Analyzing Jon Krakauer's 'Into The Wild'

Zack Krug
Revision
Into the Wild

Many people are intrigued by movies, books, and TV shows about the various amazing adventures one can take on while living in the outdoors. No story conveys this basic human need better than Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild” when a young man from a wealthy family abandons his life by giving his life savings to charity, ditching his car, burning all his cash, and hitchhiking to Alaska. But the hardest part to understand is the reasoning behind these actions. After reading the book, one questions the sanity of Chris and whether or not he was crazy or just a young man trying to find his true self. In order to figure out why he ventures out on his own we have to look at several different possible ideas.
Krakauer finds strong ways to convey young people’s attraction to high-risk activities, and this is evidenced through Chris McCandless’ actions.
 Throughout “Into the Wild”, the author talks about the many adventures that both he and Chris were involved in. These adventures seem to convey a real sense of excitement and spontaneity. When Jon Krakauer was getting ready to climb the Devils Thumb he went into details about how he might be biting off more than he can chew, but that was what made it so intriguing. The author writes, “As I formulated my plan to climb the thumb, I was dimly aware that I might be getting in over my head. But that was only added to the schemes appeal. That it wouldn’t be easy was the whole point.” (135) Many people enjoy the thrill of knowing it’s a life or death situation more than the adventure itself and feed off the adrenaline. When one goes out into the forest by themselves
He realized that there are so many stressful things in today’s world. In order for people to excel in what is considered a “normal” life they need a good job to survive. McCandless’ mission was to break down all of the parts of life which he viewed as unnecessary. He brought it back to the basic fundamentals of life, the bare essentials that one needs to make a sustainable living for oneself. The Alaskan wilderness forced Chris into becoming independent.
 On paper this sounds like an ideal situation. Living all alone in the wilderness without a care in the world. But there are many hardships one can encounter when venturing off into the unknown. Fortunately Chris McCandless was different, he knew exactly what he wanted and went for it. Many people have thought about taking on such a task as Chris did, but very few have had the mindset and the courage to actually go forth with their desire to be alone. According to Jim Gallien “I figured he’d be okay,” he explains, “I thought he’d probably get hungry pretty quick and just walk out to the highway, that’s what any normal person would do.” (7) The fact that Chris wasn’t “normal” was a huge factor in deciding how he was going to stay in the lifestyle he chose. A normal person probably would give up if they got hungry, but Chris kept going and never had it in his mind to quit. There