Into The Wild Isolation Analysis

Improved Essays
In order for a person to be at peace with oneself, human contact is a necessity; however, human contact with destructive people can cause turmoil within a person. If the turmoil becomes unbearable, that person will come to the conclusion that humans are unnecessary for joy in life, rather, seeking new experiences while being isolated is the answer. Jon Krakauer challenges and dispels this idea while describing his and Chris McCandless’ attempt and failure at finding joy through isolation in Into the Wild. Jon Krakauer emphasizes how it is integral for people to have contact with one another by expressing the turmoil that he and Chris McCandless’ endured in their stories of isolation.
The toxic relationships that Jon and Chris endured while
…show more content…
While being invited into a home of a girl he met while walking down the street, Jon expresses, “I had convinced myself for many months that I didn't really mind the absence of intimacy in my life, the lack of real human connection, but the pleasure I’d felt in this woman’s company-the ring of her laughter, the innocent touch of a hand on my arm-exposed my self deceit and left me hollow and aching” (137). With him being isolated for so long, he became disconnected with his human self and became primitive which allowed him to be content with being alone for so long; however, the reconnection he felt with this woman made him have a revelation about what he needed. He abandoned society to find what will fill his void, but by isolating himself, it exponentially increased his emptiness. Jon expressed this emptiness when he would “lay down to sleep, [He] was overcome by a wrenching loneliness. [He’d] never felt so alone, ever” (152). Being engulfed by loneliness made him realize that what he was looking for was what he had abandoned, human connection. Similarly, two days before Chris died, he noted that “HAPPINESS ONLY REAL WHEN SHARED” (189). Throughout his journey, Chris was a proponent for living life in isolation. He was an advocate of this because of the disingenuous relationship he felt he had with his father. He then disregarded the importance of developing meaningful relationships with people, and eventually, entirely disregarded having people in his life. During the days he was alone in the wild, the absence of human contact began to take a toll on him. Similarly to how Jon had an epiphany, Chris realized that he had abandoned the happiness that he was looking for. He also realized that the only way to experience true happiness is to share it with

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    The Mccandless Journey

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In John Krakauer’s “Into the Wild,” Chris McCandless set out on an odyssey into the American wilderness, and eventually the Alaskan bush, in the 1990s. Throughout McCandless’s journey, he reflected on himself and on society through books. Much of this literature he read is centered towards the lifestyle that comes with living in the wild. In some of the books he read, McCandless highlighted passages he believed to be noteworthy. Most, if not all, of these passages reflected his life, specifically his adventure, in its many aspects.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The quest to find himself again ultimately led to his untimely demise, but what caused the sudden disappearance of Chris from his family's’ lives. What caused the Chris to so heartlessly ignore his family and their emotions, while…

    • 1151 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The novel, Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer, is a riveting, cautionary tale about the death of Chris McCandless, a young man who embarks on a journey to Alaska to seek the truth of happiness through the solitude of nature and free himself from the constraints of society. No doubt, the ongoing theme throughout Krakauer’s novel is the dysfunctional father-son relationship between Chris and his dad. In fact, McCandless died before he had the chance to grow out of his anger. Into the Wild examines the fatal expedition of Chris McCandless as he breaks all ties from society and challenges his ability to survive in the wilderness. Through the use of primary sources, situational irony, and syntax, Krakauer thoroughly captures the compelling tragedy of Chris McCandless.…

    • 891 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It is important to live life doing what one loves. In the nonfiction book Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the main character Chris McCandless leaves home to accomplish his dream of living off the land in Alaska on his own away from society. The main character in this story has been called both a hero and a fool and it is still a controversy today. This topic has sparked a lot of debate among the readers of the novel. The purpose of this novel is to reveal all of the significant events that happened throughout Chris McCandless’s journey to Alaska.…

