Into the Wild

Mankind is terribly cruel.  As a society, we demand unquestioned conformity from every individual.  Those who march to the beat of their own drum are usually ostracized, rejected or worse. 

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer tells the true story of Christopher McCandless, a young man who wanted to live freely, exuberantly, and unreservedly.  Chris idealistically refused to conform to the society in which he was born, and he sought to lead a meaningful, spontaneous life, focusing only on the essentials of living. 

Chris McCandless graduated from Emory University in 1990 with high honors.  Disillusioned by the shallow materialism around him, Chris abandoned his plans to attend Harvard Law School.  He donated his $24,000 life savings to charity, packed his few possessions into the trunk of his car, and drove west.  He recorded his nearly-unbelievable adventures in his journal and camera; after his car was damaged in a flash flood, Chris hitchhiked to South Dakota where he worked at a grain elevator for several months.  He made his way south, and eventually canoed to Mexico on the Colorado River. He drifted through Arizona and California, and began making plans for his long-awaited adventure to Alaska.  Chris hitchhiked north, and in April of 1992, he sent the following postcard to his friend Wayne:

“Greetings from Fairbanks! This is the last you shall hear from me, Wayne. Arrived here 2 days ago. It was very difficult to catch rides in the Yukon Territory. But I finally got here. Please return all mail I receive to the sender. It might be a very long time before I return South. If this adventure proves fatal and you don’t ever hear from me again, I want you to know you’re a great man. I now walk into the wild.”

Four months later, Chris was dead.  A group of hunters discovered his emaciated body in the Alaskan wilderness; Chris had been living in an abandoned school bus (a temporary lodging for hunters), and he had been thriving until he accidentally consumed a poisonous plant and starved to death.  Jon Krakauer wrote Into the Wild by compiling journal entries, letters, photographs, and interviews with Chris's family and friends.

Into the Wild has inspired me tremendously.  Christopher McCandless understood something deep and powerful about life: in the words of Henry David Thoreau, "Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth."  Chris saw that his society constructed meaningless formalities to avoid facing the truth.  He put aside the notion that material success always equals greatness, and he blazed his own trail, enjoying the base necessities of life and discovering the limitless value of natural beauty and human relationships. 

The story of Chris McCandless creates controversy because his untimely death seems to indicate that his life was a waste and his experiment was a failure.  While I regard his death as a tremendous loss to the human race, I also believe that his experiences can teach an invaluable lesson.  Chris lived a rich, beautiful life.  He refused to be content with a numb, meaningless existence.  Most people never take a moment to reflect inwardly on their own souls, but Chris spent his short life on a journey to discover himself and the truth.

Side note: Part of my fascination with Christopher McCandless stems from his exemplification of the American Adam motif.  The American Adam recurs throughout the American literary tradition: the solitary individual who liberates himself from his past and journeys westward to conquer, to discover, and to be free.  He gives new names to the things he sees, and he lives independently and innocently.  (Think of Natty Bumpo, Nick Adams, Huckleberry Finn, even Hester Prynne).  Chris McCandless is a real-life American Adam.  End Note. 

Please read Into the Wild at some point in your life.  Even if you completely disagree with Chris's decisions, I think you stand to gain something from this book.  Jon Krakauer beautifully portrays the life of Chris McCandless, and I finished this book feeling deeply connected to Chris, as if I knew him. 

Also, the movie was excellent.  You can watch it before or after you read the book, actually.  (I rarely say that). 

--Spence