Analysis Of Ken Illgunas Walden On Wheels

In American culture, working long, tiring hours is considered the only way to live. Many individuals feel pressured to follow the path society has set out for them. Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom, chronicles Ken Illgunas’ journey to self efficacy. His 2013 memoir follows his grapple with student debt and social pressure. While searching for his place in the world, Ilgunas criticizes society’s disdain for freedom of choice, while seeking for his own purpose to a meaningful life: a balance between solitude and social integration.
Conforming to society limits Illgunas’ definition of life. His suburban upbringing makes the danger of social conformity clear to him; surrendering to society would cause him to completely lose

Up until his adventure to Coldfoot, Illgunas is surrounded by people who abide to society’s ideals, including his parents and close friend, Josh. His mother and father restrict their lives with extensive work hours. They badger him to get a “real” job; fearing his failure to get anywhere in life. He states, “I couldn’t live the lifestyle they want me to live or work at the sort of job they hoped I’d work at” (145). His parents’ lifestyle encourages him to reject their expectations. The author describes the envy provoked by social liberation. He expands, asserting that,“They remind us of the inner longings we’ve squelched, the hero or heroine we’ve buried beneath a houseful of junk, the spirit we’ve exorcised out of ourselves so we could remain with our feet on the ground, stable, and secure” (167). He ultimately concludes that society is hypocritical to judge those who follow different paths, especially considering their secret longing to do the same. Josh situation mirrors Illgunas’. He continuously searches for jobs, even ones that go against his moral values. In desperation, Josh began to work for Westwood College, as an admissions advertiser. For students from graduating from Westwood, they would be put into enormous amounts of debt, which ironically, is exactly the position Josh is in. Even though Josh had just started his job, Illgunas observed, “I could

Throughout the novel, he struggles with creating a balance between being in solitude and having a place in a community. He believes that one’s purpose in life comes from the impact he or she can create in society. He conveys multiple times in the novel what he desires and examples of what the meaning of freedom is. In the beginning, Illgunas would have reoccurring dreams in which he envisions a grizzly bear. Though Illgunas did not further comprehend the dream, it is evident that the bear symbolizes nature, a calling for him to find his adventure. Many years after, amid Illgunas’ adventure to the Noatak River, he ultimately encounters a grizzly bear. The confrontation was a recount of how Illgunas will never be on par with the grizzly; he was merely an intruder, a cheechako. Illgunas elucidates, “When we got back to where the rest of the gear was, I loaded the shotgun and waited for it. But it never came. It let me live” (269). Connecting to the dreams, the bear symbolizes a purpose, teaching Illgunas to take what he can from the wild to create a balance, in order to avoid being consumed by society’s ideals. Wanting to be wild and free like the grizzly, Illgunas strives to find his