Category: Into the Wild

Into the Wild, a novel by John Krakauer, catalogs the life, journey, and implications of a young man named Chris McCandless. Walking alone into the Alaskan wilderness, McCandless attempted to live in an abandoned bus through the winter. His subsequent death serves as a springboard for Krakauer to discuss the nature of going into the wild, in his own life, and in several other notable figures. By tracing the mental journey that leads people to try themselves against nature, and noting the impacts on their families and friends, Krakauer explains how McCandless and others couldnt resist stealing up to the edge of doom and peering over the brink (156). The main point of the novel is that there is a certain, indescribable element that draws us out into the wild and out of the confines of society. McCandless heeded that call more than others, but it is an influence that most (especially young men) feel.

Krakauer begins at the end, telling the story of McCandless (going by the name Alex Supertramp) hitching a ride with Jim Gallien to the head of the Stampede trail where he intended to embark into the Alaskan wild. Subsequently, he offers a description of how a band of hunters found his body lying in the old bus he was camping in. Next, Krakauer traces his relationship with Wayne Westerberg (a farmer he worked for), as well as his comfortable upbringing in the comfortable upper-middle-class environs of Annandale, VA (19). The reaction of his parents, ranging from panic to sorrow, is cataloged intermittently throughout the text. Krakauer also documents his relations with a pair of travelers named Jan and Bob and an isolated older man named Ronald Franz, which provides insight into the unique nature of McCandless and his impact on those around him. To supplement the McCandless narrative, Krakauer pulls from his own experiences in climbing the Devils Thumb as a young man, as well as others who have engaged in similar adventures. In doing so, he makes the story more universal and not just a case study on an individual who ended up dead in Alaska. Finally, he explores the actual events that seem to have taken place on the bus and led to McCandless demise.

On page 155, Krakauer writes near the conclusion of his account of his journey up Devils Thumb: As a young man, I was unlike McCandless in many important regards; most notably, I possessed neither his intellect nor his lofty ideals. But I believe we were similarly affected by the skewed relationships we had with our fathers. And I suspect we had a similar intensity, a similar heedlessness, a similar agitation of the soul death remained as abstract a concept as non-Euclidean geometry or marriage&I was stirred by the dark mystery of mortality. This quote sums up the meaning of the novel: that there is a fundamental part of the soul that yearns for adventure and the wild. Those who choose to tempt death in the way that Krakauer and McCandless did are not concerned with the final ramifications of their actions, but rather the almost spiritual need to explore the dark mystery.

What we learn from the journey of Chris McCandless is the limits of our own mortality. We cannot totally transcend the world that we inherited, regardless of it we find it palatable or not. The call of the wild is a potent, but an ancient whisper of the wind that blows just beyond the border of our consciousness, even though it runs against the better parts of our reason from time to time, During those moments, we seek Truth not because we have logically come to the conclusion that it exists, or have realized a way to discover it using new and advanced modern technology, but precisely because we know it is a mystery that we can never discover.

Introduction

McCandlesss journey and his death in Alaska created the basis for vigorous debates about the reasons for this trip, its relevance, and the mans death. The unusual character of these events resulted in the creation of the book Into the Wild by Krakauer, who tried to repeat the same way and explain the main causes of the main characters actions. Responding to this work, Alaskans described the whole journey as unwise and unreasonable because of the low preparedness level of McCandless. However, one can disagree with them, as being an educated person from a rich family, he just wanted to obtain freedom and avoid stereotypes of society that imprisoned him.

Main body

In fact, McCandlesss journey was unique and attracted the attention of various groups of people. Initially, Alaska was not his prior destination point, on the contrary, he moved to the Western United States and spent much time there. However, his trip ended in a severe area where unprepared people have few chances to survive. There are multiple debates about the motifs for this decision as his family matters, relations with other people, and community was not depressing or extremely complex.

However, he apparently wanted freedom and emancipation from the chains of social stereotypes that limited him in his attempts to cognize the world (Krakauer 34). Moreover, being an unusual person, McCandless wanted to escape from the safe environment of the modern world and understand real feelings that might affect people in stressful situations. The desire to escape the mainstream became one of the central motifs for venturing into the wilderness.

In his journey, McCandless seems rebellious against the ways of thinking that are stereotypically strong in contemporary society. Instead of enjoining the benefits of the wealthy family and good education, he leaves everything behind and moves into the wilderness to find some unusual experiences. Both the movie and the book emphasize this fact and show other individuals that in his attempt to escape, McCandless remains brutally honest and does not want to make compromises (Krakauer 56). Instead, he ends his days in a severe area, completely exhausted, but devoted to his ideas and views.

