Troubles and Triumphs

Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild detailed the life and death of Chris McCandless; a young man who decided to radically change the way he was living to invent a new life for himself. Just after graduating from College McCandless donated $25,000 in savings to charity, burnt his remaining money, abandoned his car as well as most of his worldly possessions and began a new life. McCandless hitchhiked around the United States, and in doing so, he decided he would embark on an adventure; living out in the Alaskan bush for several months all alone. In leaving home, McCandless became totally disconnected from his family and his past. One day he just packed up and left without telling anyone. Chris totally changed his identity, calling himself Alexander Supertramp, and set out on his adventure.

John Krakauer was able to collect a great deal about the life of Chris McCandless through Chris’s diary, letters Chris wrote, and talking to the people Chris met along his journey. It is amazing how much insight into McCandless’s life was uncovered. Krakauer simply lays out the details he’s discovered of McCandless’s life for the reader to interpret. He allows the reader to take away what ever life lessons they want to from the troubles and triumphs of McCandless. That being said, Krakauer was quite emphatic when it came to information about McCandless’s views of society. McCandless felt that our society was too sheltered and that people were living dull and unhappy existences that could be different with a radical change in lifestyle.

Jon Krakauer does an excellent job of putting you in the mindset of McCandless, an idealistic youth seeking the meaning and beauty of life through the raw allure of nature. Krakauer definitely does Chris McCandless’s life justice in expressing the energy of a tangled soul pointed north. Krakauer also compares McCandless to several other men who have lost their lives in similar accidents in the Alaskan wilderness. Krakauer jumps back and forth from early in McCandless’s life to the end of his life throughout the book. In doing this the book can sometimes seem confusing. Also Krakauer sometimes goes to great depths to describe some things that he may not have needed to talk so much about. Other than those few points, my view of the book is that it is very well written and always kept me entertained.

Into the Wild is arguably one of the most famous contemporary non fiction biographical nature novels out there. This is definitely for good reason. The Motion Picture adaptation of the book became extremely popular, thus, popularising the book even more. Chris’s story is definitely one that is inspiring to the masses. Being free of the chains of society, taking hold of your life without any limits or boundaries and making the most of each day, being one with the world we live in and in harmony with the land. It isn’t a surprise why Chris’s story became so famous.