The Journey Of Chris Mccandless And Jack London

In the novel Into the Wild, a true story about the journey of Chris McCandless. In his journey into Alaska where he inevitably died, he met many people and he urged some of these people to read books written by Jack London. As we learn about McCandless we need to see his point of view and why he liked Jack London so much. So, we must know who Jack London is. Jack London was a kid who moved around a lot due to the unsteady work of his parents. When he was nineteen he enrolled in high school and quickly became hooked on literature. He quickly finished the work load and entered the University of California. He was a hard worker, but didn’t have enough money to pay for more than a single semester at school, so he went to work in the hopes of a

London was similar in a way because he liked writing about these ideas. In Londons stories The Son of the Wolf,The Call of the Wild, and White Fang he talks about the adventures a person could encounter in the alaskan territory. Reading these literary works as an impressionable young man would have urged Chris’ already growing need for adventure to dream of Alaska. In White Fang London says “The Land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness. There was a hint in it of laughter,”. Krakauer incoorperates this quote in Into the Wild along with a scripture found on a piece of wood at the spot of McCandless’ death, “Jack London is King”(Krakauer ITW 9). London clearly influenced many decisions made by Chris. It is possible that with the help of other factros and London’s storytelling of adventure that this led McCandless to attempt a feat he was unable to conquer which may have been a contiburing factor in his death. This by no means suggests that London is responsible for Chris’ actions. But, the actions Chris made that some peope think of as bold and heroic can defenitely be tied into London’s work, such as the trek into Alaska. One thing many people need to consider is that if McCandless made it out of Alaska alive, we may have pointed in London’s direction as an inspiration to a man who tested his physical, mental, and