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Into The Wild Relationships

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In Jon Krakauer’s book “Into the Wild,” there is a big emphasis on relationships between people—especially between Chris McCandless and his companions—that influence their decision-making and what ultimately happens to them. Chris’ friendships with people he meets after leaving Emory for good can be analyzed through his letters to them, as well as their own accounts of how Chris affected them. Chris became close to many wanderers and travelers, not only because he wanted to get to Alaska, but also because of their personalities. Like him, many of his companions on his journey to Alaska were not content staying in one place, and were constantly moving. Unlike Chris, however, they were willing to accept him, and develop a real relationship with …show more content…

Chris had a huge impact on everyone he knew, but he would not let them influence him or his decisions at all. He rebelled against his family because his father was too controlling. Later on, when any of his companions told him not to go to Alaska, or tried telling him to do anything that he did not want to, he would totally ignore them, and change the subject. As Krakauer writes in chapter 6, “McCandless…relieved that he had again evaded the impending threat of human intimacy, of friendship, and all the messy emotional baggage that comes with it. He had fled the claustrophobic confines of his family. He’d successfully kept Jan Burres and Wayne Westerberg at arm’s length, flitting out of their lives before anything was expected of him. And now he’d slipped painlessly out of Ron Franz’s life as well,” every time someone tried to become close to him, he pushed him or her away. When Ronald Franz asked to adopt him, Chris told him that they would talk about it when he returns from Alaska. Chris’ problems with his father affected his ability to form new, close relationships, and ultimately sent him to his death. Throughout the book, Krakauer shows that Chris McCandless had issues with relationships and intimacy as a result of his perceived betrayal by his father. He left Emory

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