Paper #2
Into the Wild
Into the Wild is a book about a young man named Chris McCandless and his decision to go off and live in the wild. He decided to walk deep into the Alaskan wilderness and abandon all of his possessions and family. This book is the authors, Jon Krakauer, version of Chris McCandless’ story put together through interviewing and speaking with people who knew Chris as well as by using letters Chris wrote to his loved ones.
In my opinion on what motivated Chris McCandless to venture off into the wild was his need to get out of mainstream society and to not live the life that was originally planned out for him. On his journey to Mt. McKinley, Alaska, he met some friends. One in particular was Ron Franz who was widowed and life was changed because of Chris’ advice towards him. Chris McCandless did end up making it to Alaska and even lived in the wild for 118 days, but unfortunately died of starvation.
Here are some excerpts that are quoted from the book, Into the Wild.
“I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life. (pg. 15)”
– Chris McCandless
My reflection on this quote is that this quote probably led or drove him to do go into the wild. I think that this quote led or drove him to do what he did because he most likely felt misunderstood and he probably felt as if he didn’t fit in to our ‘normal’ world that we live in today. But, in my opinion, even though he was misunderstood, it doesn’t mean that had to take it in a negative way. Not everyone is ‘normal’ in our world today and he could have just let himself shine through instead of shunning himself out and going into the wild. In this quote, to me, he is saying that he felt different and that the world he was living in probably wouldn’t accept him.
“There is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. (pg. 57)” – Chris McCandless
My reflection on this quote is that what