Into The Wild Compare And Contrast

Compare and Contrast Krakauer's and Alex's Experience in Alaska

After I finish reading Into the Wild, I figured out one important fact. I realized that time is a river, where even the tiniest changes seen can lead to a cascade of effects downstream. Even Alex just refused to take few things that Mr. Krakauer took. The result comes so different.

It is true that the author, Jon Krakauer has a lot of similarities with Alex. They are both extremely adventurous people, and has incredible dreams about the natural. On the other hand, they could not bear their fathers force them to do what they are not so interested in. To find the truth, they both went far into the wild and stay away from the human civilization to spend their time with nature without

previous consultation. Also, they came to the same place before, and they both faced the dangers. “Hey, bear! Just passing through! No reason to get riled (Krakauer 176)!” According to the diary of McCandless, we can get that he got near the Teklanika just like Mr. Krakauer did. Moreover, they both got enough knowledge on wild animals and plants. “‘It was definitely a caribou,’ Samel had scornfully piped in (Krakauer 177).”
However, just like I mentioned before, McCandless’s still has several differences with Mr.

Krakauer’s journey that caused a huge influence to their results. First of all, Mr. Krakauer took an excellent map that could save him and his partners, but Mr. McCandless did not bring any kinds of maps at all. “Unlike McCandless, however, I have in my backpack a 1:63360-scale topographic map (that is, a map on which one inch represents one mile) (Krakauer 173).” “Because Alex had no topographic map, however, he had no way of conceiving that salvation was so close at hand (Krakauer 174).” Without this powerful and necessary tool for adventuring, Mr. McCandless missed the surviving opportunities many times. For instance, he was misled by the rushing river, and he mistook that he cannot go across the river. Actually, he can use the cable, but he did not get the point, because he did not have any map or instruction that can give him a helping hand. In fact, McCandless did this on purpose, since he wanted to seek in an unknown world. There is no blank space left on the maps today, so he decided to simply get rid of the map. “In his own mind, if nowhere else, the terra would thereby remain incognita (Krakauer

174).”
But there is another critical difference that leads to a different consequence.

We can figure out that Mr. Krakauer went to Alaska with 3 companions effortlessly. “Unlike McCandless, too, I am here with three companions: Alaskans Roman Dial and Dan Solie and a friend of Roman’s from California, Andrew Liske (Krakauer 173).” From McCandless’ s point of view, he believed that he wanted to continue his journey all by himself, and he really did. Without any friend by his side, there was much more risk for McCandless to be in danger. Even worse, when he changed his mind, it is too late for him to find somebody to help him, so this led to his unsurprising death. By comparison, it is a safer idea for Mr. Krakauer to bring 3 partners with him. Although they still met a lot of difficulties, Krakauer and his friends are able to help each other. In fact, it is more relaxing to take an adventure in Alaska like Mr. Krakauer. We can even find out that Mr. Krakauer could have fun with his friends, and discuss about Alex’s adventure on their way. Obviously, a few friends came together caused huge differences. As a result, Alex died alone with lonely, while Mr. Krakauer and his group got their way out, and Mr. Krakauer wrote a book called Into the

wild.
The stories of Mr. McCandless and Mr. Krakauer taught us that even the smallest change – can snowball into an avalanche of trouble for the future. So, never forget that we need to think twice before making a gigantic decision.