Badlands/bajada Any section of barren land where rapid erosion has cut the loose, dry soil or soft rocks into strange shapes, as in various places in the Western United States. Bear-paw poppy See Arctomecon californica. Bight Bay formed by a curve in a river. Black River River in the eastern […]
Read more Study Help Full Glossary for Into the WildCritical Essays Symbols in Into the Wild
Moose The moose that McCandless shoots and then, heartbreakingly, fails to preserve stands for his relationship to the wild in general. Moose meat could prevent McCandless from starving to death. Because of his hubris, however, he has not prepared adequately for the enormous task of curing the flesh and ultimately […]
Read more Critical Essays Symbols in Into the WildCritical Essays Themes of Into the Wild
Fathers and sons The title of a book by the 19th-century Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev, Fathers and Sons, this is one of the main themes of Into the Wild. If there is a single turning point in the life of Christopher McCandless, it may be the discovery that his father […]
Read more Critical Essays Themes of Into the WildJon Krakauer Biography
Career Highlights Jon Krakauer is a journalist whose work has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Rolling Stone, Outside, Architectural Digest, and other periodicals. Some of Krakauer’s essays and articles on mountain-climbing were collected in his first book, Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among […]
Read more Jon Krakauer BiographySummary and Analysis Epilogue
Billie McCandless tells Krakauer, “Many people have told me that they admire Chris for what he was trying to do. If he’d lived, I would agree with them. But he didn’t, and there’s no way to bring him back . . . Most things you can fix, but not that.” […]
Read more Summary and Analysis EpilogueSummary and Analysis Chapter 18 – The Stampede Trail
Wayne Westerberg suggests that McCandless ate some potato seeds he bought in South Dakota; potato seeds can become toxic once they have sprouted. But he would have needed to eat many pounds of these seeds, and he doesn’t seem to have done so. There is, however, a wild potato that […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 18 – The Stampede TrailSummary and Analysis Chapter 17 – The Stampede Trail
The author wonders why McCandless didn’t attempt another crossing of the Teklanika the next month, in August, instead of staying inside the bus and starving to death. Krakauer and his friends cross the river, and after a long trek they come upon the Sushana River bus. The author inventories its […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 17 – The Stampede TrailSummary and Analysis Chapter 16 – The Alaska Interior
But McCandless ignores this advice. He agrees to send Stuckey a letter when he returns from Alaska but shrugs off Stuckey’s suggestion that he call his parents to let them know where he is. McCandless spends two days and three nights around Fairbanks, mostly at the university. He finds a […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 16 – The Alaska InteriorSummary and Analysis Chapter 15 – The Stikine Ice Cap
Next, the author reminisces about his autocratic but generous and loving father. A physician, Lewis Krakauer wanted his son to become a doctor, as well, and groomed him from the time he was a toddler for that profession. Father and son clashed as Jon entered his teens and then young […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 15 – The Stikine Ice CapSummary and Analysis Chapter 14 – The Stikine Ice Cap
Having reached Alaska on a fishing boat, Krakauer meets a woman who puts him up for the night before he sets out to scale the Devils Thumb. During his first two days of climbing, along a glacier at the base of the rock formation, Krakauer makes genuine progress. On his […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Chapter 14 – The Stikine Ice Cap