Isolation In Into The Wild

For thousands of years, humans have bonded together to become more efficient at building, learning, and creating societies. But interaction with others isn’t beneficial to large groups, but also for the individual. Our personal opinions and beliefs develop in part due to the influence of the people who surround us, which tempers extreme and unique views and conforms them more to society. This means that when someone lives with little human contact, they are more likely to have irregular and unusual opinions.

In the book Into the Wild, it is evident that Chris McCandless always had a unique view on life, but his extended isolation in the wild helped maintain his unique notions about life. This is especially evident when you consider his collections

of philosophical books, his only source for outside opinions during his time in Alaska. One such quote that he circled was a quote by Leo Tolstoy, “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life.” (qtd. in Krakauer 15). McCandless’ worldview greatly resembled Tolstoy, and his other books had similar points. This can be dangerous because it creates an “echo chamber” of sorts, when one is only surrounded by identical beliefs, they never consider other ideas and only become more set in their ways. This may lead to extreme views, which in turn, in Chris’ case, led to his death. This shows that hearing opposing opinions is important to help shape your own in a healthy way.
One may assume that developing extreme opinions because of isolation is a result of already being naive and young like Chris, but we can see examples of intelligent philosophers who established radical views due to isolation also. Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay Self Reliance, stated “No law can be sacred to me but that of my nature. Good and bad are but names very readily transferable to that or this; the only right is what is after my constitution; the only wrong is what is against it.” (Emerson). Although this is an opinion, so not necessarily right or wrong, it is certainly divergent from the societal norms. Our very laws and the way our societies are run show this; morals are not judged by individual people but by a general consensus of the group. Emerson had such independent views because he was isolated, not physically but mentally. He didn’t listen to other opinions because he had the mindset that he was definitely correct. He created a mental bubble of isolation around himself, and it showed in his extreme opinions. Henry David Thoreau, on the other hand, lived in actual isolation for many years.