Into the Wild': Chris McCandless’s Journey

Jon Krakauer’s novel, ‘Into The Wild’, depicts the story of Chris McCandless’s journey across the nation which ultimately led to his death. There are many motifs that are present in this book however. In ‘Into the Wild’ essay these hidden motifs are described. Man vs. Nature is the most prevalent because it can be seen in almost every chapter of this novel. Chris McCandless’s story shows that nature is a beautiful place where you can escape and discover your purpose but when it comes down to man vs. nature, nature will almost always come out victorious.

While Chris was out in the wild, making his journey across the country up to the Alaska, he was discovering his identity and trying to make peace with himself. This is exemplified when we see a quote that is written inside of the bus, “Two years he walks the Earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom'. Here we see that Chris was able to have the freedom to discover who he was because of nature and without it he probably would not have been able to figure out what his purpose in life is. Another time we see this is in his final photograph before his death, “He is smiling in the picture, and there is no mistaking the look in his eyes: Chris McCandless was at peace, serene as a monk gone to God”. If Chris had not gone off into the wild then he would have never been able to make peace with himself and come to terms with life. When Chris was in college he was miserable and always wanted to get out whenever he could whether it was for an entire summer or just a short road trip to get away from everything that he disliked about the ways that normal life worked. McCandless’s story shows that nature is a wonderful place where you can go to escape the public and discover meaning in your life.Although nature is a wonderful place that can be peaceful and bring about change it can also cause lots of harm.

Throughout the novel Chris is in a constant battle with nature to stay alive and keep moving on during his journey. There are many examples of when nature got the better of Chris and it made his journey much more difficult. One example of this is when Chris was camping out in the desert and, “When the bore of brown water came rushing down from the high country, he had just enough time to gather his tent and belongings and save them from being swept away. There was nowhere to move the car”. The rain from the thunderstorm that had formed came rushing to him and he was not able to save his car from the water. This made the rest of the cross country journey much more challenging because Chris could no longer provide himself with transportation and he had to rely on hitchhiking across the country and up into alaska. Another example of how nature is a force to be reckoned with is when Chris wrote this letter, “S.O.S I need your help. I am injured, near death, and too weak to hike out of here I am all alone, this is no joke.

 Here it is shown how nature is a harsh place to live and that it can be very dangerous and possibly take your life if you do not have enough caution or training required to live there. Unfortunately Chris did pass away after writing this letter due to starvation. This just goes to show how nature is a powerful force that can bring both prosperity and death.

In conclusion, Chris McCandless’s journey across the country showed of all of the aspects of man vs. nature. It showed how nature can be a place where you go to come to terms with your life or it can be a place where you go to die. In Chris’s case he found both prosperity and death which is why this motif is so important in this novel.