Chris Mccandless In Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

Most of the fantastic American literature we read in school follows a character through the “American Identity Quest”. There are numerous aspects of the American Identity Quest, including that the character often rejects their family, often has a distaste for authority figures and often comes from the middle class. The most notable aspect is that the character oftentimes leaves their home because their home is not fit for their current needs. In other words, the character ups and leaves their present conditions to better their livelihood or find themselves. Sometimes the two are simultaneous. Three notable examples of a character uprooting themselves in hopes of a better life are the novel Into The Wild by John Krakauer, the poem Mother Country

He was always a very independent man and didn’t rely on others for much. Over time, he becomes more and more distant from his family. His elder sister, Carine, notices this. In an interview with the author John Krakauer, she states “He seemed mad at us more often, and he became more withdrawn. But he wouldn’t tell us what was on his mind and spent more time by himself” (Krakauer 121). This shows that it is in Chris’s nature to want to be alone. A possible reason for Chris leaving to reside in near unlivable circumstances is because he wanted alone time and thought his family wouldn’t follow him there. He was young and naive, so he couldn’t fully understand the consequences of his actions. Aside from his lone-wolf personality, there’s another major life event for Chris that could lead to him resenting his family. His father, Walt McCandless, lived a double life. He was originally married to a woman named Marcia, but had an affair with a younger woman named Billie. During the affair, Billie falls pregnant with Chris and leaves

Furthermore, Richard Blanco illustrates the “leave home” aspect of the American Identity Quest in his powerful poem Mother Country. Blanco’s poem describes the Cuban-American immigration process. For context, Richard Blanco is a first generation American and his family immigrated from Cuba. In the first stanza, he uses a sympathetic tone when describing his own mother’s experience immigrating to the United States from Cuba. Blanco’s mother flees her native Cuba to move to America in hopes of better opportunities and a more fulfilling life. Many people fled Cuba because of their ruler, Fidel Castro’s unfair policies and dictatorship. In addition to a sympathetic tone, Blanco uses personification in the first stanza. He does so when stating, “The palm trees wave goodbye as she steps onto the plane”. This elevates the stanza by illustrating how difficult it can be to leave one’s home country. They need to say goodbye to every aspect of their “mother country”. In the second stanza, the tone shifts to a more nostalgic