Into the Wild .. Use of the Third Person

McCandless remains a somewhat ghostly presence even in this biography of his life. Although Krakauer uses frequent excerpts from Chris's personal journals, the reader always feels somewhat distanced, partly owing to his habit of writing about himself in the third person under an assumed name. Only Chris's final journal entries are written in the first person and signed with his real name, perhaps underscoring the shocking realization of first the possibility and then the certainty of his own imminent death.

The tone of these final words is frightened at first, then rueful and courageous, and finally serene and reconciled. Other than these journal extracts, all of the information about McCandless is fragmentary and pieced together from the testimony of people who had met him on his journeys.

Krakauer uses third person omniscient in Into the Wild to prove to the readers that McCandless was a simple boy, similar to everyone else. Even tough McCandless does not wish to fit in with the reset of the world, or even his own family, Krakauer clearly explains why. Through Krakauer’s use of third person omniscient point of view, the reader can understand McCandless’s want for escape from the drama in his family, the stress from education, and a from a routinely life.



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