Into the Wild Book Project

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is about a guy named Chris McCandless who ventures out into the wilderness of Alaska just north of Mt. McKinley all by himself. Chris was born into a loving, well-kept family in Annandale, Virginia. Chris had always dreamed about going on a magnificent road trip across the United States, but his father who wanted nothing but the best for him insisted he get a college education first. The day after Chris graduated he set off on this road trip without telling a soul. After eventually ditching his car, McCandless begins to get his way around by hitchhiking. He travels all across the west meeting lots of people and discovering just what its like to get around as a homeless person would. Eventually saving up enough money working for a friend in South Dakota, McCandless finally sets off to live out his dream of going on a true “Alaskan Odyssey”.

Worst comes to worse though when McCandless is out in the wild by himself, he tries to make his way home after being out there alone for several months and realizes the once shallow creek he crossed in the winter had become a full blown rapid moving river in the summer. McCandless returns to where his base camp was hoping to wait it out till winter but gets poisoned and dies from a toxic mold that begins to grow on some edible seeds he has gathered. His body is discovered by a group of hikers several weeks after his passing and unfortunately McCandless learned the hard way of playing a game with mother nature herself.

Character Option 2:
Provide Song Lyrics-- Highlight the lyrics that relate to the character. Provide at least three important examples from the novel that show the relationship from the song and the character.
Lyrics to The Storm & The Eye by Matrimony:

I’ve been looking for some truth to sort out the mess in my head
But I haven’t found it in me or in man
Some say they want truth in order to sound sane
But would they choose to have it if to have truth you choose pain
To be weak is to be human to be humble is to gain

I hide in the open wide as the young forsake the wise
I abide in the storm and the eye
Death removed me from its sight
­­­­­­­­­­­­­
I am longing for the hour when the dark will subside
My hope needs to be strengthened every moment of the light
But I see a haven for my weakened soul
Where I know the shadow has no where to fall
And even in the morning I will wake unto my call

I hide in the open wide as the young forsake the wise
Love again your broken life
Death has turned away its eyes
Death has turned away its eyes
Three Examples from the novel that show relationship between the song and the character:

1. The sun came up. As they rolled down from the forested ridges above the Tanana River; Alex gazed across the expanse of windswept muskeg stretching to the south. Gallien wondered whether he’d picked up one of those crackpots from the lower forty-eight who come north to live out ill-considered Jack London fantasies. Alaska has long been a magnet for dreamers and misfits, people who think the unsullied enormity of the Last Frontier will patch all the holes in their lives. The bush is an unforgiving place, however, that cares nothing for hope or longing. (page 4)
2. When McCandless hugged Borah good-bye, she says, “I noticed he was crying. That frightened me. He wasn’t planning on being gone all that long; I figured he wouldn’t have been crying unless he intended to take some big risks and knew he might not be coming back. That’s when I started having a bad feeling that we wouldn’t never see Alex again.” (page 68)
3. Unlike Muir and Thoreau, McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large but, rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul. He soon discovered, however, what Muir and Thoreau already knew: An extended stay in the wilderness inevitably directs one’s attention outward as much as inward, and it is impossible to live off the land without developing both a subtle understanding of, and a strong emotional bond with, that land and all it holds. (page 183)

I chose to do the option with the song lyrics because I find it very fascinating and interesting how characters from a book can relate so much to the lyrics of a song. I chose the song “The Storm & The Eye” by Matrimony which is a favorite band of mine that opened for a Passion Pit concert I went to this past year. The character from my book is a guy named Chris McCandless who has always had his heart set on venturing out into the middle of nowhere in Alaska. In the song the first line of lyrics says “I’ve been looking for some truth to sort out the mess in my head”, in the story Chris talks about how he thinks traveling out into the wilderness by himself will provide some sort of peace of mind and cleansing of the soul. I thought that this struck a strong resemblance to that first line of the song, to me the artist seemed to have a lot going on in her life and just wanted something to get her thoughts straight.
In the fifth line it says “To be weak is to be human to be humble is to gain”, in a way I believe this line of the song could have saved McCandless. Whenever he set out to do something he wouldn’t rest until he got whatever it was he had his mind set on done. But if Chris would have realized that not everything is possible when you do it by yourself and that asking for help isn’t a bad thing, it might have really humbled him and made him see that no human can live on its own for too long.
One line that really stood out to me was line nine which reads “I am longing for the hour when the dark will subside”. In the story Chris finds out about a previous wife of his fathers and how his father had cheated on her and left her even when they had several kids together, when McCandless figured this out he was infuriated but he kept it to himself. Chris never told anyone what he knew and he kept all this rage over his father's mistakes bottled up in him for a long time. He would often lash out on his father and be very harsh and crude with him and yet his father would never know why. I believe this almost resembles what the artist is speaking of in line nine because Chris has all this darkness and awful experiences locked away in him and I think he was just looking for a way to cleanse himself and hope that it would all disappear.   

Writing Option 3:

Create a Prologue, showing the characters’ lives before the novel begins.

The crisp spring breeze lightly twirls the sweet scent of cherry blossoms through the air. It was the week before Chris McCandless's college graduation and the sun was just beginning to dip below the horizon on a beautiful Friday afternoon. Chris had been waiting for this moment for a very long while and couldn’t believe graduation time was finally here. Finals had just ended and most college students were out celebrating and enjoying the beautiful night with their tight knit group of friends, but Chris was getting ready for the trip of a lifetime. He had been plotting and planning for this trip most of his life and was ready to go on his road trip across the country.

The last name of the class of 1990 had just been called and the caps instantly started flying up in the air. The chants and cheers of all of Chris’s fellow classmates were heard everywhere he turned. With nothing but a diploma in his hand and a smile plastered on his face, Chris finally managed to find his family in the swarm of people. His parents eyes glowed with pride and his sister nearly knocked him over when she gave him a humongous bear hug. The moment was perfect, Chris wished he could pause his life at that very moment and soak in how truly happy and close his family was at that moment, but we all know you can’t freeze time.

At Chris’s graduation party everyone was so proud and happy for him, everything seemed so right and to be going smoothly. Chris made sure to tell his mother and father how dearly he thought of them and how grateful he was for them raising him and letting him receive a college education. He covered everything he ever wanted to tell them and made sure not to miss anything, because when his parents would wake in the morning he would be gone. Who would have known that two years later Chris would be found dead in the wilderness of Alaska.