Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
The story of a young traveler Christopher Johnson McCandless has interested many people. He was a young man from a wealthy family, which decided to travel alone after graduating from the University and to spend some time in the wild of Alaska. His story so inspired remarkable writer Jon Krakauer that he decided to dedicate his book to this young man. This story began with books. The guy liked to read Jack London. He greatly admired the writer's position in life. “London’s fervent condemnation of capitalist society, his glorification of the primordial world, his championing of the great unwashed” – Christopher was sure that they are really similar people. (Krakauer 31) This writer was very inspiring for the guy. He liked to read the description of the exciting life of free people, who revere and cherish nature. When Christopher was reading Jack London, he dreamed that one day he will go too on a fascinating long journey and he will discover a completely different world. Christopher was so addicted to reading these stories that did not even think that his favorite writer in reality was very different and that he died as a lonely drunk. The guy forgot really often about that Jack London had very difficult life. But the end of the story of Cristian was horrible too. “In April 1992, a young man from a well-to-do East Coast family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later his decomposed body was found by a party of moose hunters.” (Krakauer 3)
Chris McCandless graduated from the University in 1990. He could continue his education at Harvard because his marks and finances could afford it. But he chose to take a break and spend some time in traveling. The protagonist, offended by the parents for all of their "sins" (last straw apparently becomes their wish to buy a new car for their favorite son), not telling them a word throws everything and everyone and goes to the supposedly "better" life, while ostentatiously burning money (which he then has to earn again) and destroying all his documents. He goes on a long trip. Chris used hitchhiking and freight trains in the western United States. On the way he met with a great pair of hippies, Bob and Jane, with whom he spent several weeks. In Arizona, he bought a kayak and went from the Colorado River to the Gulf of Mexico. In Mexico he came illegally by swimming on kayak through the spillway of the dam. Then he left the kayak and returned to the United States. For some time he worked at McDonalds. Then he spent a few months close to the Salton Sea, where he met an elderly gentleman named Ron Franz. Generally, people whom Chris saw by the road were the most interesting in the book. He was amazingly lucky to meet good men. The most joyful in this book is that people willingly and sincerely helped Chris. And Chris on the contrary, tried to get rid of them quickly. Not because of callousness, but because the affection deprived him his freedom, but he had not yet had time to get it enough. The story with the old man was the same. Ron loved with this guy, and even wanted to adopt him, but it was too uncomfortable for McCandless when he was in close relationship with the people. The guy always wanted to go far from his family. “He’d successfully kept Jan Burres and Wayne Westerberg at arm’s length, flitting out of their lives before anything was expected of him. And now he’d slipped painlessly out of Ron Franz’s life as well.” (Krakauer 39)
The guy does not want to come closer to the people, his main goal then was the road. Christopher wanted to go on a journey across America, but most of all he dreamed of Alaska. He was so tired of bustle of his university life and financial well-being of his family, he decided to try something completely new in his life. Ever since childhood, Chris been noted for his persistence, and he remained this characteristic also in twenty-two. The guy wanted to free himself from his obligations to the society and to do what he had dreamed - to travel. Christopher considered his past life is false and because of this he sought to go to the pure world of wildlife. From childhood he was fascinated by the dream of such an adventure, so he knew a lot, which helped him to live in the wild. Christopher expected something fabulous from this adventure, he was sure that it will change him absolutely. He was convinced that being alone and far from civilization, he will be able to perfect the internal and to open in himself something new. Christopher wanted to be free from everything and everyone.
Large Alaskan adventure was clearly inspired by Jack London. Chris wanted to stay for a while in the wild. He wanted to make sure that he is able to survive in the forest, without getting any help from other people. On the way, Chris came to South Dakota, where he had worked for some time on threshing of wheat. He worked there along with his new friend Wayne, a brigadier of combines. After separating with these new friends, he finally had gone to Alaska. For many years, Chris dreamed of "Odyssey to Alaska," where he could live far from civilization and to keep a diary, describing his physical and spiritual development, whenever faced with the power of nature. In April 1992, McCandless hitchhiked got to the city Fairbanks, Alaska. He found a place that seemed to him quite solitary, although there was an ancient bus abandoned in the wilderness fifty years ago. This bus was left on the expanded section of the route Stampede after the repair of a road by the company Yutan Construction and it was served as a temporary shelter for hunters, trappers and rangers patrol, and launched his plan. With him he had a 4.5 kg bag of rice, a semi-automatic rifle Remington with a lot of caliber 22mm expansive charges, allowance for plants, a few books and something from equipment. Chris decided to stay in the bus. His journal has entries for a total of 189 days. They describe a variety of impressions of Chris, from enthusiastic to gloomy, depending on the success in life. After a few months living in the wild, Chris was finally satisfied by the experiment. In July he decided to leave this place of living. He decided to get out back to the people, but he could not. The melting glaciers made from trickle through which McCandless moved in the spring a very powerful river. He had to go back to the bus. A few weeks later he died of starvation. But he did not die because he could not find some food. The reason was different. McCandless was collecting edible plants, but he had no luck. He has confused two very similar plants, also Indians sometimes confuse them, and he ate the poisonous plant. And the feature of this poison was that it had obstructed on how the food digest. As a result, no matter how much the sick person eats, she will die of exhaustion. That is what happened with Chris.
Chris specially didn’t take for a trip the necessary things for the survival. Chris really didn’t take with him something that could save his life, such as a map. He considered that it would limit his independence from the civilized world. By the way, the national psychology is really amazing thing. Instead of a card, he took a gun like a true American, as if it did not restrict his independence. Actually it was necessary to take both, but if I had to pick one thing, I'd rather take a good map. Perhaps it would be easier if someone could come up with this story. Because then everything could be blamed on writer's imagination. But this story is real. The book shows us how it is important for a person to get away from all the problems which are surround, from the eternal quarrel between the parents, and from that truth which opens to the protagonist. How it is important sometimes to get away from the entire surrounding bustle and live in the wild. But on the other hand, the main character has left all his relatives, friends and all those who loved him. And thus forced them to worry about him, miss him, to live in ignorance, not knowing where he is and what happened to him without receiving any news, letter, or phone call from him. But you need to understand the following things – there is no need to search for morality in this book, no need to make any conclusions about the rightness or wrongness of your own life. Christopher McCandless chose this way, but it was just his way. He was not the Messiah and he has not spawned a cult. He was just a guy who called himself Supertramp. And he was going to survive "Into the Wild", and not to die. “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED.” (Krakauer 129) These are the last words written by the hero and it is a major paradox of his life. Throughout his life, he aspired to freedom, implying full independence, also from people. But the price of such freedom, such happiness was too high, it was the loneliness So where is the real happiness?
Works Cited
Krakauer, Jon. “Into the wild”. Web. 1996.
