Issues In Into The Wild

Unreasonable Adventures Everyone has problems and issues in their life whether it may be from family, school, or society. These personal issues are unique and people must deal with their own in order to overcome and learn from them. Going to school, getting a job, and taking care of family are all responsibilities many can relate to. However, sometimes responsibilities like this can become overwhelming and people find that they want to give up. One way for people to get rid of their responsibilities is to pack their stuff, get on the road, and live in the outdoors. Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer touches on this subject by writing about the real-life story of Christopher McCandless. McCandless’s life and journey is an example of how someone …show more content…
Krakauer wrote about Chris and how he avoided his responsibilities, but Krakauer is guilty of doing the same thing. At a young age, Krakauer loved the outdoors and set a goal on climbing a mountain called ‘The Devil’s Thumb’. His attempt at scaling the mountain pushed him into realizing that climbing helped him forget his problems. Krakauer recalls, “The accumulated clutter of day-to-day existence - the lapse of conscience, the inescapable prison of your genes - all of it is temporarily forgotten.” (Krakauer 143) The daily struggles Krakauer dealt with melted away as he climbed the ‘Devil’s Thumb’. When outdoors, he notices his troubles are ‘temporarily forgotten’. Clearly, life for Krakauer was too hard in the real world, and he wanted a way out. However, something that is important to note is that his problems are only ‘temporarily forgotten’. Eventually, Krakauer has to get off the mountain, go back to society, and face his responsibilities. Life on the road isn’t a fix, it’s only the lazy man’s way of dealing with life. Krakauer and McCandless believed that the outdoors could solve their problems, but in reality it did nothing but postpone it. Another quote from Krakauer adds to how life on the road is a way to run from responsibilities. After coming down from the mountain, Krakauer reminisces on his journey going up the ‘Devil’s Thumb’. Krakauer writes “I thought climbing the Devil's Thumb would fix all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing.”(Krakauer 155) Believing that climbing would “fix all that was wrong with my life” shows us that Krakauer believed being in nature would solve his problems. He follows up by quickly saying that that mindset is incorrect. Krakauer’s own words “it changed almost nothing” reveals that life on the road did nothing for him. Climbing the mountain helped him forget about his