Theme Of Irony In The Dangers Of Mccandless

Register to read the introduction… He was rather outgoing, the kind of person who could gain someones trust with ease. Everyone who met Chris cared for his well being but he always rejected their concern because of his personality traits. Chris did not want people to care for him, he wanted to care for himself and do everything himself, which caused a massive amount of irony in this novel. McCandless died alone but had written a letter (the S.O.S. note) that went unread until it was too late, which is an excellent example of irony. “S.O.S. I need your help. I am injured. Near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone, this is no joke in the name of God, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening. Thank you.” (198). McCandless' personality, pushing people away, causes irony here due to the fact he had encountered no one during the four months between his entrance into the bush and his death there of starvation and is discovered not by one person but by five. All of these people who found the note were within days of McCandless' death but no one had never noticed his existence in the wild before. This might possibly be because of his personality, making it ironic that no one had come to his rescue until it was too late. Considering that Chris eventually would die of starvation, McCandless' gift of $24,000 to OXFAM, an organization dedicated to fighting hunger, is also an example of irony: “What Walt, Billie, and Carine didn't know when they flew down to Atlanta to attend Chris' commencement-what nobody knew-was that he would shortly donate all the money in his college fund to OXFAM American, a charity dedicated to fighting hunger.” (20). Chris did not care about money but was instead put into a life where his parents did. He was someone who would rather live the hard life over the …show more content…
I need your help. I am injured. Near death, and too weak to hike out of here. I am all alone, this is no joke in the name of God, please remain to save me. I am out collecting berries close by and shall return this evening. Thank you, Chris McCandless, August?” (12). Due to the fact that McCandless died before Krakauer could meet him, he must base most of his interpretation of what happened to McCandless from this note. The journals and items left behind by McCandless also help Krakauer stitch together the story, but the letter is repeated several times throughout the story. All of these enrich our understanding of McCandless and help us to believe that the amazing story Into the Wild really happened. A recurring event would be how Chris continues to make friends with whomever he encounters, and the significance of is that because although it is obvious that many people like him, he chooses to live his life in solitude. This motif unifies the work because it shows that McCandless has the people skills and intelligence to be a successful person but underneath all of that all he truly wants is to live alone in the wilderness: “He was a really good kid. We thought the world of him. When he left, we never expected to hear from him again...” (30-31). The significance of this is that the wilderness represents solitude for Chris but also freedom, while living in the city with his middle-class family and attending university Chris feels like he is trapped in a cage. Near the end of the novel, we notice a motif between Chris McCandless and his father, Walt. This motif suggests that sons often rebel against their fathers, but at the same time are unable to do anything about the fact that they have inherited their fathers traits. Krakauer provides the reader with information suggesting that what McCandless did was due to the relationship he had with his