Conclusion

Because of the unusual character of this story, Krakauer manages to attract readers by using both logical and emotional appeals. He shows motifs that made McCandless move and underlines the complexity of the trip, appealing to the feelings of individuals (Krakauer 34). The movie uses a similar approach as viewers start to understand the main characters reasons and sympathize with him because of the hard challenges he has to overcome (Into the Wild).

Krakauer parallels this story with some other disappearances of young people who escaped society and started to travel to show that McCandless is not alone in his attempts to find some new ways (Krakauer 56). In such a way, the original story, book, and movie show that the man had his own motifs for accepting this decision and going into the wilderness, and they can justify his intention and desire to live his life in another way.

Annotated Bibliography

Into the Wild. Directed by Sean Penn, performance by Emile Hirsh, Paramount Vantage, 2007.

The movie depicts McCandlesss arrival in Alaska, his previous journeys, and factors that preconditioned the appearance of the desire to escape the stereotypes of society and move across the USA, looking from unique emotions and unusual experiences.

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. Anchor Books, 1997.

The book describes the life of Christopher Johnson McCandless, a young graduate from Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. Being a son of wealthy parents, he decides to leave everything and start traveling to find answers to questions important to him. The text makes readers think about the leading motifs of the main character, the relevance of this journey, and McCandlesss death.

Works Cited

Into the Wild. Directed by Sean Penn, performance by Emile Hirsh, Paramount Vantage, 2007.

Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild. Anchor Books, 1997.

Into the Wild is a work of literature about a young man from a wealthy family, hitchhikes to Alaska, where he lives all alone, foraging by hunting and gathering in completely wild conditions. The real story of Chris McCandless, which became famous thanks to the skill of John Krakauer, was initially written in the form of an article in a magazine. Krakauer warns the reader that he cannot remain objective and tell the whole story of Chris dispassionately. In addition, there are significant parallels in their destinies that he could not ignore. Nevertheless, the author allows the reader to conclude who Alex was without imposing his opinion.

John Krakauer, in the book, describes the fate of several other people with similar dreams or shifts, but they all had one thing in common, namely the lack of common sense. The author expresses the desire of the main character to know himself, to purify himself and live in the wild, through recommendations not to sit in one place and be active nomads (Krakauer, 2009). In addition to the main character, there are also many secondary characters in work. They meet the main character when he needs them, and they do not receive extraordinary development by the end of the work. Someone was a young romantic, someone was a naive dreamer, and someone was frankly crazy.

In conclusion, the characters described by John Krakauer are real, not fictional. The characters have their thoughts, feelings, aspirations, which demonstrates their personalities and characteristics. The main character is in extreme conditions and survives as best he can. His strength of spirit undoubtedly inspires and makes you think about your life. The work is interesting, especially for those who like to travel and spend time one-on-one with wildlife.

Reference

Krakauer, J. (2009). Into the Wild. Anchor.

Chris McCandless’ literary heroes were not opposite from each other but they were not the same either. Tolstoy, London, and Thoreau were all considered great minds of their times, just reading their works gives me an understanding of why he would be influenced by these great minds. ~These authors influenced Chris in his moral principles and his aspirations to embark on this journey which inspired Krakauer to write this very book.~ I think Jack London inspired McCandless the most out of the three authors because I see London as the most different of the three authors and Chris’ actions resembled London the most.

Jack London was born into a very painful situation, with neither parents dominating in being parental figures in his life, an ex-slave handed over the baby and became the maternal figure for London throughout his childhood. Once, Jack’s mother married John London, Jack came to live with the couple and they moved around the Bay Area of California. Finally, they settled for Oakland and London made himself become essentially self-educated by taking many trips to the public library, where he found his desire of literary aspirations. He worked grueling jobs that consisted of working at canneries, being a window washer, and the California Fish Patrol, all these jobs involved working 12 to 18-hour shifts. London went to UC Berkley but never graduated because he was never able to support himself financially and the Panic of ’93 gave him no choice but to begin his career as a tramp. He was one of the first writers to make a remunerative career out of writing, and he was a celebrity and well-known person during his period, and he was a very adventurous person that still liked to travel. During his second marriage, he bought a boat and sailed for 27 months in the Pacific and he bought a ranch where spent many days horseback riding and doing a lot of other outdoor activities.

McCandless and London could not have been more opposite in their backgrounds but their personalities are parallel. They were both hurt by their past, McCandless had to deal with his father’s infidelities, and London struggled with being unaccepted by his father. London was most famous for his three novels White Fang, Sea Wolf, and Call of the Wild, where some of which were found with Chris’ remains. These stories with settings taking place in extremely cold conditions somehow influenced Chris to embark on the same journeys. I think Chris saw how ambitious London was towards his writing and took the same ambitions and enthusiasm but misused it by applying it to the perilous peregrinations that killed him. This makes me that London was the most influential out of the three authors because Chris talked himself into doing something so irrational, just because he read one of London’s books that talks about the struggle to survive in extreme conditions. They both ended their lives with a lot of potentials never seen to grow, even though London died at the mid-age of forty.

