In the culture we live in today, we are bombarded with ideas and images of “what we should be”. We are expected and obligated to modify ourselves in order to live up to social expectations and to feel accepted by others. It is the fear of being an outcast that pressures us to mask our true identity. Therefore, in an American culture, one can form an identity and still remain true and authentic to oneself through nonconformity and self-reliance. Jon Krakauer’s novel Into the Wild portrays Chris McCandless’s journey of discovering his true identity through the idea of nonconformity. McCandless takes on the world and sees it in a different perspective, then most others. The author writes, "No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless, he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own …show more content…
As Ralph Emerson said, “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles” (last sentence of book). Remaining true to himself, McCandless was able to achieve what he considered to be meaningful in life. From the start of his journey, it is seen that being true to oneself is challenging, as others are living in a world that demands them to alter their identity. However, one must stay true and authentic and understand the desires and needs, in order to attain an adequate living, just like Chris McCandless. In today’s society, self-reliance and non-conformity is an annotation on the tenets that people still value. Some people in today’s world have seemed to forgotten the ability to be content in isolation and individuality. Being true to oneself takes bravery and it compels one to be pensive and unbiased. Like Chris McCandless, he was pensive and unbiased without being thoughtless or impertinent to others. Chris McCandless was also self-reliant and did not conform, which led him to define himself of who he truly