into the wild Essay

Chris McCandless was a man with a dream, a dream that brought him to his death in Alaska. The book Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer shows us that McCandless wanted to findout the feeling of living in the wild and the dangers of living alone in the Alaska bush, but he didnt make it, dying slowly of starvation. Why did this very smart man choose to undertake this very dangerous adventure? He is not alone in his want to live in the wild for many people have tryed to do the to. These people show an important characteristic of mankind.when men are young some are drawn

to the beauty, freedom, and danger of the wilderness, and will do crazy, and often deadly things to experience it fully. Chris McCandless, Jon Krakauer, and Everett Ruess show through their actions and thoughts that the wilderness lured them into dangerous and deadly adventures.

Chris McCandless was drawn to the wild back country like a magnet, and his obsession for it eventually brought him to undertake his fatal journey to Alaska. The freedom and carefree existence of the wilderness caused him to travel around the West for a long time with no destination in mind. McCandless feelings about starting his new lifestyle were summed up by Krakauer, who said, "At long last he was unencumbered, emancipated from the stifling world of his parents and peers, a world of abstraction and security and material excess, a world in which he felt grievously cut off from the raw throb of existence"(22). McCandless felt out of place in "everyday" existence, and wished for escape. As soon as he got out of college, he hopped in his car and drove west, seeking a new and better life. Describing what he did next and how he felt, Krakauer said, "McCandless tramped around the west for the next two months, spellbound by the scale and power of the landscape"(29). With these quotes, it becomes apparent that McCandless was unhappy with a boring and predictable life, so looked for a better existence. He found it in freedom and openness of the wild.