McCandless admired these three writers because they all did not have the desire to conform with other writers or the standards of writing, or philosophies.~ Tolstoy was a fictional writer that influenced Chris to have refined moral principles that Krakauer felt that should be mentioned in the book. Tolstoy was a strong central figure in Russian literature and contradicted other contemporaries that were at his level of popularity and I think that is why McCandless admired him. Thoreau wrote a book that gave readers the impression that he was a cranky hermit but, he was later praised for Civil Disobedience that enlightened the world of politics as well as literature. London was an adventurous writer who traveled in all these places which inspired him to write all his praised works. London’s lucrative success in writing motivated Chris to apply something to his life that would push him to his fullest limit that could not have been fulfilled in school or, in the real world working a steady job.

Memories are the architecture of our identity, designed by our parents. Together the protagonists from the novel ‘Jasper Jones’, and the film ‘Into the Wild’, have grown up with memories built around their parents, and what their parents have emphasized as their identity. Charlie and Chris have had their identities shaped by the way their parents have raised them. Ever since a young age, parents have always been there in our memories. The things that have been there since childhood is what is held in our memories for the rest of our lives; although, we can choose to change that. The voices that are heard when we are young is what we see in our mirror image of identity. In ‘Into the Wild’ Sean Penn represents a unique example of how parents shape identity. Although through the movie Penn represents and shows the idea of escaping true identity and emancipating one’s self. Whereas in ‘Jasper Jones’ Craig Silvey writes of a journey about a boy, Charlie, who doesn’t run from his true identity but somewhat experiences it. Charlie’s perception has been reshaped by encountering trauma, resulting in a loss of his innocence which forever changes who he is and what he believes in. This leads to how memories hold significant reminiscences of our parents and the relationships between them and how that correlates to identity.

Charlie and Chris both share a disagreeable relationship between parental figures and children. Penn, director of ‘Into the Wild’, has portrayed a recalcitrant relationship between father and son. This creates the perception of how parents shape identity. Chris, being the ‘bastard’ son, has always felt indifferent from his family and has already been told who he is meant to be. Whilst his father, Walt McCandless, didn’t care for what Chris wanted, he forced Chris to have the life he did. Chris McCandless states: “…and I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong… To measure yourself at least once in the most ancient human conditions. Facing the blind death stone. With nothing to help you but your hand and your own head”. Chris has enough money to give him a life people back then would kill for. Him stating this could indicate that he wants nothing to be handed down to him and he wants to escape the identity that his father wants for him. In order to discover and create a new identity Chris becomes Alex Supertramp rather than remain Chris McCandless: “I’m going to paraphrase Thoreau here… rather than love, than money, than faith, then fame, then fairness… give me truth”. It may be his true identity that he is escaping but it isn’t ‘truly’ the identity he believes that defines who he is.

Silvey, writer of ‘Jasper Jones’, delivers a classic Australian piece of literature, depicting a boy Charlie, who goes through traumatic events which shape and changes his identity. Throughout the novel Charlie is caught between his father’s cautious personality and his mother’s more confident personality. His father is gentle and his mother is stern and disciplinary. Except Charlie being a teenager is trying to forge his own unique identity, however Charlie discovers things he never knew about his mother and father which also changes Charlie’s perception and now it’s like every memory he ever had of them was wrong. “I don’t understand a thing about this world: about people, and why they do the things they do. The more I find out, the more I uncover, the more I know, the less I understand” (Silvey, page 198). Charlie witnesses his mother’s betrayal and this is how Charlie ends up belonging very much to his father. Both Chris, ‘Alex’, and Charlie are deemed to be afraid to heal because their identity is centered around the trauma they’ve experienced; as they have no idea who they are outside of this trauma. Which is why the relationship between parent and child plays of an extreme role in developing and changing personality especially through memories. You can’t change where you live necessarily, but where you live can change you.

