Identity in Into The Wild Essay

Illusiveness of Identity

After people were born and started to think who they are, they try to define their identity or build up their identity. Build their own identity is first step to start one persons life. Most people around the world, their identities are influenced by their circumstances, such as their family, friends, education, society, or maybe what their interests are. In addition, many other factors could affect one persons identity. There are many ways that we can affect our personality depends on who influence your life or identity. This is real important to people, even more important to young generation who just started to build their lives. Their personalities are immature, so it is important to who should they looking as a role model.

If a person who really do not get along with their family, they might feel lonely and felt that he or she would not get enough love or attention from their parents, then that persons personality could fact by their parents. So they might be coward, not confident about what they are doing, and maybe they do not know how to give the love or love the things.

Into The Wild, by Jon Krakauer, tells a story about the illusiveness of identity. The illusiveness of identity, or truly understanding someones identity, is important in this book specially. Christopher McCandless is the main subject of Into the Wild. McCandless is an intelligent, extremely intense young man with a streak of stubborn idealism. Also he had very complex characteristic.

Christopher McCandless grows up in a wealthy suburb of Washington D.C., where he succeeds both academically and athletically. He graduates from Emory University. So far, we can suspect that he had affluent life, not like others. He never worried about the money to get into the college or never thought about his life is miserable. He fulfilled his needs easily because of his parents. His parents supported him as materialistically. They fulfilled his needs before Christopher wanted something. Mostly because of his parents action towards him, he never struggled about financially, but as his identity built up, he realizes his life is not just for himself.

Christopher graduates from Emory University with honors , and soon after wards gives all of his savings to charity, starts going by the name of Alex, abandons almost all of his possessions, and spends two years hitchhiking and traveling around the west. He then hitchhikes to Alaska, where he walks alone into the wildness north of Mt. Mckinley in 1990. He found dead four months later, and this is how the story starts by his death.

Christopher, also known as Alex, he seems to be has everything. He is came from wealthy family, never worried about paying tuition fee, had a family, went to good school, being educated, and never worried about his future at all. But he never satisfied and liked about what he had at all, even he dislike what he has. He was over protected by his family and just grown up as what his parents want him to be. In addition, he felt that his life is no longer depends on his, it is depends on his parents. Suddenly, after him graduate, he sees that his parents want him to go law school as graduate school, and thinks it is an inevitable duty for him to go graduate school.

One day he heard from his parents that they will by a car for him, which is unusual to having a expensive car as a student in that time. But his parents felt that nothing is wrong with buying a car, but he refused to take a car.

I cant believe theyd try and buy me a car, he later complained in a letter to Carine,

or that they think Id actually let them pay for my law school if I was going to go

Ive told them a million times that I have the best car in the world, a car that has

spanned the continent from Miami to Alaska, a car that has in all those thousands

of miles not given me a single problem, a car that I will never trade in a car that

I am very strongly attached to- yet they ignore what I say and think Id actually

accept a new car from them! Im going to have to be real careful not to accept any

fights from them in the future because they will think they have bought my

respect. (21).

This latter is explain to his sister, Carine, that how he dislikes his parents and angry towards his parents. He felt that his parents are trying to buy his respect and future by accept the car. He already had a car and normally at that time, it was unusual to having a car, but he already had a nice car and Cristopher was happy with his car so he would not think about getting a new car. But his parents would not listen him even he says that he does not need a car. He felt that he was ignored by his parents, one who should support him and listen to him what he really wants. All he wanted was having a respect from his parents, truly want them to be understood what he really wants in his life, and be supported on him no matter what he chose as his future. But his parents would not let him to having him to have his own life and try to control and buying a respect from him by giving a car. Maybe because of his parents, he went into the wild because he can be by himself in the wild, no one had to choose what he has to do, it is just up to him whether he doing or not. He would not need to listen to anyone else besides himself.

Many of the people who reacted strongly to the story of McCandlesss death were angered by what they perceived as his hubris, walking into the wilderness with few survival tools and almost no food, and no safety net. In chapter twelve and thirteen, there are evidences that there is indeed some truth to this idea. It may have only been his youth, but although McCandless acknowledged the danger of his plan, he did not seem to truly believe that he would not survive. Actuall, he did not really know how to be independent, because he never did anything by own his action. He normally did depends on what his parents want him to do. On McCandlesss first independent road trip, he gets lost in the Mojave Desert and almost dies from dehydration. Yet, instead of learning a lesson from this, he instead is angered when his parents ask him to be more careful, offended at the idea that he cannot take care of himself. This foreshadow McCandlesss later insistence on going forward with his Alaska trip, against much advice, and without help, though it is often offers. If he careful with his safety and not being stubborn, listen the advice from others and had enough safety nets, he might not found as dead

It is also on this trip that he makes the discovery that seems to push him over the edge from passionate and a little eccentric to extreme. While in California, he learns that his father had a double life for many years, and his parents lied to him about it growing up. This resentment also spreads to the society that his parents are part of. Although they both grew up poor and made their own money, he has always looked down on them for their materialism, and when he learns of their dishonesty, he started to feel strong antipathy towards anyone with a lot of money. His growing intensity about the things he is passionate about isolates him from almost everyone he knew at college. This results in McCandless being almost completely isolated at college.