Journey of Self-Discovery: Chris McCandless's Odyssey

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Into The Wild begins with Chris McCandless hitchhiking in Alaska, meeting a man known as Gallien. As he continues talking with Chris, he notices Chris isn’t just some lunatic trying to kill himself, but a smart individual looking to find himself. He then drops Chris off. The book then goes forward into the future, allowing the audience some dramatic irony as they’ll see Chris’s fate. A group hiking a trail finds the bus Chris is in, but finds him dead. Then the scene shifts to South Dakota, after the finding of Chris’s dead body. This is where we meet Westerberg, he was once given War And Peace by Chris. This is also where Krakauer explains the family situation of Chris. He describes him as if his whole life is set out for him. The scene again shifts to a park manager finding Chris’s Datson in the canyon. They describe how it was repurposed into a working undercover vehicle. We then find out that the family hired a private investigator. Eventually, Chris will go from the Havasu to the Mexican border, finds out he won’t make it the gulf, and changes course. …show more content…

As Chris ventures through the United States and Mexico, he denounces all senses of materialism, as it is what he’s trying to escape while trying to find himself in nature. If possible Chris would attempt to rid himself of what was unnecessary in his journey, such as the time when he was given a small collection of knives that would help him in his journey, but only takes a few. The idea of survival where society wouldn’t agree was also a major theme in the novel. Everyone who he tells on his journey what he’s doing seems to believe that he is crazy; however, they learn that they soon learn that Chris is indeed an intellectual individual. The simple idea is that the society doesn’t accept the life that Chris lives in. While he may get encouragement from people met along the way, the lifestyle is seen as barbaric and wild for many

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