Joy and misery are greatly determined by our environment: the kinds of walls, buildings and people that surround us. Yet the way our surroundings and environment are built by the people in our lives play the architect of our memories, by the choice of our parents. Memories are made with significant motifs such as our parents, based around where you grow up. Chris McCandless, grew up with wealth which provided him with status, power, and opened doors to acquiring education. Chris had wealth that subsumed himself and substituted what he really wanted, which was a deep human connection with environment, and someone to share his happiness with. This represents an important correlation, before Chris died, he said something, “Happiness is only real when shared”. Maybe for Chris, when he left home, his identity didn’t just change because of where he ended up being but because of the people he met along the way who were also changed by their surroundings. Each person he met, and shared memories with, changed his perception of the world. The most significant part of the film, which Penn captured well, was using the belt as a motif. Chris made his belt with the veteran, Ronald Franz, who teaches him how to leatherwork. The belt acts of an emblem, showing the many objects and people Chris eventually had to leave behind to go on to the next part of his journey and is the most important of all his belongings. It is useful and pretty as it symbolizes the promise of tramping life and following each different type of environment Chris had discovered. Chris’ parents shaped his identity to a degree, but furthermore pushes him to discover his true hidden identity.

Charlie is exposed to the struggles of his identity versing belonging in ‘Jasper Jones’. The novel is set back into the 1960’s, where feminism and racism of white privilege played a huge impact, as Charlie’s mother Ruth is a perfect symbol of feminism by having no job, and also Jasper being an example of how they used racism in the novel. Charlie grows up fast, witnessing the complexities of life, his parents’ relationship and the emblematic changes of his surroundings. The town Corrigan, was used and described in the novel like an ordinary place with people who lived by the rules. When Charlie first discovers Laura’s body, that’s when Charlie started noticing the towns buried secrets coming out one by one. First was the unraveling of Laura which lasted the whole book until the end, but throughout the novel, Corrigan a place Charlie felt safe and called home was forever changed. This resulted in a change of his identity whether he wanted it or not, he had no choice in the matter. Charlie had his best friend Jeffrey, someone he trusted and deeply cared for, except despite everything happening Charlie felt alone. His whole world was changing and he couldn’t even tell Jeffrey. The last thing that happens in both of the texts was when Chris and Charlie felt a sudden realization, the whole film and novel were all leading up to it with everyone knowing and seeing but them. It’s only until the end we see them realize how much they have changed and how much change they notice themselves.

We idealize the transformative life into a life of extraordinary experience, and of deep realization. Having a realization of finding your true identity is experiencing a deep and lasting inner peace of happiness, by finding a meaning and a purpose. Chris felt that his life had only been of one purpose and that was to try and find who he really was because being his parents was not something he desired. Chris’s mind, body and heart played an equal role to develop his true identity, and the final moments before his death he felt somewhat content with where he was and who he identifies as, rather than when he was with his family. Chris stated: “So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism… The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun”. This represents he is at content with his life and has reached his goal of finding who he really is, even if it came to a short end in the ‘magic bus’, because he was at peace and free. Towards the end of ‘Jasper Jones’, Charlie felt witness in one life changing summer. He solves a sad mystery, falls in love, and helps his newfound friend Jasper re-unite with his lost grandfather. Charlie is a representation of how the novel demonstrates one’s limitations and strengths of identity. Whilst this is all in comparison to the racial and feminist background setting. This novel also reveals how things can lurk behind a town, a place and a person’s virtues. This all holds an important feature for memories. Charlie will continue to grow and change his identity further in life whilst still holding the memories of what has happened to his life. Charlie makes a realization right at the end of the novel although it isn’t necessarily towards himself but it is being said to his newfound love Eliza when he feels confident and is at peace with who he is as well.

Starting over can be the scariest thing in the entire world. Whether it’s leaving your family such as Chris or becoming independent and at one with yourself like Charlie. As it all depends on how much you are willing to change yourself. If it wasn’t for our parent’s we can’t say we would be the people we are today, sometimes necessarily the way your parents influence your identity is the way you are going to see the world unless you change it. The memories both Chris and Charlie made with their parents when they were young is the starting point of how new memories are going to change them into the person they are. Sometimes the things that we don’t even notice can come into developing our identity whether that be, our relationships between parents, where we live and grow up and finally when the time is, that we realize who we are.

For centuries, environmental terminology and themes have circulated through works of literature (Christensen, 2018, p. 1). The topic has often occupied significant space in narratives due to its ability to engage readers. Literary writers, through their works, have the ability to explore the impact of the environment on society, how society consequentially develops, and how society engages with the idea of the natural world (Prentiss & Wilkins, 2016, pp. 46). Writers Barbara Baynton and Joseph Conrad intertwine environmental and natural writing into their works of literature. Whilst Baynton delves into re-writing the traditional colonial Australian mythology, creating an utterly transgressive compilation of short stories, Conrad exposes his readers to the Age of Naturalism, investigating the redefining of the relationship between people and the environment.

