Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Essay

â€Å"Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is THE ROAD,† (163) and with those words, Chris McCandless declared his independence and walked into the wild bush of Alaska in May 1992. Little did he know that in three short months, his decaying remains would be found by moose hunters, only a few miles from where he began his journey along the Stampede Trail. Chris McCandless’s story, which was retold in John Krakaur’s book, Into the Wild, is a true testament to the idea of freedom and independence that has powered the foundation of American society. Chris McCandless had always marched to the beat of his own drummer, as did many American heroes. Even when he was a child, Chris was known for being overly adventurous and a little less than cautious. This great sense of adventure frightened Chris’s family and friends ever since they noticed it when he was just a child. Because of this, his parents were horrified, but not completely shocked, when one day Chris departed from his typical life in Atlanta, Georgia and was never heard from by his family again. As a graduate of Emory College, Chris’s future potential would have been almost unlimited; he had so much ahead of him but threw it all away and spent the rest of his life on the road. What McCandless was searching for by leaving his safe life cannot be easily understood by most, but many transcendentalists shared a similar understanding of Chris’s â€Å"call to nature. Transcendentalism rejects typical culture or society and is often marked by a love of nature and a pursuit for a greater meaning of life. Many parallels can be drawn between Chris McCandless’s story and the stories from authors such as Walt Whitman. Many transcendentalists like Walt Whitman and Chris McCandless turn to the open road to get a better understanding of life, but in doing this, Chris puts his â€Å"secure future† in jeopardy by abandoning his former identity, giving up all of his possessions, and relying solely on the land. Chris gives up his life of security when he decides to alter his whole identity. Although Chris was raised in a seemingly tight knit family, in college he discovered that his parents’ marriage was the result of an affair, and his father maintained a bigamous relations for two years (121). After that discovery, Chris started to resent his parents, especially his father. His absolute anger towards his parents is what finally caused Chris to completely cut them off from his life as he ventured into the wild. In his two years being away from home, Chris’s family never heard from him once; even his sister, Carine, who was very close to Chris, never spoke to him again. Chris’s sudden absence in his family’s life hurt each member deeply. His father even questions, â€Å"How is it that a kid with so much compassion could cause his parents so much pain? † (104). Although he knew he was hurting his family by leaving, Chris’s lack of concern for his family members stemmed from the hurt he felt that they each caused him. Walt Whitman’s character in Song of the Open Road does not find it as easy as Chris did to leave the past behind. The speaker of the poem writes, â€Å"Still here I carry my old delicious burdens, I carry them, men and women, I carry them with me wherever I go. † This line shows that the author still carries memories and feelings from his old life with him on a daily basis, which exemplifies how hard they are to forget. This regretful attitude contrasts to that of Chris’s in that the speaker doesn’t want to completely leave the past behind but desires to recall his memories during future journeys. Not only did Chris directly cut off his family in order to leave his old life behind, but he also adopted a pseudonym that he felt was more fitting to his new personality. Kraukauer describes Chris’s final transformation and says, â€Å"No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny† (23). This new, outrageous name truly enabled Chris to leave his past of reason and safety behind and move forward to his new life of freedom and adventure. Not only did Chris completely alter his identity but his absolute resignation of worldly positions also put his future safety at risk. Before leaving for his journey and without his parents’ knowledge, Chris donated his entire college fund containing 25,000 dollars to OXFAM, a hunger relief charity (20). This gesture really proves Chris’s complete release of security and lack of consideration for worldly possessions. After starting his long journey with no money, Chris almost immediately abandoned his old yellow Datsun in a riverbed in the Lake Mead National Recreation area. He decided to do this after a flash flood wets the cars engine as a result of his failure to acknowledge the flood zone warning signs. In reality, Chris could have found a way to save his car but instead was exhilarated by the event and saw it as â€Å"an opportunity to shed unnecessary baggage† (29). At the same time, Chris burned his last small amount of money and â€Å"one hundred and twenty-three dollars was promptly reduced to ash and smoke† (29). After this, Chris’s journey was one that literally started from nothing; He had no money, no car, no food, and no one but himself. Chris’s dire need to get rid of every worldly possession greatly endangered his life. The speaker in Walt Whitman’s poem agrees with Chris’s opinion that worldly possessions are unimportant. When the speaker says, â€Å"You shall not heap up what is call’d riches, you shall scatter with lavish hand all that you earn or achieve,† he is expressing his belief that wealth should be shared among many and not kept for one individual. Chris really exemplifies this concept by donating all of his money to those who were less fortunate than him. Chris’s last major risk to his life and security is his trip to Alaska. After a year and a half of traveling around the United States, Chris finally planned his trip to Alaska, which had always been his utmost goal. Chris went into his journey extremely ill equipped for the harsh months that would lie ahead of him in the Alaskan bush. Jim Gallien, an experienced woodsman who gave Chris a ride to the Stampede Trail, described Chris as having nowhere near as much food and gear as would be expected for that kind of trip (4). The only food Chris brought with him was a ten-pound bag of rice; he planned on shooting the rest of his food with a gun that by Gallien’s standards was too small to kill any major game. When questioned repeatedly on his plans for survival, Chris confidently assured Gallien, â€Å"I am absolutely positive I won’t run into anything I cant deal with on my own† (6). Chris’s overconfident attitude is what angered many experienced woodsman who replied to Krakauer’s first article about Chris. They complained that Chris was just foolish and naive for thinking he could take on Alaska alone with almost no experience or gear. One Alaskan hunter even states that only one word can sum up Chris McCandless: incompetent (177). Chris didn’t see his life like this however. He felt prepared and excited for anything the world could throw at him. His completely believed in himself and lived by the notion that nothing or no one could discourage him from his journey. The speaker in Walt Whitman’s poem is extremely similar to Chris McCandless in the sense that they both lived to travel the â€Å"open road† in order to experience life to the fullest. Whitman’s speaker says, â€Å"Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me, the long brown path before me leading wherever I choose. Both the speaker and Chris have an idealized view of living on the road and will not let anything deter them from it. Throughout his early life, Chris somewhat conformed to the traditional values and ideals encouraged by his parents and society. It wasn’t until he grew older that he decided to act upon his yearning escape it all and to travel and live in nature. He left his old, secure life behind for one filled with adventure, mystery, and danger. This action, which was looked down upon by many members of society, directly relates Chris to transcendentalist beliefs like those of Walt Whitman. Chris put his safety and security on the line by renouncing his former name, giving up worldly possessions, and venturing out in dangerous in foreign territory and these choices ultimately caused him his life. Even though it may not have been seen as sensible by many, Chris created his own path in life, and although it led to his death, the nomadic experience was what he always desired. Chris writes at the beginning of his final decent into nature, â€Å"No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become Lost in the Wild† (163).