Into The Wild By Jon Krakauer

Into the Wild Essay In the book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer the story of Christopher McCandless is told. Christopher was an adventurous young man with family problems and strong philosophical beliefs. Some may blame McCandless’ life choices on mental disorder, rebellion, or even just lack of love, however I believe he went into the wild just to get away from the stress of his family and society in general. He thought of nature as some sort of therapy in itself. Chris always felt trapped when he had to abide by the rules of society. He refused to wear socks while at work, he burnt all of his cash, and turned down the gift of a new car from his parents. The wild of Alaska was supposed to be a temporary getaway for Chris, however it tragically

His entire life, he was exploring and living up to what he thought was his full potential. He had little consideration of his family when he decided to embark on his journey into the wild. Instead of going to his family for answers and advice, he turned to writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson. McCandless referred to an excerpt from Nature by Emerson many times. One of the things Emerson says is “...Crossing a bare common, in snow puddles, at twilight, under a clouded sky, without having in my thoughts any occurrence of special good fortune, I have enjoyed a perfect exhilaration.” I believe Chris may have over romanticized the idea of nature and the wild. He thought of it as a getaway to solve all of his problems, and it may have for a short while, nevertheless he eventually realized he could not truly be happy without other people to share his happiness

They would constantly be trying to buy his love and trust even though he was not a material person. The McCandless family was financially well off, still Chris did not care about any of that. He would have been happy living the hobo life forever. He left so abruptly that he did not even give his family the chance to talk about his journey. Chris completely left his family in the dark, and upon his death, they did not quite know how to handle it. Krakauer writes, “As she studies the pictures, she breaks down from time to time, weeping as only a mother who has outlived her child can weep, betraying a sense of loss so huge and irreparable that the mind balks at taking its measure. Such bereavement, witnessed at close range, makes even the most eloquent apologia for high-risk activities ring fatuous and hollow” (Into the Wild 132). This passage describes how much pain McCandless’ mother was in. For two years, she had no clue where her son was or if he was even alive. She was not even there to hold his hand while he was dying. No parent should go through the pain of losing their own child. The fact that Chris did not keep his family informed of his whereabouts just proves how selfish he was. Reading about him, it does not seem as if he was the type to intentionally be selfish, at the same time when it came to his family, he did not care about their feelings. Chris never received the love that he