Barbara Baynton’s Bush Studies draws on colonial Australian ideologies, gathered from her bush experiences. The stories are grim and gothic, invoking a strong sense of a fierce gemeinschaft society; a traditionally non-progressive, rural community with strong patriarchal beliefs and values (Bradbury, 1971, p. 3). Baynton’s narratives exploit the alienation of colonial women by punishing them through the environment. In A Dreamer, Baynton employs deadpan narration, meaning the story occurs without an intermediary voice. Her repetitive use of imagery and lack of framing devices removes any distance between the reader and the story, invoking an unrelenting sense of realism. Therefore, the reader is invited to closely examine the psyche of the characters, and how their motivations and values appease the ideals of the time.

Baynton’s diction precedes her. Her extensive use of adjectives and personification in A Dreamer implores echoing images: “A swirl of wet leaves from the night-hidden trees decorating the little station beat against the closed doors of the carriages” (Baynton, 1902, pp. 5). As the narrative progresses, it becomes clear that Baynton utilizes the environment to punish her characters as it conspires against the unnamed woman; a malevolent wild storm settles in during her three-mile journey home. This occurs due to the shift from gemeinschaft to gesellschaft as it is revealed the unnamed woman opposes the traditional, family-driven beliefs of colonial Australia as she had been away from her family: “Long ago she should have come to her old mother” (Baynton, 1902, pp. 8). The malevolent environmental changes arguably become the payment for her sins. However, as the wind “malignantly” (Baynton, 1902, pp. 7) fights her, and the water, “athletic furious” (Baynton, 1902, pp. 9), she states: “There was an atonement in these difficulties and dangers” (Baynton, 1902, pp. 7). This idea of atonement is derivative of Christian mythology, the traditional religion of colonial Australia, and infers the ideology of the ideal gemeinschaft girl. It is believed one must atone for the sin of Adam and Eve, and God will forgive so long as one persists and work hard (Considine, 2018, p. 1). However, once she arrives at her mother’s bedroom door after this treacherous journey, she is met with guilt and an undeniable burden: “The daughter parted the curtains, and the light fell on the face of the sleeper who would dream no dreams that night” (Baynton, 1902, pp. 10). Her mother has passed away. Thus, the unnamed woman is unable to achieve what provided her with purpose during her challenges and hardships with the environment. In true modernist writing form, Baynton unveils a certain truth about the alienation of women within colonial society by challenging the character’s morale and values, as well as society’s due to the shifts between the gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft ideologies. In addition, she discerningly infers the undeniable presence and significance of the environment during the time period.

In contrast, Joseph Conrad encapsulates the Age of Naturalism, a form of realism, delving into colonialism and the impact of imperialism on the environment (Zhang, 2010, p. 1). Heart of Darkness uses nature and the environment as chief themes to foreshadow throughout the novella. Conrad’s decision to write using frame narration ensures the reader is exposed to the imagery and detail of the environment as the storyline unravels. This imagery contributes to the overarching motif of ‘light’ and ‘dark’, and the impact of the environment on the characters’ struggles with this.

The presence of the wilderness within a story epitomizes what is readily apparent in the Old Testament: either one is fleeing from their problems in search of a sanctuary, or one is driven into an inhospitable environment. In Heart of Darkness, it is clear the characters are driven into what is deemed an inhospitable environment; “…an undersized railway-truck lying there on its back with its wheels in the air. One was off. The thing looked as dead as the carcass of some animal.” (Conrad, 1902, pp.12), and delves into the internal battles as the characters’ cope with this reality. In Kurtz’s case, his “…mind has given way to delusions of grandeur [although] he continues to be regarded as an exceptional man. While he possesses potential, his capacity for “greatness” is not achieved with the Company as his colleagues predicted. Rather, his distinction emerges as his madness manifests itself within the African wilderness” (Kinney, 2010, pp. 2). Essentially, Kurtz determines his success in the Interior will depend on his ability to lead the ‘primitive’ people, which manifests into an insatiable hunger for power. This leads Kurtz to obsessively hunt through native villages for ivory. As Marlow claims “[the jungle] got into his veins, consumed his flesh” (Conrad, 1902, pp. 44), meaning he was unrecognizable as he was transforming into the jungle’s “spoiled and pampered favorite” (Conrad, 1902, pp. 44). This establishes the idea that Kurtz’s descent into madness, and loss of humanitarian value and belief occurs due to the environment. Conrad confirms this when Marlow exclaims, “… I went carefully from post to post with my glass, and I saw my mistake. These round knobs were not ornamental but symbolic; they were expressive and puzzling, striking and disturbing… They would have been more impressive, those heads on the stakes, if their faces had not been turned to the house.” (Conrad, 1902, pp. 52). The heads Marlow refers to are outside Kurtz’s house and are of those who dishonored Kurtz’s divinity. Conrad’s continuous reference to nature in these instances reminds the reader of how external settings can impact the internal soul and challenge morality, whilst also exploiting nineteenth-century views of racism, as well as colonisation. Conrad’s expression of the environment and its impact on a once morally principled character suggests the colonization of Western civilization will lead to the spreading of darkness, and infers that such progress will lead to madness.

