Identity In Into The Wild

Into the Wild by: Jon Krakauer is a non-fiction book based on the journey Chris McCandless takes to make a new life for himself and throughout goes through a series of changes in attitude and identity. In the month of April in 1992 a well-educated nineteen year old died after his daring trip through the Alaskan wilderness, north of Mt. McKinley. The story tells about Chris McCandless and how he got to this low point in his life and investigates the actions he performs and what he thinks about throughout his journey. Into the Wild by: Jon Krakauer tells a story about a man trying to find his identity by leaving all his troubles and possessions behind and beginning to pursue a new life through his actions, interests, beliefs and values.
Throughout
While hitchhiking through Alaska, Chris McCandless discovers new things about himself, such as discovering that he is interested in poetry and writing, especially the writings of a famous author named Leo Tolstoy. After the death of Chris McCandless, he came to adore the writings of Tolstoy because of the books that were found while looking at where he had kept his possessions and a highlighted quote marked in one that stated “ I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence” (Tolstoy qtd in Krakauer 15). Interests affect a person’s identity, Wayne Westerberg was a big influence on Chris because of the actions he put toward him that made him think of a better life. Wayne and Chris met while at a cabaret in Carthage, South Dakota, here Wayne Westerberg talks to Chris and tells him “to look him up in Carthage if he ever needed a job,” and he accepts which shows him to create an identity that comes with good decisions (Krakauer 17). While trying to survive in the wilderness, McCandless had to find food to stay alive, so he went to pick berries and saw a woman named Jan Burres, who helped him and showed Chris a very important lesson. When Jan Burres and Chris met they conversed and went out to eat because he was just living on edible plants, and after his meal he said that he needed
Chris had to forage for food to try to survive and he “relied on the advice of hunters he’d consulted in South Dakota, who advised him to smoke his meat,” which helped him bring up his confidence because he felt like he could survive under any circumstance (Krakauer 166). Throughout Into the Wild Chris shows that he is independent and wants to do everything himself with no help from anybody because he never asks. While hitchhiking, McCandless told his story to everybody he met, but when they asked to help him, he always declined the offer because he wanted to be independent and do everything himself. Chris McCandless had an identity that was partly solved because of the values and beliefs, he had already created and that had shaped part of him. Into the Wild by: Jon Krakauer is a non-fiction novel based on the journey Chris McCandless takes to make a new life for himself and throughout goes through changes in attitude and identity. The novel is based on the life of Chris McCandless as he goes off to search for a new identity by his actions, interests, values and