do East Coast family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. KcKinley. Four months later his decomposed body was found by a party of moose hunters” (Krakauer, Author’s Note). In my opinion, this would hook in the reader because they automatically see the mystery in the story. Although, no one may know what exactly what was going through Chris McCandless’s mind, this novel gives us an idea.
The next hook actually lies in the story. It actually starts in each chapter. At the beginning of each chapter,Krakauer starts off with a passage from a book, either from Chris’ own hand, or from a book that he was reading during his travels. In the first chapter, The Alaska Interior, Krakauer gives us Chris last post card to Wayne Westerberg, “April 27th 1992- Greetings from Fairbanks! this is the last you shall hear from me Wayne. Arrived here 2 days ago. It was very difficult to catch rides in the Yukon Territory. But i finally got here. Please return all mail i recieve to the sender. It might be a very long time before i return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again I want you to know you’re a great man. I now walk into the wild. Alex” (Krakauer,p3). This passage is one of the final written documents that Chris sent to anyone. It draws in the reader, because they can see the persons own words and they can also see that he was aware of the consequences. Like i said before, i think it outlines the mystery and makes the reader eager to learn more.
Krakauer chose to use these quotes and passages of Chris’ because it brings in the reader. It brings them into the mind of Chris McCandless. Many books don’t ever have anything written by the person, so Krakauer definilty used this to his advantage.
4) What is the connection between the introduction and conclusion of the novel? How does/doesn’t the author form a circle between intro and conclusion? More specifically, what have you learned about storytelling from this author considering the Zinsser article you read about “the lead and the ending” and the Faryna article “Finding identity and voice?”
Once again, the similarities between the introduction and the conclusion are the passages from Chris. In the beginning, it starts off with his last post card that he sent. In the conclusion, it ends with the last entry that Chris McCandless ever wrote, “I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!” (Krakauer,p199). The circle is obiviously the writtings of Chris McCandless. Also in the Epilogue, it ends with setting the scene. It seems that Krakauer sets the scene in the beginning directly after the passage from Chris while he is interviewing Chris’ friend Wayne, and also in the end when he describes the scenery, and the sound of his parents leaving the bus.
I have learned a lot from this author. He used such in depth research methods, and it took a lot of time to accomplish. Jon Krakauer definilty had his own voice in this because i have never read anything like it. Having personal entries from the person gives the book a lot of character. He also didn’t put everything into sequence. He learned a lot of his information in pieces, so he did the same for the reader. You must piece it together yourself. At the end, and at the beggining, Krakauer also wrote about the same time period. It was his last postcard or entry. They both showed that Chris was accepting of his situation, and ready for anything.
Works Cited
1.) Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor Books, 1996. Print.