The novel Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer introduces Chris McCandless’s journey after suddenly leaving his family to live off of the land alone. While throwing his whole life and possessions away, he wanders off into the wilderness where Chris awaits his next obstacle moving forward. McCandless doesn’t owe his family the courtesy of keeping in touch because wants to be independent and free, also wanted nothing to do with them considering the corruption in his past. For example, his father disappearing and keeping his separate family a secret for such a long time creates a terrible state of mind overall.

The later stages of his life were crucial, Chris anticipated every occurrence and made the most out of it. Chris later discovered a bus that he spent his time living in with minimal resources to work with. Another friendly hitchhiker named Wayne Westerberg picks up Chris, being generous enough to let him stay in his trailer. Westerberg describes McCandless as restless, handsome, with a very sensitive face and a lean physique. Being offered a job, he was moved to the small town city of Bullhead City, Arizona. Working at McDonald’s his coworkers dislike his terrible sense of hygiene, as well as his lack of socks, etc. McCandless meets many more people including a woman named Tracy growing emotions and feelings gaining further life lessons about society. An older friend named Franz befriends Chris to teach him all about leatherworking and produces a monogrammed belt with a number of symbols from his life as a tramp. By late February, McCandless writes to Burres and Franz to say he has jumped trains to Seattle. His next contact with Franz comes after his arrest and then released later on for jumping a train further south, in a small California town called Colton. Franz drives to Colton, picks McCandless up, feeds him, gives him supplies, and helps him pack to depart for Carthage, where he says he will work for Wayne Westerberg again. Franz further explains his life story and pleads while asking to adopt him as his grandson, But Chris thoroughly avoids the conversation running away from the question until after his return from Alaska.

His choices to move out in the wild and evolving as a person, in general, is a great step to succeeding in everything that comes your way. Krakauer explains how McCandless’s personal safety is key to surviving with the hunting of food and surviving on a will to last. His behavior changed time and time again missing his family as well as the sweet civilization, but living on his own was a step further to his leadership of independence. obtaining some skills he knows he will need to survive in the destination he has in mind when he is ready: the wilds of Alaska. Despite stating that he does not want or need attachments, he does make some human connections along the way, and not necessarily to/with like-minded people.

The book, Into the Wild, reveals an imbalance of community and self-reflection in the life of Chris McCandless. Throughout McCandless’s journey, it is evident that he spends a great deal of time by himself, reflecting and contemplating his life choices. McCandless obtains self-actualization in the end. The irony is that McCandless comes to understand the connection between happiness and human relationships too late as he perishes during his trek back to civilization. This book was thought-provoking and has encouraged me to find a healthier balance in my own life.

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs proves that our actions are motivated in order to achieve certain needs. The ongoing question in the field of psychology is, what motivates human behavior? Maslow’s hierarchy contains five different levels of needs including physiological, safety, love/belonging, esteem, and finally, self-actualization. McCandless disputes Maslow’s hierarchy on every level until the end. Physiological (i.e. food and water) and safety needs (financial security and safety against accidents and injury) had no value in McCandless’s life as he gave away all of his possessions and took off on a solo trip. Self-actualization is the final level of Maslow’s needs. This level occurs when a person benefits from his talents while understanding personal limitations. Researchers completed a study to verify if Maslow’s hierarchy was valid. The researchers revealed that the fulfillment of the needs was compellingly associated with happiness. People from ethnicities all over the universe reported that needs and self-actualization were important even in situations where basic needs were unmet. McCandless disregards Maslow’s Hierarchy by displaying all of the traits Maslow identified that create a self-actualized person (until the end of the story).

Stress is known to be a common factor related to disorders and diseases. Through spending time alone, we are able to recharge our physical, emotional, and spiritual selves. McCandless takes this concept to the extreme. By going off the grid and pushing everyone in his life away, McCandless reflects and contemplates his life. After a long day at school or work, I too find it important to destress and decompress for a short period of time. Where I try to balance my interactions with others and my quiet time, McCandless has no balance. He sees this lifestyle as the only way of life.

No matter who you are, it’s very important to have family and friends in your life. The more closely we are connected to the people we like/love, the happier we feel and the more personal satisfaction we have in our lives. Forming connections and a sense of community with peers, neighbors and family all contribute to our well-being. Friends and family are the people who help to overcome obstacles and to provide support. McCandless rejects all relationships and feels his independence is the key to his success. Relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it (Krakauer 55). McCandless is not only looking for peace to reflect on his life, but he also wants to prove his independence by not accepting help from others. When he is offered money to help him survive, he refuses the monetary offer as he feels he can survive on his own. …When she tried to give him a little money for helping out at a swap meet, she recalls, he acted real offended wouldn’t take it (46). McCandless spends the last moments of his life alone in the wild, contemplating his life as he rebuffs the community of people surrounding him.

