Into the Wild is a significant example of rhetorical appeals because of how successful Jon Krakauer wrote Chris McCandless’s adventures and relationships to catch the attention of his audience. Krakauer used many rhetorical appeals such as ethos, logos and pathos in order to get this story across to his audience.
Krakauer appeals ethically to his audience by using tools to effectively make comparisons of Chris McCandless, as well as being able to show McCandless was not insane. Krakauer saw himself inside of the story that McCandless lead. For example, “Like McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in me a confusing medley of corked fury and hunger to please. If something captured my undisciplined imagination, I pursued it with a zeal …show more content…
He tries to reason with his readers and show that there is more to see beyond your first impression, instead of a rebellious teenager who wants to go against social norms Krakauer shows this by a logos strategy. “On weekends, when his high school pals were attending ‘keggers’ and trying to sneak into Georgetown bars, McCandless would wander the seedier quarters of Washington, chatting with prostitutes and homeless people, buying them meals, earnestly suggesting way they might improve their lives” (113). This quote suggests that McCandless is selfless and non judgemental. As well as being caring, McCandless was a free spirit. “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty” (57). Krakauer used this letter in his novel to show appeals to logos because it gives the readers perspective that McCandless had about life. Krakauer also includes McCandless’s confidence in decision for traveling out to the bush of Alaska to create logos appeal. “Like not a few of those seduced by the wild, McCandless seems to have been driven …show more content…
“I noticed he was crying. That frightened me. He wasn’t planning on being gone all that long; I figured he wouldn’t have been crying unless he intended to take some big risks and knew he might not be coming back. That’s when I started having a bad feeling that we wouldn’t never see Alex again” (68). From this emotion we see, we are given an unexpected perspective of McCandless that we hadn’t seen much of before, which leads us to think that McCandless was incompetent and selfish. McCandless also leads us to think he will perish in the postcard he sent to Wayne Westerberg that read, “Please return all mail I receive 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” (69). This part of the story helps the reader realize that we make impacts on people 's lives and that we matter. Many different people can relate to the tragedies presented in this telling of McCandless’s journey and life he lived.
Jon Krakauer had the ability to appeal ethos, logos and pathos to show the readers that Christopher McCandless was unique and significant. McCandless may not have conformed to society and chose the classic way of life, but his experience built these themes and values and helped create
Krakauer appeals ethically to his audience by using tools to effectively make comparisons of Chris McCandless, as well as being able to show McCandless was not insane. Krakauer saw himself inside of the story that McCandless lead. For example, “Like McCandless, figures of male authority aroused in me a confusing medley of corked fury and hunger to please. If something captured my undisciplined imagination, I pursued it with a zeal …show more content…
He tries to reason with his readers and show that there is more to see beyond your first impression, instead of a rebellious teenager who wants to go against social norms Krakauer shows this by a logos strategy. “On weekends, when his high school pals were attending ‘keggers’ and trying to sneak into Georgetown bars, McCandless would wander the seedier quarters of Washington, chatting with prostitutes and homeless people, buying them meals, earnestly suggesting way they might improve their lives” (113). This quote suggests that McCandless is selfless and non judgemental. As well as being caring, McCandless was a free spirit. “The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty” (57). Krakauer used this letter in his novel to show appeals to logos because it gives the readers perspective that McCandless had about life. Krakauer also includes McCandless’s confidence in decision for traveling out to the bush of Alaska to create logos appeal. “Like not a few of those seduced by the wild, McCandless seems to have been driven …show more content…
“I noticed he was crying. That frightened me. He wasn’t planning on being gone all that long; I figured he wouldn’t have been crying unless he intended to take some big risks and knew he might not be coming back. That’s when I started having a bad feeling that we wouldn’t never see Alex again” (68). From this emotion we see, we are given an unexpected perspective of McCandless that we hadn’t seen much of before, which leads us to think that McCandless was incompetent and selfish. McCandless also leads us to think he will perish in the postcard he sent to Wayne Westerberg that read, “Please return all mail I receive 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” (69). This part of the story helps the reader realize that we make impacts on people 's lives and that we matter. Many different people can relate to the tragedies presented in this telling of McCandless’s journey and life he lived.
Jon Krakauer had the ability to appeal ethos, logos and pathos to show the readers that Christopher McCandless was unique and significant. McCandless may not have conformed to society and chose the classic way of life, but his experience built these themes and values and helped create