John Krakauer's Questionable Philosophy

Kraukauer, author of Into the Wild, discusses a trek he makes up the Stikine Ice Cap. His purpose for including his personal adventure in a story having a majority to do with Chris McCandless is to demonstrate why Chris might have gone on his adventure. Krakauer, however, did not clearly convey his motivation during the trip. In fact, he is ambivalent the entire time about the nature that is around him. He both depicts the mountain as a frightening monster, and a beautiful scene. Krakauer's use of diction conveys his ambivalence between the nature inducing anxiety or exhilaration in him.

Krakauer portrays the Stikine Ice Cap as a dangerous, risky location to climb. He says that as he climbed, the mountain looked "infinitely more menacing" (138). Not only was the mountain intimidating with its size but it was infinitely so. Krakauer was unable to even grasp the indefinite length which he needed to climb to reach his goal. Krakauer further explains the mystery of the "vast and labyrinthine" mountain (137). He is lost within the complexity of the maze he must overcome. The mountain at this point is unbearable in Krakauer's mind; he finds it both mentally and physically taxing. Afterwards, Krakauer describes his journey as a "bad train wreck" (139). He complains as if there is no recovery from the disaster which he has brought himself. Overall, Krakauer's negative depiction of the mountains reveals his apprehension of his journey.

Krakauer is immersed in the beauty of the Ice Cap as well, however. He says that as he climbed, he "[had not] seen a human foot print" (138). The mountain was pristine and innocent with its untouched snow. Krakauer enjoys the fresh feeling he gets while climbing pure nature. Krakauer also develops the ice cap as a "pornographic fascination" (135). He views nature as a pleasure that is equal to pornography. Afterwards, Krakauer describes his journey as a "flying buttress of a gothic cathedral" (132). He explains that nature is also his religious domain and where he can most comfortably worship. Krakauer uses nature to fill what typical societal obsessions cannot fill for him like sex and religion. Following that, he expresses how the atmosphere has a "peak of immense and spectacular proportions" (134). Although he previously describes how the mountain's size is intimidating, Krakauer now explains it in such a way that glorifies the mountain's beauty. Not only is he anxious of its height but he believes the mountain is glorious because of it. This contradiction in Krakauer's logic veils his true opinion behind a curtain of indecisiveness. In total, Krakauer's display of positive emotions towards the mountains reveals his enthusiasm to climb them.

Kraukauer displays his ambivalence towards the nature surrounding him throughout his climb. He both fears the mountain and is astounded by it. Krakauer explicitely declares why there is good reason to fear the mountain in its entirety then immediately compares the same mountain with common enjoyable endeavors. He either does not make a final decision about his philosophy on the mountains or Krakauer is simply torn in two directions. Either way he is not successful in reasoning through the motivations of McCandless; McCandless has a much clearer perspective on what he is interested in and what he is not, whereas Krakauer has questionable opinions of the trip.