In McCandless’s life, family and friends are almost nonexistent. He was offered a great deal of help and comfort from family and friends; however, he refused any assistance. When his parents offered to buy him a new car and pay for law school, he declined as a way to prove his independence. He would no longer give or accept gifts. Indeed, Chris had only recently upbraided Walt and Billie for expressing their desire to buy him a new car as a graduation present (20). Going into the wild allowed McCandless to escape from reality and prove his independence and escape a terrible home life. With abusive parents and deplorable home life, McCandless saw running away as his most beneficial option.

After reading this book, I realized that both community and reflection and contemplation in one’s life are equally important. We learn from others and are supported by others making it important to have friends and family in your life that you care about. It is very difficult in my life to balance these two. Family and friends are very important to me. The majority of my time is spent with my family and friends. When I am with them, I have a feeling of comfort and happiness. I am very much a people person which is why I don’t spend a lot of time in self-reflection. Sometimes I forget to take time for myself.

It is healthy to have a good balance between time with your community and time reflecting and contemplating. They are two very conflicting needs, however, both are vital to living a healthy lifestyle. McCandless and I are polar opposites; he lives with no community in his life and I live with a great deal of community in mine. Into the Wild revealed that both McCandless and I struggle with balancing two important conflicting needs in our lives but in contrasting ways.

Christopher McCandless was a young man who wanted to give the world a challenge and use his energy to survive in the wild. He had very few reasons for venturing out into the wild without the proper equipment and gear to survive for at least a month. But of those reasons was one of a determination to become a hero of the wild, and following the hero’s journey. To do this, he needed to have the right mindset with the right materials and equipment, which he was somewhat lacking. Albeit his circumstances and lack of equipment, he decided to go on the journey anyway, so this is his journey in its entirety.

Chris McCandless had, instead of receiving a challenge, created a challenge for himself that he was willing to take up and attempt to defeat. His challenge was to venture out into the wild by himself and to hitchhike his way deep into Alaska, starting all the way from his home in suburban Virginia. He was a smart student and had received great grades throughout high school. As soon as he graduated from Emory College with honors, though, he had disappeared out of sight. This left him with no one to help him with his journey, because of the impulsive decision he had made to leave without thinking of the consequences he would face. According to the website

Nevertheless, McCandless had been able to hitchhike his way all the way to the Canada/Alaska border, which is when he had begun his great journey on the Stampede Trail north of Mt. Mckinley. It was at this time that he had achieved step three of the hero’s journey, which is to “Cross the threshold from his normal, safe home, and to enter the special world and adventure.” In this case, the special world would have been the Alaska/Canada border and the adventure would have been McCandless beginning his journey on the Stampede Trail. During this time, he also left his home for the last time, as he would later on in his journey become trapped in the wilderness to starve to death.

As McCandless moves bravely forward into step 4 of the hero’s journey, he faced the problem of not finding a ride while hitchhiking. While he has had some great ideas for getting up to Alaska, not everyone will want to accept a hitchhiker, as it would be a risky move on the driver’s part because you never know what a hitchhiker could do to you if you let them in your car. Even with the knowledge of the dangers of picking up a hitchhiker, McCandless still proceeds to attempt it, and somehow finds a ride rather quickly. The driver that picked him up was willing to take him all the way to Fairbanks, Alaska, and in addition, take him to get the proper equipment from a shop along the way. This surprised McCandless because he was expecting to never get a ride and to have to walk all the way to Alaska by himself. According to the book “Into the Wild” on page 163, Krakauer writes “Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. Anesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, ’cause ‘the West is the best.’ And now after two rambling years comes to the final and greatest adventure.” This shows how determined McCandless was to achieve his dreams of living on his own in the wild with just the help of a ride or two to get up to Fairbanks.

Then came the time for step 5 of his journey into the wild, which was to face his worst fear. McCandless had already been on his own for a while now, so he was getting fairly used to fending for himself. He was already starting to become weaker from exhaustion as the days of travel climbed and climbed, although his determination and effort were some of the only things that kept him up and running. When he had reached Alaska, he was met with quite possibly one of his greatest fears of being on his own – starvation. He was not hopeful in the first place about finding food easily where he was headed and ended up killing a deer only to find out he did not have a way to preserve its meat, which means he could not eat it. He felt like he had killed an animal for no reason at all because he could not eat it. He felt like he was literally going to starve to death at that moment from the rancidity of the deer meat. McCandless has reached step 6 at this point and feels as if he could die of starvation. He quickly writes up a few more last pleads for help in hope that a passerby hunter would catch their eye on one of them. But it turns out that none of that had happened until it was already too late, and McCandless had already perished from starvation.

