Idealism In Into The Wild

Christopher McCandless was a man that lived a very short but eventful and extraordinary life that had a lot of meaning, so much so that a novel was made to tell his life story. When the author, Jon Krakauer, wrote the story of Christopher McCandless in “Into the Wild” he developed a lot of themes throughout the novel that had significant impact to the story, as those themes affected the decisions and outcomes in McCandless’s life. Although the novel may have had many themes when reading throughout the story two apparent themes seem to affect almost every aspect of McCandless’s life story. These two themes are arrogance and idealism as they are developed thoroughly throughout the story and seem to be related as they interconnect with each other

As it could be seen in the novel, one of the characters Christopher meets along his journey is Gallien. This character offers to help Christopher (AKA Alex), but he rejects his offer. “Gallien offered to drive Alex all the way to Anchorage, buy him decent gear, and then drive him back to wherever he waned to go. “No, thanks anyway,” Alex replied, “I’ll be fine with what I’ve got.” (Krakauer, 7). This goes on to show how arrogant and stubborn McCandless was to believe that he could survive with the bare minimum only because he convinced himself he could do it. Moreover, a writer named Nick Jans adds, “Same story: idealistic, energetic young guys who overestimated themselves, underestimated the country, and ended up in trouble. McCandless was hardly unique; there’s quite a few of these guys hanging around the state, so much alike that they’re almost a collective cliche. The only difference is that McCandless ended up dead, with the story of his dumbassedness splashed across the media.... (Jack London got it right in “To Build a Fire.” McCandless is, finally, just a pale 20th-century burlesque of London’s protagonist, who freezes because he ignores advice and commits big time hubris) .... His ignorance, which could have been cured by a USGS quadrant and a Boy Scout manual, is what killed him.” (Krakauer, 51). This added quote supports the claim that because of the underlying theme of McCandless’s arrogance it caused him to go into the Alaskan wilderness ill-equipped and unprepared which eventually led to his untimely