Examples Of Marxism In Into The Wild

In Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild the main character Christopher Johnson McCandless describes what he is looking for on his Odyssey as “ultimate freedom”. What does it mean to achieve “ultimate freedom”? Well, to everyone it is different, however to Christopher, it is to be free from other people's rules. Throughout McCandless whole life he finds authority, particularly oppressive. To live completely alone, where the only laws he feels the need to follow are those of nature, is to him, “ultimate freedom”. In the book, Christopher McCandless rejected the American Dream and sought a more fulfilling experience in the wilderness that is Alaska. His demise from starvation was the result of underestimating the scale of civilization and the uncivilized

Into the Wild viewed from a Marxist perspective is evident throughout the novel. McCandless wants to escape what he calls "arbitrary life" to travel and live in the wild. “No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild.”(Krakauer 163) As he travels on his Odyssey, McCandless comes in contact with many people along the road. These individuals come from different classes, however, all want to help McCandless. Due to McCandless’s stubbornness, he refuses their help. In the perspective of a Marxist, this behavior is evident due to the fact he does not want to be part of any social class, and all the people he encounters are part of a capitalist society. Christopher believes that people in society are too comfortable and the way to live is to constantly seek adventure. “ 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.” (Krakauer 56-57) The decision he made to go to Alaska with minimal supplies was in many ways a suicidal

McCandless was for one dissatisfied with the way he was living in society. He would rather live as far away from our society then be surrounded with materialistic things and authority. “Put a match to it. One hundred and twenty-three dollars in the legal tender was promptly reduced to ash and smoke”( Krakauer 29) Evident in Christopher’s journal is the act of burning all his money and leaving his car. This was ultimately a way for McCandless to entirely be on his own without the use of anything modern or having possession of material, such as American currency and a vehicle. His detachment towards materialistic things is leading towards his idealistic ways of not wanting to be a part of social classes such as the perspective of a Marxist. A Marxist believes that social classes should not exist. Chris is ultimately “living off the essentials in life.” Chris did not need materialistic things to be happy. His mentality consisted of only needing things he needed not wanted. “Chris was very much of the school that you should own nothing except what you carry on your back at a deadpan.”(Krakauer 32) On the other hand, his parent’s belief was to give McCandless the most materialistic things he wanted. However, their mentality would ultimately displease him. Due to McCandless’s opposite beliefs and values from his parents additionally, creates another factor of why