Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer Essay

, Research Paper

Sometimes a character may be pushed over the edge by our materialistic society to discover his/her true roots, which can only be found by going back to nature where monetary status was not important. Chris McCandless leaves all his possessions and begins a trek across the Western United States, which eventually brings him to the place of his demise-Alaska. Jon Krakauer makes you feel like you are with Chris on his journey and uses exerts from various authors such as Thoreau, London, and Tolstoy, as well as flashbacks and narrative pace and even is able to parallel the adventures of Chris to his own life as a young man in his novel Into the Wild. Krakauer educates himself of McCandless story by talking to the people that knew Chris the best. These people were not only his family but the people he met on the roads of his travels- they are the ones who became his road family.

McCandless, an intelligent child to say the least, was frustrated with orders by anyone. He wanted to do things his way or no way and he does this throughout his life. Whether it was getting an F in physics because he refused to write lab reports a certain way (an F was something that was never on McCandless report card) or not listening to advice from his parents to the extreme of leaving society to go into the wilderness, McCandless definitely was not a follower. His parents were told by one of his teachers at an early age that Chris marched to the beat of his own drummer . Chris never lost his ability to do things the way he wanted and when he wanted to do them. After receiving his diploma from Emory in 1990 he set off on a two-year escapade that would eventually end his life but in my opinion, if Chris could start over he would probably not do things much differently. I think he would still donate his $25,000 to an organization, leave his car in the woods, burn the remainder of his money, and hitch-hiked across the United States. The only thing he might do differently is finding a way not to starve to death at the end of the novel.

In the beginning of each chapter, Krakauer includes one or two exerts from various authors of nature such as Thoreau, Tolstoy, or London. Once in a while he even includes postcards that Chris had sent to some of the people he met along his journey, which show what he was feeling throughout the trip. Some of the exerts were taken from what was highlighted in the books found with Chris in the bus he was discovered dead in. Other exerts were just chosen by Krakauer to help give the reader a sense of what other naturalists were thinking when they left civilization (Thoreau for example). The last postcard ever received by Chris was addressed to one of his friends that he met along his trip. Wayne Westerberg was the one who was delivered the postcard that included the line if this adventure proves fatal and you don t ever hear from me again I want you to know you re a great man. I now walk into the wild. Chris almost knew that he would not make it out of the wild alive. Chris was seeking adventure. His trip to Alaska was the drug that made him high. 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. -Leo Tolstoy-highlighted in one of the books found with McCandless s remains. Krakauer wastes no time getting into the story and tells the reader from the beginning that McCandless eventually reaches the end of his journey of life in Alaska but he still leaves out enough to make the story interesting and he introduces the information that fills the gaps of the story through flashback.

The reader knows that there is not going to be a happy ending in Into the Wild. It is no secret that McCandless does not survive but the reader still wants to continue reading to get into the mind of McCandless. What would cause a bright and compassionate child to leave a safe environment and venture into the wild to have brushes with death on an everyday basis. The yearning that some people have to live on the dangerous side and get away from it all is the only answer. Krakauer only introduces Chris as the kid who dies in Alaska in the beginning of the novel but he uses flashback to create a picture of Chris to the reader as the novel progresses. He shows Chris as the child who grew more and more outraged with society every year of his life and eventually sought nature and solitude to get away from it all. Chris was not someone who you would expect to do something like this by reading descriptions of him. Who would think that a person who cares so much about others, who would go as far as give out food to the homeless in Washington on his Friday nights or let a vagabond sleep in his parent s camper would isolate himself from people. Chris is depicted as an outgoing child who can succeed at anything he puts his mind to and who does not need to work hard to learn things but refuses to waste time on perfection because he feels he can use his time more wisely. He could have excelled in every sport but he never wanted to fine-tune any parts of his athleticism. The only sport he worked hard at was running. Something that Chris was good at. He was not only good at running races but also from running away from people. He ran away from the anger he had for his father for leading a double life by living with his f