    • 1021 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Almost all of humanity can relate to wanting to go out into the wilderness completely alone, leaving the toxic monotony and materialism of daily life and stepping into an environment where your passion determines life or death. For Christopher McCandless and Jon Krakauer, this was their reality for some time. While McCandless is now silenced in the snow of the Alaskan bush, Krakauer continues to explain what happened to McCandless, why they left society, and why the young people of today should follow their own dreams. Through the use of flowing description, well-held ethos, and simple sentence structure, Krakauer unravels the complexity of Christopher McCandless. Only by the use of attentive description could Krakauer illustrate the formational…

    • 818 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and to sacrifice myself for my love. I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which no outlets in our quiet life”(15). This quote emphasizes that nature is essential to one’s existence. Nonetheless, making sacrifices for what you love is a true passion.…

    • 982 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (199). In his final moments, he expresses his true feeling about his long journey by praising his God along with everyone else in his life. This shows his deep respect to God for his fulfilling and adventurous life. Chris knows that God had a large part in making his life so fulfilling, and therefore…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chris also felt free from the burdens of his family, as well as the pressures of the outside world to conform and be normal. He was alone and out in the wilderness. Through this, he felt truly happy. Chris loved the days where he was penniless, the days where he was drifting and had complete freedom over himself. “...My days were more exciting when I was penniless and had to forage around for my next meal... I 've decided that I 'm going to live this life for some time to come.…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Isolation In The Soloist

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In today’s world, not everyone feels the sense of belonging to our society. Some feel that they are disconnected from society. They’re often left out because they feel different or maybe they’re actually different. The Soloist presents the social issue of how isolation and withdrawal from society can affect an individual’s life. The feeling of isolation had affected the life of one of the main protagonists, Nathaniel Ayers.…

    • 938 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    (Szalavitz ¾) However, it seems that Chris isn’t taking much like an adult. He’s thinking like someone who’s a teenager, however, the only difference between him and a teenager, is that a teenager wouldn’t throw away any simple resources, and accept any help they can get. By going out into the wilderness, without the help of such simple resources, he was eventually just committing suicide. He was inconsiderate of how his actions may affect his loved ones, and those who met him along the way.…

    • 1063 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Isolation: The Struggle to Find One’s Self In Into The Wild, Jon Krakauer investigates a young man’s struggle between isolation and forgiveness. This book shows the compelling, incredible adventure of Chris Mccandless, who leaves his home, family and money to disconnect himself from society and live the life he has always wanted.…

    • 1369 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He did many things to ensure that he lived in isolation, like divorcing his family, changing his name and declining Franz’s offer to be part his family. He rejected the lifestyle of community and relationships to live the life of unfiltered experiences alone and was happier living that way. Considerably people argue that the relationships that we have are what make worth living and bring us happiness but Chris showed that you can achieve happiness without relationships. Work Cited: Krakauer, Jon. Into the Wild.…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In countless instances, Chris expressed his distaste for the conformity of a society, as he saw with his own family, in which one’s life is a routine that consists of waking up, going to work, coming home to family, going to sleep, and repeating it for the rest of one’s life. McCandless set out into the world after college not to appreciate nature specifically, but the experiences of the world, as he described, “’It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found.’” (27) Chris strived for a daily sense of adventure, an escape from the limitations of community, as Andy, a high school friend of McCandless, explained, “[Chris] was born into the wrong century. He was looking for more adventure and freedom than today’s society gives people.” (119) Another aspect that was unpractical of Chris, that led to his unfortunate death in Alaska, was his seclusion and his desire to be alone.…

    • 1349 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chris was unhappy when everything was provided for him which led to his journey into the wild. He knew that in the wild he had to provide for himself. While he went on the journey, he needed inspiration, so that he could achieve his self-definition. He looked up to Leo as an inspiration also, because he had writing in which was about self-definition. The inspiration from Leo made the journey for Chris lasting.…

    • 987 Words
    • 4 Pages
    • 4 Works Cited
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Chris was now living a life he had been waiting to live and he was happy. He was living the wildlife. “The core of man’s spirit comes from new experiences” (Into the Wild…

    • 1067 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays