Mental Illness In Into The Wild

The story of Chris McCandless shows a rebellious free spirit trying to live his life to the fullest. But is the story as black and white as it looks? “Into the Wild” by Jon Krakauer is a true story about the adventure of Chris McCandless. He travels around the country and mooches off people before he goes to Alaska and tragically dies. The early trauma to Chris caused him to be mentally unstable. Due to the similarities from Chris’ childhood and the authors I believe there has to be a romanticization of the story to better fit his ideal self. The author is manipulating the story to make the idea of living off the land and being a rebel better than it truly is. Chris could have had a possible mental illness as a result of early childhood
Jon through his book expresses that he loves mountain climbing, he loves going to great heights. My only question is: Could he possibly be pushing his “obsession” onto the audience? “If something captured my undisciplined imagination, I pursued it with a zeal bordering on obsession, and from the age of seventeen until my late twenties that was mountain climbing.” (Krakauer, 134). Jon is telling us about his childhood of his coming to what he loves. To as he says, “zeal bordering on obsession” If we take a look at the story through the goggles of someone in love with the concept. This is story about a rebellious kid who breaks societal chains. But in reality it is a tragic story of a mental kid running away from his problems without knowing the effect of his actions. The story sounds like he is making it into a story about his ideal self, the self that doesn't care about society, doesn't care about his father, doesn't care about anything besides going outdoors and living there. People say this story isn’t about Chris, it is about you. But i beg to differ; I believe that this story isn’t about anyone but an author who wished he changed his life into being a rebellious free spirit long