Into the Wild Book Summary & Study Guide

Into the Wild is a classic nonfiction book written by Jon Krakauer in 1996. Generally, it describes man’s relationship with society and nature. The work consists of 18 chapters telling about Christopher McCandless’ traveling experience across the United States between 1990 and 1992.

To reconstruct the true story of this man, Krakauer uses various resources, such as journal entries, first-person accounts, and even intimate recollections from his family members. The narrative has very vivid character descriptions and an exciting plot based on real events. So let’s dig deeper into it!

Christopher McCandless, a young man from Virginia, graduated from Emory University. Just after graduation, in the summer of 1990, he decided to explore the American West. So he donated his savings to a charity, took a car, and set out for his journey all alone. Sadly, a flood damaged his car, so it became impossible to keep driving further. But Christopher didn’t give up and continued his wandering on foot, which was quite brave.

In fact, he never stayed in one place for more than two months and constantly changed transport means. Apart from a car, he traveled by canoe and train. As some essays published on eduzaurus state, a young man got to Alaska in 1992 as he wanted to hike the Stampede Trail. He also intended to live in seclusion, surviving only on what he could forage and hunt. His desire was so deep that he didn’t even mind having minimal equipment and necessary supplies. So Christopher took up living in a bus that was abandoned near the trail and did his best to live off the land.

The desperate traveler managed to survive for nearly four months alone in the wild. In September 1992, a hunter came across Christopher’s body. Apparently, he died of starvation in August. Soon after this happened, Krakauer, a writer and an experienced adventurer himself, started investigating this story. As a hiker, Krakauer was extremely impressed and thus wanted to retrace Christopher’s journey.

First, he published a magazine article in 1993 and later, in 1996, Krakauer released his book Into the Wild. In fact, it was an expanded version of the article, based on numerous interviews with the people who knew McCandless as well as on his diary found in Alaska.

Krakauer uses diverse narrative approaches in his book. As a result, his work can be described as an engaging collage of nonfiction with the elements of journalism, novel, personal history, biography, and of course, adventure writing.

Readers say that Into the Wild is an ode to the natural beauty of the Western United States and the idealistic personality attracted by picturesque landscapes. Interestingly, it’s often compared to Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff, and Henry David Thoreau’s Walden.

Most study guides for Into the Wild contain the author’s biography, literature essays, quiz questions, major theme descriptions, a character list, as well as a full summary and book analysis.

Written by Berniece McKee

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