Into The Wild But Out Of His Mind

Into the Wild but Out of His Mind

After reading Krakauer and Thoreau I have learned about an alternative lifestyle that was brought to light by both of these writers. Both of these men write about a life of minimalism and the act of self-reliance. Through Thoreau's writing about his own life in Walden and his essay "Civil Disobedience" and the story of Chris McCandless told by Krakauer in his book Into the Wild we learn about two similar but at times very different viewpoints on the subject. I would like to compare the two lifestyles and show how different the lifestyle of McCandless was to Thoreau and ultimately prove that the actions of McCandless were careless and eventually led to his death in the wilderness of Alaska.

When starting to compare both of the above-mentioned minimalists, it's necessary to get an idea of what the term means in regard to these two men. Both of these men decided to step away from the material world at one point and live a life of self-reliance. But the mean did so in two very different ways. One man left all he had behind and traveled the country preparing to embark on his dream trip to the Alaskan wilderness. The other planned a two-year experiment that put him in a cabin he built a mile or so out of town to see if he could survive on his own.

Thoreau put those two years on paper as he wrote his book Walden. Thoreau states: "When I wrote the following pages, or rather the bulk of them, I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I had built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only. I lived there two years and two months"(7). Through his writing, Thoreau documents his time spent on Walden Pond and informs the reader about how he earned his money, what he did with his income, what he did with his time, and more so, how he lived his life alone.

Thoreau was a man that loved nature. Even before he started his "experiment" he was a man of nature and lived his life aware of all his surroundings. He also was very into politics and the economy. Along with being know for his time spent at Walden, he is also know for a night spent in jail during the two years he was in the woods. "In real time, the American philosopher and naturalist spent exactly two years, two months and two days (1845-1847) living in relative solitude at Walden Pond on the outskirts of his native Concord, Massachusetts. In between two of these 794 days, Thoreau spent only one night, albeit a historic one, in jail rather then pay taxes which he said supported slavery and unjust war"(Conrad 137). He was a very intelligent man that had strong beliefs and did the things he did with strong reasoning and thought. You will find that these characteristics will be the ones that separate him greatly from McCandless.

Jon Krakauer tells the life of Chris McCandless in the bestselling book Into the wild. The book documents McCandless' life through personal journals and interviews of the many people he came into contact with throughout his travels. His life comes off of one that was carefree, giving and lived to the most natural of lives somebody could live. Krakauer does a wonderful job of tugging at the heartstrings of his readers and painting the beautiful picture that is Chris McCandless. I will show that the life of McCandless may look like a great way to use the land and minimal possessions to fulfill a boys dream to be detached from society and free, but in reality is a dysfunctional man that cannot sustain social relationships and is very immature.

McCandless started his life on the road when he graduated from college and ran away form the real world. He gave away his life savings and even burned the cash he has on his person in a sort of ritualistic way of freeing himself from society. Krakauer writes: "He buried his Winchester deer-hunting rifle and a few other possessions that he might one day want to recover. Then, in a gesture that would have done both Thoreau and Tolstoy proud, he arranged all his paper currency in a pile on the sand-a pathetic little stack of ones and fives and twenties-and put a match to it. One hundred twenty-three dollars in legal tender was promptly reduced to ash and smoke" (29).

In reality I do not think Thoreau would be proud in the slightest. The idea of being a naturalist is one thing but hurting the ability to live ones life for no reason is another. He ends up working later on his travels for money anyway, I don't see the reason in burning money that could have bought him more rice or warmer clothes to live his life. In addition to this he is know for turning down advice and help from others that could have helped him live a better life and in my opinion kept him alive. McCandless shows through his ideas and actions that he unprepared for the lifestyle that ends up living a reckless life mooching of kind people he meets along the way.

Throughout his life, McCandless walks in and out of peoples' lives setting up