Plot Structure
Exposition
Originally Walt McCandless was married to Marcia; however, they decided to separate. Soon after the divorce, Walt McCandless started to date his secretary, Wilhelmina Johnson. Wilhelmina then gave birth to their first born son, Chris McCandless on February 12, 1968. As time passes, Chris had several disagreement between him and his father. Growing up, Chris started to develop his own philosophy on following his own rule. For example, Chris disobey his physic‘s teacher because he “thought it was a stupid rule and decided to ignore it. He did his lab reports, but not in the correct format, so the teacher gave him an F (Krakauer 109). Chris told his parents that he did not want to go to college; however his parents kept pressuring him to get a degree and to get a good paying career. Chris finally gave in and went to Emory university. This is considered the exposition as it introduces Chris's characteristics, personality and his relationship with his parents.
Inciting Incident
Chris’s relationship with his parent deteriorate when he found out his father’s dark secret. When Chris was in California, he went to his childhood neighborhood, El Segundo. At El Segundo, he called up old families that he use to hang out with. Soon after, he discovered the shocking truth about his dad’s past affair. Even though Walt Mccandless had a son with Wilhelmina, Walt was living a double life with his ex wife, Marcia. The discovery of his dad’s past can be classify as the inciting incident, due to the fact that Chris wanted to get away from society right after he found out about the affair.
Rising Action
In summer of 1990, Chris graduated from Emory University after four years. Soon after he donated all of his money to charity and vanished from his family’s life. Chris took his yellow Datsun and traveled to Nevada. Soon after, Chris abandon his car due to natural disaster and hike across the state. He soon met Jan Burres who he made friends with. He would send her greeting cards whenever he is at a new place. His family was worried since they have not been in contact with Chris in a long time. Chris receive a ticket and it was forward to his parents through mail. His parents were even more worried when they discovered that their son is traveling across the continent. Chris found the Colorado River and canoe it down to Mexico; He almost died during the trip to Mexico. He also abandon his canoe due to natural disaster and decided to walk to California on foot. He succeed with a few troubles here and there, but he finally reached Los Angeles. Overtime, Chris applied for a lot of jobs and inspire a lot of people he had met during his travel in the United States. But it is time for Chris to take on his initial challenge, to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. Chris hitchhiked with his newly found friend, Stuckey, all the way to Alaska. At Alaska Chris wandered the Stampede Trial and found an abandon bus. Chris tried to cross over the Teklanika river, but the river is now overflowed with fast rapids. Chris decided to head back onto the bus for comfort and rest. The rising action is when Chris sets out for adventure because it builds towards the climax by showing his human interaction.
Climax
Chris McCandless ate a potato seed that contain poisonous mold. This mold that he ate rendered his digestive system useless. His body could not receive any nutrient and energy from the meat that he had hunted, due to the weakness of his digestive system. Since he had trouble standing up, he spent most of the day in the abandon bus reading books and annotating the passages. One of the last books he read was Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. Doctor Zhivago influence Chris to actually changes his mind about being an adventurer. In one of the margins of the book, Chris noted “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED”(189). Another book that also persuade Chris’s mind was Tolstoy’s “Family Happiness”. In Tolstoy’s book, Chris marked a passages that had made him emotional, “ He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others…”(169). These events are the climax of the story because it showed that Chris is now a changed character. He no longer wants to travel alone in the wilderness, but instead he wants to spend time together with his family.
Falling Action
On August 12, Chris drag himself off the bus to gather some berries to eat. He left a note for people who would stop by saying that he is in need for help and that he will be back soon. The note has been signed with the name Chris McCandless instead of his alias, Alexander Supertramp. To his dismay, nobody had visited the bus site. On August 19, he wrote his final words, “I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!”(199). Soon after he slipped into his sleeping bag for a permanent rest. This is considered to be the falling action because it leads into the conclusion and happens after the climax.
Conclusion
Two and a half weeks later, hikers arrived near the bus and discovered Chris’s body and his SOS note. Chris’s body was badly decompose and lack fat on his bones. The body was autopsied on and deducted the probable cause of death, starvation. The author of Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer, wrote about the death of Chris McCandless in the an issue of Outside. Krakauer explore tried to justify Chris’s action and to reproves everyone’s theory of Chris being an idiot. Krakauer received the support of Chris’s family in order to tell about Chris’s background and philosophy. Even though Krakauer was hated on for “overly exposure” of Chris’s situation, it did not stop him from writing Into the Wild.
