Friday, March 5, 2010
Chris and Jon
I feel that by using his own experiences, Krakauer made Chris's story more credible. It is one thing to say over and over that Chris was not crazy, but for Krakauer to say, "look, I did the same thing as him! Not because I was crazy, or had a death wish, but because I thought it would make me a better person, and give more meaning to my life." It was really powerful to see all the connections Jon had with Chris, and through those connections I feel like I understand why Chris did what he did. Obviously, no one will ever be able to ask him, but by understanding Jon's motives, I feel that he can provide an answer. Especially because their lives and personalities were so alike. Suddenly Chris's story seems more concrete... like Jon provided so solid possibilities, so the story meant more to me.
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I really like what you're saying, and it shows how much personal experience can influence a writer's purpose if doen in the correct way. It really helped explain some of Chris's possibly motives and the ever-looming question of WHY. His recount definitely made the story more personal, and really made me reflect on my own life. Everything just makes more logical sense now. Props to Krakauer.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you are saying and definitely think that after Krakauer's personal additions, the story of McCandless makes much more sense. Krakauer and McCandless seem a lot a like in many regards and it wouldn't surprise me if he was driven by the same motives that Krakauer was. I really appreciated Krakauer explaining his viewpoint on the matter and think it really added a lot of complexity to the novel!
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