A discussion topic
Given the demands for additional factual books in high schools, Into the Wild is ideal in meeting the learners’ needs. Jon Krakauer wrote the book in the year 1996. As such, the literature is the first fact-based text to be taught in American secondary schools. The book has been on the top of the New York Times’ chart-topper list for over one year (Krakauer 3).
The text offers learners an opportunity to carry out a comprehensive review of its author. Using the book, the proposal paper below focuses on how the author failed in illustrating Christopher McCandless’s life. In the multimedia project, a video focusing on the topic will be produced.
The book focuses on a character named McCandless. According to the book, in the year 1992, the body of the character was found in an unmanned van in Alaska (Krakauer 7). The author tries to retrace the character’s footsteps between the time he completed university and the time he met his premature death. The author notes that he adopted a new name before travelling to Alaska. McCandless worked in a grain elevator in Dakota for some time prior to leaving for Alaska (Krakauer 7).
In the book, the author highlights that the works of Henry David Thoreau swayed McCandless’s extremely abstinent character (Krakauer 8). Thoreau was his preferred writer. Equally, in the book, the author points out the resemblances between him and McCandless’s background and enthusiasms.
An indication of my specific focus
In the book, the author exaggerates McCandless’s character, making him look like a hero. As such, getting tired of the society and modernization does not imply that an individual has to run away into the wilderness in a bid to escape the issues. For every problem, there is a solution. Therefore McCandless should have searched for a job after completing his college degree. Preferably, he should have become a lawyer to help his abused mother in fighting against violence in society.
By becoming a lawyer, he would have helped the destitute children in society in seeking justice. The character came from a privileged background in Washington. Compared with his friends, he had a number of threats that he should have maximized. He was privileged to be educated at Emory University.
After graduating, he had saved more than $25, 000 (Krakauer 13). Based on the above illustrations, he should not have given up with everything he had for a lonely life in Alaska. For that reason, the research will focus on how the author should have illustrated McCandless life.
Research question: How did the author fail to capture McCandless’ character traits that contributed to his weird character?
Tentative thesis: The research paper will focus on how the author failed inappropriately focusing on McCandless’s life.
An explanation of why I am interested in the topic
As indicated above, there are a number of issues about the character that are not covered by the author in the book. Because of this, it has been hard to categorize the book as a fictional, nonfictional, novel, or a bibliography. The book covers too little information to be classified as a novel. Similarly, the book is full of speculations to be considered as a biography. As such, the book is light on facts. Through this, the book has created a gap for speculation.
In this regard, I am interested in studying this topic because it will shed more light into traits or occurrences that influenced McCandless to live a solitude and unique life. Through this, a comprehensive review of McCandless will be obtained. The topic is worth studying because the book will be taught in secondary schools. By studying it, it can be revealed whether the book is best suited for high school students.
Equally, through the study, it will be known whether the author’s main goals in writing the literature will be of benefit to the learners. Based on the above illustrations, it is apparent that the book should be subjected to more reviews. As highlighted above, the findings obtained from this study will be of benefit to students, English teachers, the author, and education stakeholders.
A research plan
A research plan is a methodical design to investigate a research problem. Five types of research plans are available. They are co-relational, field (survey), experimental, qualitative, and meta-analysis. For this type of research, field or survey research design is going to be utilized. As such, field research encompasses of compilations of data outside of a lab, stores, or formal set up. The means and processes used in the fieldwork differ across researches.
For research, this information will be obtained through face-to-face interviewing and questionnaires. The questions will be directed at individuals in natural environments. Usually, fieldwork entails a variety of distinct or inconsistent methods. The methods may include casual meetings, direct inspection, and group discussions. Even though the process usually is usually categorized as qualitative research, it should be noted that at times the method might comprise of quantitative dimensions.
For this study, the data will be collected through field research. The method entails acquiring opinions about the topic from secure and reliable book critics, libraries, English teachers, face-to-face interviews, and questionnaires. Libraries will provide the researchers with crucial information such as the present and the past critics about the book (Krakauer 3). The sources are very efficient since they are bias-free.
The face-to-face interview will require a participant to question the students, readers, or teachers in person to collect their personal views. During the interview, the contributors will be asked to detail their perspectives about how the author should have focused on the issue. The questions used during the interviews are open-ended.
Equally, questionnaires will be used to collect private information from the participants. In addition, the internet will offer resourceful information about the topic. Through the internet, a number of readers’ perspective about the topic will be obtained.
A schedule
To achieve the desired goals within the allotted time, a timeline will be utilized during the research process. Highlighted below is a timeline for the proposed project. The timeline will be appropriate when determining if a follow-up on the research is appropriate. The timeline of the proposal specifies the time when the project will begin, the duration, and holiday breaks in between the specific tasks. As shown below, the research paper will be submitted within a period of fourteen days.
Works Cited
Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. New York: Anchor, 1997. Print.