Into the Wild — Jon Krakauer

Important passage and explanation why

“McCandless starred and bracketed the paragraph and circled “refuge in nature” in black ink. Next to “And so it turned out that only a life similar to the life of those around us, merging with it without a ripple, is genuine life, and that an unshared happiness is not happiness … And this was most vexing of all,” he noted, “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED.””

Jon Krakauer, Into The Wild (1996), p. 188

In my point of view, he went into the wild to find purpose. Maybe his purpose of life or maybe the purpose of life in general. I also think that the remark of him is kind of his answer to what he was searching for.

Characterization of protagonists

Christopher McCandless, a.k.a. “Alexander Supertramp” or “Alex”

• Adventures
• Nice
• Wise
• Intelligent

The main character is a special guy. He is a big thinker. Society is a construct which do not believe in. I still can relate in many parts to the character which make me like him.

Jon Krakauer

• Objective

Jon Krakauer is not only the author of the book but also the narrator of the story. He tells the story very objective and dry.

Ronald A. Franz

• Loving
• Old
• Nice

Ronald A. Franz finds Chris and gives him a ride to his camp. In the story they get close to each other. Ron is a very nice and caring person.

Wayne Westerberg

• Talkative
• Good heart

Even though Wayne has made crimes in his life he was a good friend to Chris. He helped in from the beginning of his journey.

Carine McCandless Fish

• Outgoing
• Musical
• Athletic
• Hardworking
• Loving

Carine is Chris younger sister. They were very close. She thought of him a lot. She seems like a very nice and carrying person.

Billie McCandless

• Selfish
• Loving
• Hardworking

In the beginning and in the flashbacks the mother was very hard working. She tried to be a good woman to her husband and family. As the book and the story progresses, she seems to change. She cared less about what another think and wants her son back.

Samuel Walter “Walt” McCandless

• Selfish
• Carrere oriented
• Intelligent
• Aggressive

The father is an intelligent man. He worked for NASA and then started his own business with his wife. In the book were passages to told that he was aggressive in the past. Threw the book begins to soften.

Jan Burres

• Nice
• Free

Jan meets Chris on the road. She gives him a ride. After they lived together for a while. They become very good friend. She is a nice, free thinking, loving person.

Basic conflict of the book

Into the wild is a true story. It follows the path taken by Chris McCandless. He was a smart guy who could have had everything he wanted. But he did not need anything. He gave everything he had away to live life. In the book, his journey gets told out of what could be learned out of his remains.

Main topics/symbols/themes and how they are presented

Hunger and Starvation

Hunger and starvation are reoccurring themes during the whole book. He donated in the beginning 24'000$ to OXFAM and suffer later from it.

Money

Money is a topic which comes up a lot. Everybody always wants to know if he has enough or needs more. This shows a society in which we are judged by the amount we have to our name.

Postcards/Notes/Letters

In the book Chris writes often to the people he has befriended on the road. He lets them know how he is doing and tries to stay connected.

Help

From many people he gets to know on the road he got help. Some of them gave him a ride, a shelter, food, work, or gears. Even though he wanted to prove that he can survive on his own he would have made it this far if it wasn’t for them.

The Bus

The bus symbolizes the luck Chris had but also was where he died.

The Yellow Datsun

The car meant to him a lot. Because he bought it himself and wasn’t the newest, but it still worked perfectly.

Hitchhiking

The hitchhiking symbolizes the lifestyle which Chris had. He did not want to be tied down to any place, person, or rule.

Chris’s books

Threw the story of Chris he read a lot of books. Many passages he highlighted and made a remark. He read book which shaped him to what has become of him like “The Call of the Wild” or “Family Happiness”.

Author’s main point

I think the point of the author was to tell the story of not a man who was special. Like in the book said he wasn’t the first and the last one to go into the wild, but Chris had everything. It shows that something isn’t the right or wrong way to live. Chris had a happy life. I think to book is more than just Chris McCandless. It’s more about the purpose of life and what is happiness. It also portrays society and what impact it can have.

Qualification and recommendation of the book

On the one hand, I loved the story. I think it’s a very important book if it comes to terms of points of view of life. Chris was a very brave man who gained knowledge that is universal which should everybody know or at least ask themself.

On the other hand, I was not big of a fan of the writing. There were a lot of time-jumps and place-jumps. I had a hard time following a red line. Also, there were many names and dates and places and so on. Additionally, there was some chapter that did not directly talk of the main storyline but of other people who did similar things as Chris or a chapter that talked a lot of plants. I think a side note would have been enough.

To conclude I think it’s a great storyline but it’s not an easy read. With the movie together I think it is easier. I still would recommend the book to anyone.