Discovery In Into The Wild

There are many forms of discovery in literature and in our everyday life; there are the obvious physical discoveries like finding treasure or finding your keys, but there are also much more complex concepts of discovery such as self discovery (for example, the realisation of sexuality, a new perspective or a change of heart), or the discovery of a new idea, or the exploration of themes that relate to discovery in some way. Two texts that incorporate notions of discovery in various forms are 'Into the Wild ' a non-fiction novel written by Jon Krakauer in 1996, and 'Interstellar ' a 2014 film directed by Christopher Nolan. 'Into the Wild ' is a biographical novel that tells the story of Christopher McCandless - or as …show more content…
There are various instances where the truth of someone or truth from within Christopher is revealed; for example, his initial journey was partly provoked by McCandless discovering a dark truth about his father. The revealing of this truth added to Chris ' anger with the world and he felt he had no choice but to leave that life behind. There are also more subtle truths that are revealed throughout the novel that involve Chris ' understanding of himself. Up until his death, he had a false illusion of power, in his eyes he was in control, and he was prepared for whatever the wild threw at him, and in his words, "there 's nothing he couldn 't do on his own". But, as his death shows, he was not as prepared as he thought, and it is clear that by the end, he had begun to realise this.The author of Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer, traced Chris’ steps, and was guided by the writings, carvings and snapshots that he left behind. Personal anecdotes were used by Krakauer as he felt that he could relate to Chris’ story, he also used interviews from the people that knew Chris in order to shed light on specific details of his journey. In the beginning Chris longed more than anything for solitude, to separate himself from society but, along the way, he discovered an unexpected need for intimacy, family, and close relationships, he realised that being isolated wasn 't a way of life, it was an …show more content…
Many discoveries are made on Prospero’s island; the divulging of truth, explorations of love, the use and abuse of power, and the self discoveries made by various characters. As you can already see, there are many similarities between our prescribed text and the texts that I have chosen to share with you; for example, in Into the Wild truths that are revealed end up shaping the journeys, experiences, and personalities of the characters, there are similar themes in The Tempest such as when the rightful ruler of milan and the plots of Antonio and Sebastian are , and the truthful story of how Miranda and Prospero got on the island are all revealed in order to create a better understanding within a character or to invoke forgiveness between long quarrelling characters. Christopher from Into the Wild, and Prospero and Alonzo from The Tempest all experience self discovery in the form of realising something about themselves; Christopher discovers an unanticipated need for intimacy, Prospero realises he doesn’t have a need for magic or slaves and throws away his staff and releases Ariel and Caliban, and Antonio repents his wrongdoings and seeks