Christopher McCandless had skipped steps 7 through the end, as he had died without recognition at first for his feats and accomplishments. At least until Jon Krakauer had written an amazingly descriptive article about him in the “Outside” magazine later on. As a result of Krakauer’s decision to write this article about McCandless, his death went from just general to being recognized as one of the most recognized of the month, maybe even the year.

In conclusion, Christopher McCandless should be considered a hero. He made it to Alaska on foot with only the help of a few rides, he survived a number of months in the wild by himself, and he was able to pursue a dream or passion of venturing into the wild and proving society wrong by surviving in the wild. He was truly an overconfident person that did not know when to stop and think about what he was doing. He wanted to get right into the journey with hardly any preparation whatsoever, which would, in turn, give him a series of inescapable consequences during his journey. He had also suffered from a lack of proper gear and equipment, which caused him to not be able to cross the flooded river during the summer he was alone. McCandless was a daring person, whom some may call a hero and others not, but I am siding with those who do not.

Works Cited:

1. Krakauer, Jon. “Chapter 16/The Alaska Interior.” Into The Wild, Anchor Books, 1997, pp. 163–163.

Throughout time, many people all over the world develop different principles and ideologies that bring joy and happiness through their lives. These principles can come from a variety of subjects and are unique to the individual. Specifically, in the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer, the main character, Christopher McCandless had many radical ideas that brought him happiness. During the book, Krakauer details how Chris had wanted to escape society to find happiness and one of his main sources was the wild. Therefore, through Chris’s many adventures, John Krakauer develops the theme that true happiness may be found through isolation and nature by using writing strategies such as conflict, characterization, and

One technique that Jon Krakauer uses to develop the theme that true happiness may be found through isolation and nature is the use of conflict, specifically, man vs. man. For example, throughout the account, Krakauer describes how Chris had disagreed with his parent’s actions and materialism and believed that this did not bring happiness to the family. According to the novel, in a letter that Chris wrote to Carine, he says “Did they think I’d actually let them pay for my law school if I was going to go… I’ve told them a million times that I have the best car in the world, a car that has spanned the continent from Miami to Alaska, a car that has in all those thousands of miles not given me a single problem, a car that I will never trade-in, a car that I am very strongly attached to-yet they ignore what I say and think I’d actually accept a new car from them! I’m going to have to be real careful not to accept any gifts from them in the future because they will think they have bought my respect” (Krakauer 21). This example displays a man vs. man conflict because it explains how Chris didn’t want any gifts or money from his parents because he didn’t like the materialism his parents exercised. This example shows how Chris didn’t like the wealth his family had to offer because he believed that true happiness could not be found in the gifts they bought one another. This example also shows how Chris didn’t want to accept any of his parents’ gifts because he didn’t like being surrounded by wealth and didn’t like all the flashy things they planned on getting him. Overall, this example of conflict supports the theme because ultimately one of the main reasons why Chris escaped and isolated himself in the wild was to get away from his parents. He wanted to escape from the greed and money they held in order to find his true happiness. Chris was able to find this true happiness through the vast landscape of the Alaskan wilderness and by completely isolating himself from his family. That is how Krakauer develops the theme through the use of conflict.

Besides conflict, another technique that Krakauer uses to develop the theme that true happiness may be found through isolation and happiness is through characterization. Throughout the novel, Chris along with his family and the members he met on his journey, all describe Chris in many different ways. For example, early on in the novel, Krakauer includes Chris’s inner feelings of Leon Tolstoy which writes, “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life” (Krakauer 15). Later on in the story in Chris’s last days, he writes in the bus “Happiness is only real when shared” (Krakauer 189). These examples characterize Chris as someone who didn’t want life to be represented by a dollar sign, but rather to be full of adventures and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. These examples also characterize Chris as someone who wanted to be independent of society and only wanted to share his feelings with the wild. Therefore, these examples help support the theme that true happiness may be found through isolation and nature because Chris was the type of person who loved nature ever since he was a little boy and his goal was to understand the wilderness around him. One of the few reasons why Chris made his trek to Alaska was so that he didn’t have to worry about the materialism around him and he rather spend his time traveling across the country and ultimately settling down in nature which was his goal throughout his life. This example also helps support the theme because they explain how Chris emphasized the fact that happiness is only real when shared and he wasn’t able to share it with his family but rather with the wild because he felt that the wild and himself connected in a way that was special. This special connection with nature allowed Chris to find the happiness he was looking for. That is how Krakauer develops the theme through the use of characterization.