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Idealism In Into The Wild

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Throughout Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer gives his own in-depth look of how he feels about the young Chris McCandless. While doing so, he shows the opinions and stereotypes Chris has gained before and after he was in the wild landscapes of Alaska. It conveys how Krakauer feels toward this boy’s journey. Although Krakauer tries to maintain neutrality in analyzing the young Chris McCandless’ life and death, his own views become evident in the Author’s Note. Krakauer describes McCandless as "an extremely intense young man...(with) a streak of stubborn idealism that did not mesh readily with modern existence". When he set off on his journey, "he entertained no illusions...peril, adversity, and Tolstoyan renunciation were precisely what he was …show more content…

Krakauer disagreed. “But the stereotype isn't a good fit. McCandless wasn't some feckless slacker, adrift, and confused, racked by existential despair. To the contrary: His life hummed with meaning and purpose” (Krakauer, p. 187). He saw McCandless as a young man who was trying his best to find himself through an adventure. Throughout the novel, he is very consistent in stating that he understands McCandless. "...like Chris McCandless, I was a raw youth who mistook passion for insight and acted according to an obscure, gap-ridden logic" (p 159). Krakauer was a mountain climber and traveled the same path McCandless did in Alaska. He may have seen some of himself inside the young boy, sparking some type of sympathy in him. Jon Krakauer as a young man who was a very big adventure, allowing himself to sympathize and understand why this college graduate would leave everything behind to find out why life is the way it is. As did Krakauer, I believe that Chris McCandless was a free-spirited individual who wanted to be in control of his life. Chris was just a young man who wanted some type of freedom without the chains of normality holding him

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