Into The Wild essay
Humanities
Essay 4 Assignment – Literary Analysis
The essay must refer to Into the Wild and at least one other source.
The essay must analyze the book. Do not just summarize the plot. If you are comparing Into the Wild to another work, don’t just list superficial similarities or differences (“Both men were young and spent a lot of time in the outdoors”); instead, delve into psychology, motives, and meaning of their experiences. This is going to require some thought to form an opinion and then locate evidence to support that opinion.
1. Some critics have argued that Chris McCandless was mentally ill. Read Craig Medred’s article “The False Being Within.” Write an essay agreeing or disagreeing with Medred’s analysis. You must discuss a specific kind of mental illness, and do research on a reputable medical web site (not Wikipedia) about that form of mental illness. In your paper, you must quote from Medred’s article, list specific symptoms, and quote specific passages from Into the Wild that prove that McCandless displayed those symptoms.
Format/Style:
- The essay should be in correct MLA format.
- The finished essay should be 800 to 1,000 words (3 to 4 pages) in length. No more than about half a page should be devoted to summarizing the plot; most of the paper must consist of your analysis of the book.
- Pay close attention to the creation of a clear, strong, argumentative thesis; pay similar attention to constructing well-developed paragraphs that incorporate sources smoothly.
- Remember, whenever you write about something that Chris McCandless said, thought, or did, you need to cite your source – on what page in the book did the information appear?
- You must use at least one secondary or outside source (not a dictionary, encyclopedia, wiki, etc.). You must include a Works Cited page.
- DO NOT PLAGURISE, I WILL CHECK RIGHT AWAY!