Originally Walt McCandless was married to Marcia; however, they decided to separate. Soon after the divorce, Walt McCandless started to date his secretary, Wilhelmina Johnson. Wilhelmina then gave birth to their first born son, Chris McCandless on February 12, 1968. As time passes, Chris had several disagreement between him and his father. Growing up, Chris started to develop his own philosophy on following his own rule. For example, Chris disobey his physic‘s teacher because he “thought it was a stupid rule and decided to ignore it. He did his lab reports, but not in the correct format, so the teacher gave him an F (Krakauer 109). Chris told his parents that he did not want to go to college; however his parents kept pressuring him to get a degree and to get a good paying career. Chris finally gave in and went to Emory university. This is considered the exposition as it introduces Chris's characteristics, personality and his relationship with his parents.
Inciting Incident
Chris’s relationship with his parent deteriorate when he found out his father’s dark secret. When Chris was in California, he went to his childhood neighborhood, El Segundo. At El Segundo, he called up old families that he use to hang out with. Soon after, he discovered the shocking truth about his dad’s past affair. Even though Walt Mccandless had a son with Wilhelmina, Walt was living a double life with his ex wife, Marcia. The discovery of his dad’s past can be classify as the inciting incident, due to the fact that Chris wanted to get away from society right after he found out about the affair.
Rising Action
In summer of 1990, Chris graduated from Emory University after four years. Soon after he donated all of his money to charity and vanished from his family’s life. Chris took his yellow Datsun and traveled to Nevada. Soon after, Chris abandon his car due to natural disaster and hike across the state. He soon met Jan Burres who he made friends with. He would send her greeting cards whenever he is at a new place. His family was worried since they have not been in contact with Chris in a long time. Chris receive a ticket and it was forward to his parents through mail. His parents were even more worried when they discovered that their son is traveling across the continent. Chris found the Colorado River and canoe it down to Mexico; He almost died during the trip to Mexico. He also abandon his canoe due to natural disaster and decided to walk to California on foot. He succeed with a few troubles here and there, but he finally reached Los Angeles. Overtime, Chris applied for a lot of jobs and inspire a lot of people he had met during his travel in the United States. But it is time for Chris to take on his initial challenge, to survive in the Alaskan wilderness. Chris hitchhiked with his newly found friend, Stuckey, all the way to Alaska. At Alaska Chris wandered the Stampede Trial and found an abandon bus. Chris tried to cross over the Teklanika river, but the river is now overflowed with fast rapids. Chris decided to head back onto the bus for comfort and rest. The rising action is when Chris sets out for adventure because it builds towards the climax by showing his human interaction.
Climax
Chris McCandless ate a potato seed that contain poisonous mold. This mold that he ate rendered his digestive system useless. His body could not receive any nutrient and energy from the meat that he had hunted, due to the weakness of his digestive system. Since he had trouble standing up, he spent most of the day in the abandon bus reading books and annotating the passages. One of the last books he read was Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak. Doctor Zhivago influence Chris to actually changes his mind about being an adventurer. In one of the margins of the book, Chris noted “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED”(189). Another book that also persuade Chris’s mind was Tolstoy’s “Family Happiness”. In Tolstoy’s book, Chris marked a passages that had made him emotional, “ He was right in saying that the only certain happiness in life is to live for others…”(169). These events are the climax of the story because it showed that Chris is now a changed character. He no longer wants to travel alone in the wilderness, but instead he wants to spend time together with his family.
Falling Action
On August 12, Chris drag himself off the bus to gather some berries to eat. He left a note for people who would stop by saying that he is in need for help and that he will be back soon. The note has been signed with the name Chris McCandless instead of his alias, Alexander Supertramp. To his dismay, nobody had visited the bus site. On August 19, he wrote his final words, “I HAVE HAD A HAPPY LIFE AND THANK THE LORD. GOODBYE AND MAY GOD BLESS ALL!”(199). Soon after he slipped into his sleeping bag for a permanent rest. This is considered to be the falling action because it leads into the conclusion and happens after the climax.
Conclusion
Two and a half weeks later, hikers arrived near the bus and discovered Chris’s body and his SOS note. Chris’s body was badly decompose and lack fat on his bones. The body was autopsied on and deducted the probable cause of death, starvation. The author of Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer, wrote about the death of Chris McCandless in the an issue of Outside. Krakauer explore tried to justify Chris’s action and to reproves everyone’s theory of Chris being an idiot. Krakauer received the support of Chris’s family in order to tell about Chris’s background and philosophy. Even though Krakauer was hated on for “overly exposure” of Chris’s situation, it did not stop him from writing Into the Wild.