Into the Wild Blog#2

 

I don’t think that it was a matter of Alex knowing whether or not he was prepared, but a matter of him just not caring whatsoever. It’s very easy to see that a .22 caliber would do little to nothing for him. Either Alex is daring, uneducated, or just finished. He obviously knows that he doesn’t have the proper and basic necessities to sustain life in the wilderness; therefore, when he refuses aid and states that he will do fine with what he has, it is quite clear that he wants to be hopeless. He wants to survive temporarily but in the long run he wishes to die.

 

I enjoy the flash forward method used by Krakauer. As opposed to being slowly given details and having to wait for a story to unfold, the reader can become immersed into a situation abruptly.  This gives the reader the “what?” only leaving the “why?” to be explained later in the book.  Personally, I would rather read a book like this because I don’t have to try and become interested in a boring beginning.  I believe Krakauer is telling the story this way for this exact same reason.  Also, some readers may find the mystery and suspense of this book to be very interesting.

           

 

                      For starters, he obviously didn’t really keep track of time while he was in the wilderness.  His best guess is that it is August.  I’m curious as to why he would think that someone would suspect his S.O.S. to be a joke.  Who would make up a joke like that? Honestly, is it this much of a reoccurrence that he has to write “no Joke”?  If he is injured then why is he out collecting those berries?  If he is too weak to hike out of  there then why is he wasting energy on harvesting berries?  Its just raising too many questions and isn’t making a whole lot of sense yet.

 

Into the Wild Blog #1

Personally, I think Alex is a fool. I do not think that there is anything admirable about this character. From where I currently am in the book, there have been no explanations and absolutely no reasoning behind Alex’s motives, attitude, or actions. All that has been explained is where he plans to go and vaguely what he plans on doing. Nothing relevant has been revealed to the reader so far. Everything has been open ended without anything tying together. He is alive one minute and found dead the next.

 

Perhaps Alex has something to run from. Something that the reader does not know about yet. Maybe he did something drastic like stand his fiancé up at the altar or tare the tag off of his mattress. Different factors and ideas can lead to predictions and determine why Alex is doing what it is that he is doing.  He could be running from a serial killer or from the authorities. There is a chance that Alex is just escaping into the wilderness just for a sense of self righteousness or bragging rights.  An even more depressing explanation would be that Alex is trying to kill himself which raises even more questions that will hopefully soon be answered.