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Into the Wild Chapters 6-9
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Topic starter
03/10/2025 8:17 pm
Krakauer isn’t necessarily being too hard or too easy on McCandless. At certain times, like when discusses his McCandless relationships, like with Franz, he is hard on him. He says he “slips painlessly” away from these relationships, but discusses how this only goes one way because everyone he leaves feels pain. He also is a little easier, like when mentioning McCandless family life. When detailing the relationship of McCandless and his sister, he is very gentle, describing her as so beautiful she makes male heads turn, adding a little more humanity to the ice cold character he gives McCandless.
I think McCandless just had a big ego. He had an idea that we discussed in class and decided most of us had. When we had the discussion it was more about losing contact through cell phones, McCandless wanted to lose contact literally. I think it was a fair want, but his ego was so big he thought he could, and should, make it this big and extravagant expenditure, failing to consider his relationships and family. Although I can see wanting refuge from human contact momentarily, McCandless did it dramatically and in flashy manner, I assume for his ego, not his intention.
08/10/2025 11:13 am
I definitely agree that the way Krakauer discusses McCandless is somewhat of a balance between being harsh and forgiving. However, I think that he leans towards being too forgiving at times.
I like how you brought about the discussion of McCandless's ego. He definitely had the mindset that many young men have. They think they can do anything they want, without thinking twice about the effects their actions have on other people. Do you think that this makes McCandless selfish? Or is he just naive?
09/10/2025 10:13 pm
I also agree that Krakauer is not being too harsh or too lenient on McCandless. This is McCandless's story about his adventure and how he passed. I'm glad you brought up McCandless's ego; we can see it first hand it did not help in his favor. I believe not just men have big egos, but also girls. I have seen how it can affect relationships when one or both people have a big ego. Maybe something happened in his life that led him to have a big ego and take risks with no forethought. Do you agree?
14/10/2025 10:36 pm
I agree with you when you said Krakauer isn't necessarily being too hard OR too easy on McCandless because he kind of leans both ways throughout the text and definitely varies depending on the situation.
I like how you brought into the equation McCandless and his ego, but I'm not sure "ego" is quite the word to describe it. I'd say it's more just simple overconfidence with the addition of being way underprepared. While ego might go well with his overconfidence I also think the addition of other things going into the reasoning add up to more than just ego. That's what I think. Do you agree, or do you think I'm overthinking it?
