Reading 'Into the Wild'

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Fievel121

2,500+ Posts
and so far, all I think about the guy is that he is a selfish jerk who hurt his family and alot of friends. He is no better than a drunk or drug addict, only his self destructive obsession is the outdoors, so we're supposed to think its a higher calling.....

Anybody else get that feeling too?
 
I haven't read the book, but in watching the movie, I felt the exact same way. What a foolish, self centered guy he was. He just didn't have much common sense or good judgment which ulitmately doomed him.
 
It’s been a while since I read the book. Although I understand how folks believe CM to be a selfish jerk, I have to disagree. Comparing him to a drug/alcohol addict is a stretch, though I see where you are headed there.

Imho, he wasn't escaping society by disconnecting or tuning-out like drug/alcohol allow you to do, but rather he took a more courageous/brave approach to escaping society in search of truth and meaning, or something to satisfy the void society could not fulfill. CM didn’t believe in the materialistic and structured ideals of society, though he was smart and capable, he didn’t feel the need to do what society pressured him to do. Instead, he was desperate to be free from it all and search for something he could identify with. His lack of connection with his parents reinforced his thinking - I think in a sense, he was lonely. I also think he was inspired and motivated through his readings of Thoreau and London, two authors he read and admired – I even think he commented that “London is God,” or something to that effect. Anyways, I think he was inspired by his internal “call of the wild” so to speak. His flaw was that he was over-confident.

Though I don’t think he’s a hero, I certainly respect his courage and the way he lived how he wanted to live. The part of the story I found interesting was something he wrote while in Alaska, and I can’t recall exactly from the book, but something to the effect of – happiness is only real when shared - which I think shows he realized his flaws before the end, and he found truth.
 
Puffer--

Yeah, drugs & alcohol were stretching it a little. I was just trying to think of a good analogy


I'm trying to keep an open mind until the end of the book. But, I love camping, hiking, & grew up absolutely loving Jack London. And I have no problems with him taking off and going into the wilds of Alaska unprepared. I wish I had done something like that before I settled down. None of that is anything to bash him about, he just had a different view on life.

My problem is what he did to his family & freinds along the way. It seems like he made a real connection with alot of folks and his sister (leaving the parents out of this, I think there was more too it), but it seemed like they were only friends when it was conveinent.
 
The OP is dead on. I still did not want to put it down although the subject of the book was incredibly arrogant for not respecting the nature up there.
 
^^^^ Yeah, I can't put it down either. But I have to say, there are a couple of characters in this book who I would love to know more about. The author being one, The 81 year old guy, and CM's father.
 
I just finished it last night. For me Into Thin Air >>>>>>>> Into the Wild. I will admit that I had seen the movie Into the Wild so that might have had some effect but both books start with laying out the ending and then retracing how it got to that point.

I think he was young, emotionally immature, and very impressionable. There are hundreds of kids just like him on campus - idealist, rebel against anything and everything, naive, going full throttle but too foolish to know which direction to go or why he's really going there.

The thing that sticks with me is how much he held his parents flaws against them but his own flaws and those of the authors he idolized and the druggies and criminals he hung out with - those were ok.
 
Into the Wild is one of my favorite books. For me, it wasn't just (or even mainly) the story of CM. Krakauer successfully expanded his story into a riveting discussion of the urge to get away from society and pit oneself against/commune with nature. That really spoke to me, although I haven't had such a yen since I was much younger. No doubt CM was fanatical and unwise about it.

I'm a big Jeremiah Johnson fan also. Also, My Side of the Mountain, if anyone remembers that kid's book. Yes, I'm hopelessly romantic. But I think a lot of young men go through that stage at some point.
 
You don't have to like the main character to be drawn to a story. My favorite book is Confederacy of Dunces, where the main character is repulsive.
 
When I watched the movie, I was struck by the main character's inability to forgive or think of anyone but himself. He seemed to delight in hurting his parents by not even dropping them a postcard. You would think while reading all that poetry, he might have stumbled across a verse or two re: a parent's love for a child.

He also grossly overestimated his own abilities and underestimated the dangers in a untamed land.

He was ungrateful, arrogant and selfish. The only redeeming quality he had, imo, was his distain for material wealth.
 
I saw the movie and thought the kid was a moron. He probably meant well but the comment earlier on how he "didn't respect the nature" up there is dead on the money. It's very harsh and unforgiving and he went up there in tennis shoes, for crying out loud.

There's also a lot of controversy about how he really died. (I read about this after seeing the movie.) The people sympathetic to him want to believe that he ate a poisonous plant but the truth is more likely that he starved to death. (His corpse was something like 70 pounds.)

Also, the Alaskan park rangers hate this guy. Seems as though after the book, dumb *** hippies keep trecking up there to "live off the land" and they're as unprepared as he was.
 
I enjoyed this book, and went back and forth feeling sympathy for CM and thinking he was silly. I have no problem with someone taking extended time to "figure things out" (by travelling, backpacking, etc.), but atleast phone home once in a while to let everyone know you are OK.

I felt the same way about Timothy Treadwell; felt sympathy towards him for being such and "outsider", but could see him as an idiot also. I think CM was kind of a "Treadwell Lite". In any event, I found it an interesting character study of somebody a little out of the norm, whether you like him or not.

If you enjoyed the story, "The Golden Spruce", and "The Last Season" have similar themes.
 
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