In Jon Krakaur’s film adaption Into the Wild, a young man named Christopher McCandelss ventures out on a journey to Alaska. The reason for his trip is for Christopher to find himself and find what true happiness is. To start off his journey he is reborn; Christopher burns all the documentation of his past and gives himself a new name: Alexander Supertramp. Throughout Alex’s journey he touches many lives and many lives have touched him. Alex is like a sponge soaking up knowledge and experiences during his travels. During the course of the movie Alex exhibits many qualities that Oliver Sacks would agree with as well as many qualities that David Abram would approve of, like his journey to becoming a shaman. First, the whole idea of Alex’s journey to Alaska and living off of the …show more content…
Abram would have considered Alex a Shaman in training because he is never able to truly become one. Alex shows many characteristics of a Shaman, but not all of the traits of a true Shaman. Alex is a Shaman in aspect to how he becomes one with nature and experiences through nature. Abram describes a Shaman as a “magician [that] heals an individual, they are actually re-balancing the relationship between culture and nature”(Abram 10). Throughout the film, it is clear that Alex’s presence and personality touches many people in positive ways. Alex is somehow able to solve the problems of others, even if those individuals were not aware they had a problem to begin with. A good example of this is Mr. Frans; he does not realize that he is missing out on the beauty of the world until Alex challenges him to climb some of a mountain and see the view. Alex does not push Mr. Frans to climb the mountain, but encourages him to the amount that he can and to push himself. Mr. Frans admires Alex’s spirit and feels like Alex brought life into his mundane