Into The Wild Authoritarian Family Analysis

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer tells the true story of a young man named Chris McCandless who abandons his family and their materialistic values so he can live a rough and dangerous life in the wild ultimately leading to his untimely death. Although Chris’s decision to do this may seem crazy on the surface, why he did what he did can be understood if one examines dysfunctional family dynamics and the effects they can have on a person who grew up in such a family especially in ones where there is an authoritarian parent. Who we are as people is more often times than not shaped by what kind of family we grew up in. What we choose to do with our lives is a product of who we are. It is possible to understand why Chris acted the way he did if one studies the concept of the …show more content…
An authoritarian family often “rigidly adhere[s] to a particular ideology (religious, political, personal), which dominates the purpose and function of the family” and also “often ha[s] a rigid hierarchical structure and demand[s] devotion to the authority figure” (Witchel 8). There may often be a divide between the authoritarian parent and the children because of how “the authoritarian parent's tendency to assert power. . . [is] reinforced by his intolerance of ambiguity” and thus “this intolerance of ambiguity should lead the authoritarian parent to view the child's misbehavior as totally negative-to be less concerned with nuances, mitigating circumstances, and underlying causes” (Hoffman). The authoritarian parent will also expect unwavering obedience from his or her children because “the authoritarian's self-image as an adequate parent is apt to be bound up, in some degree, with the ability to command respect and unquestioned obedience from the child” (Hoffman). The coldness of the authoritarian parent, especially if it’s the father, may also transfer to the other