Into The Wild Analysis

Into the wild symbols By John Krakauer

Mountains symbolize overcoming challenges One challenge McCandless faced was when he accidently entered Mexico on his canoe and got stranded. Another challenge McCandless faced was when he couldn't cross the Teklanika River in the Alaska Range, which eventually led to his death. In the book, Krakaur notes, "In his journal he wrote, ' Disaster...Rained in. River look impossible. Lonely, scared. ' He concluded, correctly, that he would probably be swept to his death if he attempted to cross the Teklanika at that place, in those conditions. " (Into the Wild, pg. 170)

McCandless chooses to abandon his beloved yellow Datsun after a rainstorm causes a river to overflow into the wash he was
camped out at and flooded the car's engine. The car is symbolic of McCandless's disgust with the generally materialistic mannerisms of humanity. Americans value their cars, and he is able to leave his in the desert. The author, Krakaur, notes, "At the edge of the dry riverbed, in a thicket of saltbush not far from where they had parked, a large object was concealed beneath a dun-colored tarpaulin. When the rangers pulled off the tarp, they found an old yellow Datsun without license plates...The Datsun of course belonged to Chris McCandless." (Into the Wild, pg. 26 and pg. 27)

The moose that McCandless shoots and then, heartbreakingly, fails to preserve is emblematic of his relationship to the wild in general.
Moose meat could have prevented McCandless from starving to death. Because of his hubris, however, he isn't prepared for the enormous task of curing the flesh and ultimately fails at it. The consequences are fatal. In McCandless's journal, he reflects "...I now wish I had never shot the moose. One of the greatest tragedies of my life." (Into the Wild, pg.
167)

Presumably named by McCandless after a song by The Who, the bus represents the good fortune he repeatedly encounters during his journey through the American West.
The odds of him finding an abandoned bus just waiting for him to live in while forging for berries are one in a million. However, McCandless also dies inside the bus, indicating that his luck has run out."...he stumbled upon the old bus beside the Sushana River...he was elated to be there" (Into the Wild, pg 163)
As with deserts and mountains, rivers test McCandless's survival skills. Ironically, rivers typically symbolize life, and unlike the other natural formations in Into the Wild, it is a river that defeats McCandless and aids in his death. Because he failed to predict that the river separating the "Magic Bus" from civilization will swell with melted snow, he cannot cross it in late summer when he intended to leave the woods. And because he has no map, McCandless is unaware of options for fording the raging
waters. McCandless was quick to form relationships with people he had just met, like when he made a good impression on Wayne Westerberg's mother. In the book, Mrs. Westerburg reflects on her visit with McCandless. "Gosh, he was fun to visit with; I didn't want the night to end...Considering that I only spent a few hours in Alex's company, it amazes me how much I'm bothered with his death." McCandless got Ron Franz's help to make a leather belt, which acted a symbol for their close relationship. Kraukaur notes, " An accomplished leatherworker, Franz taught Alex the secrets of his craft; for his first project McCandless produced a tooled leather belt, on which he created an artful pictorial record of his wanderings." (Into the Wild, pg. 51)