Krakauer/Loffreda Connections

In both essays "Into the Wild" and "Losing Matt Shepard," by Jon Krakauer and Beth Loffreda, respectively, facts are presented in order to paint a story for the reader. However, the facts are presented in different ways. In the first paragraph of "Losing Matt Shepard," Loffreda lists the facts all in one sentence, in a news tabloid manner. She does not pause to add any detail, she merely places them one next to another separated by semi-colons. Krakauer's style in "Into the Wild" is much different; he takes a more storytelling approach by painting rich scenes to make everything very vivid in the reader's mind. Even though they have differences in approach, the main goal is the same: to make reason of the story. Loffreda tries to find the cause for Matt's unfortunate death, and Krakauer does the same for McCandless. Loffreda pieces all the facts together to figure out the bigger puzzle behind Matt's death, and Krakauer analyzes McCandless' voyage in the wild to better put himself in his mindset to better understand his death. One similarity they share is a sense of irony for the land. Loffreda starts off the essay by describing how beautiful Laramie, Wyoming is. Then, with the horrific news of Matt, the land is tainted. With "Into the Wild," Krakauer says how even though McCandless was on his journey to live in the wilderness, the irony is apparent when Krakauer notes that McCandless was just several miles off of civilization. As for Alaskan wilderness, McCandless was nowhere near it.