Talking about one of Into the Wild's themes

There are many themes in Into the Wild, but lets pick the reason MacCandless went to nature and live there which can also be the theme I am going to write about now.

The Allure of the Wilderness:

To MacCandless, wilderness has a specific taste to him, he believes that it is a place free of tensions and modern of society, this has been a reoccurring theme in many traveling books, which makes you understand that the allure of wilderness is overwhelming and enticing enough to cause a person to leave his people and live outside his society to feel what MacCandless first felt when he decided to go on a journey to find that free place.

However, that alluring felling will disappear as soon as you are there. MacCandless, for example, spent most of his time trying to find food and keep himself alive, so he did not even find time to cherish that wilderness!

So, as you see this is a central idea that runs through many travel books, which can help you understand the point of view from which the author is writing and also gives the story unity, influence and core.

My own response

I have read a considerable number of summaries about travel books and always wanted to know the reason behind writing them. Each traveler seek something when traveling, but I will concentrate on Chris's motive which is freedom.

Finally, I have my opportunity to give my own response to it using Into the Wild as a great example. Chris adopted that idea and set out in a trip to find himself, but did he succeed?!

HOWEVER..............

Most of the travelers who decide to abandon everything, either want freedom or spirituality. Lets take freedom for example, does nature unlock the secrets to it? Many travelers believe that freedom is associated with isolation, the more you are far away from society, the more you will feel free. But I think that is wrong, I mean do not all the people who live within your society have free life?!! Of course not.

To make it clearer, even when we are alone or isolated in nature, we still observe and act according to our ideas and concepts and more importantly our beliefs, so it does not matter if you live within your society or outside it as long as you will be able to control your feelings and use your ideas reasonably.

On the other hand, some people may contradict with me and say spending time in nature can help having more insightful understanding about oneself.

Well, the nature itself should not be the goal, you can spend time alone anywhere else with out the presence of people to feel that bizarre kind of freedom.

I am trying to convey a message that help travelers who seek that kind of isolation to have a better life and (productive-isolation)with out leaving their societies and families by changing the concept of restricting that kind of escape traveling to nature only. Think of Chris's case and you will know what I mean!

setting of (Into the wild)

Basically, this book talks about the travels of Chris McCandless mostly across the western region of the United States and Alaska, and sometimes in Mexico and Virginia. some of the events happened in various years, but the most important took place in the 1980s and 1990s.

What is peculiar about it is the full description of the country MacCandless traversed. I mean you can easily trace his journey across the country with a map by just reading this book, which gives more support to the setting used(wilderness)! And as setting fulfills most of the core aspects of a story, Jon managed to do this by including different time periods and places in which each event takes place according to what serve the story better and how certain settings can evoke mood and character.

For example, how that appealing nature attracted Chris and caused him leaving his town and family. Also, by providing that kind of setting, we can understand Chris's obsession with nature( emotional landscape) and how John connects it with Chris.

Characterization

What I like in this novel is the way the characters are presented and how they have different functions. Jon gives each one a different role in which they serve the story 'till it finishes.

I want to prove that each character has a different role regardless of their importance. Here, I chose two different characters: Chris who is the most important character in the story, and Gallien who is less important and appear for a short period of time, whom I will try and give a compact analysis of:

The Maniac:

Sorry, but I could not find more suitable character than the JOKER to compare Chris's Character with!

Firstly, Chris is the subject of this book, John presents him as a normal person. A person who is not that much different than any of us, he just has different motives, based on his specific needs, and goes to the wild to give satisfaction to these motivations and needs. In my perspective, I think that was a bit abnormal, those kinds of desires should be hidden and suppressed as they are capable of dragging you to death!

The Saviour:

Is not Gallien a real hero?!

Secondly, Gallien who delivers the hitchhiking McCandless to his final destination. Gallien tries to make McCandless change his mind about his plans. Gallien is certain that Alex, as McCandless calls himself, is not prepared for life in the Alaskan outdoors. Nevertheless, John gives Gallien what I think an important role: Gallien's roles functions as the potential saviour for Chris.

Really, If Chris had listened to him, he would not have died!

Who do you think now is the most important character? think realistically!

Narrative Techniques

Regarding the narrative techniques in Into the Wild, John uses a various techniques to introduce the story comprehensively. I will try and analyze what I believe is one of the techniques!

utilizing the narrative storytelling technique of putting parts out of order was my first assumption, I mean when I first read the author's note, he gave a brief summary about the novel, and then started to read the first chapter. After reading the first chapter, I understood about 40% of story as John does not include much details about Alex's journey. However, When I started reading chapters 2 and 3 I was expecting him to go on with the story and tell what happens next with Alex after he is dropped off by Gallien,

But he starts to explain something else when he goes back and talks about the history of Alaska Range and how some projects were undertaken there. Then he starts to speak about Alex again and his calm town in much more details. In my perspective, this kind of storytelling confuses me since it is not presented directly and not in a logical sequence.

But my assumption might change after finishing the novel......................who knows?!

Analyzing a quotation from (Into the Wild)

"Nothing is more damaging to an advenurous spirit than a man with a secure future"

This is a quotation from(Into the Wild), but what does Jon Krakauer mean by that?!

I will interpret this in my way.

An adventure,or a quest begin with a human desire to experience something hidden or unknown. A lake or a forest could attract you by the impression that there is something there to discover. And as advernture lies deep within most of us, it is difficult to resist it, but what if we had a secure future(As Jon mentioned above)? Will that damage this spirit of adventure?

I think yes, and could do that drastically, after Alex decided to live off the land, he got rid of all his belonings! So there was something holding him from leaving and living that life, he was a university graduate and from a wealthy family. I think having that secure life can sabotage that adventours spirit, but how?

As we know and as I meantioned above, Alex had everything he needed, but that currupted his life, he did not even know how to manage his trip or adventure.
make it more cohesive by asking you this question
What would you do if you had these two things at the same time?

You have a successful life, a well-paid job ,wife and childern. On the other hand, your adventours spirit keep calling you and you really have the passion to have that adventure where you go and experience a new life and discover new things........ But stop, you can't go, have you forgotten that you have a wife and work to take care of?!! You will be stuck and your adventurous spirit may slightly disappear. Also, you might start to dissimulate your feelings!

That what the qoutation in (Into the Wild) means, and what I think of what it means generally.

the idea of using third-person narrative

Using the third-person narrative gives the narrator a bigger opportunity to share point ov views in underlying way. It is one of the most common techneques in storytelling.


To make it clearer, this techneque tends to offer more ,if not the most, objective view, neither the narrator(directly) or the reader are involved in this. Jon Karkauer uses this many times in his book(Into the Wild), and we can identify that by spotting pronouns such as they, it, he and she.


For example, (When the rangers pulled off the trap, they found an old yellow Datsun without licence plates,) if you look at this example, you will see that Jon uses(they) as a third-person narrative pronoun. If he used I and you, that would change it to a first-person narrative.... I think you know the difference now :)

This is basically the third-person narrative