One of my all time favorite movies (and hopefully books, once I finish reading it), “Into The Wild,” recounts the true story about the journey of a young man named Christopher McCandless who sets off to Alaska just some time after graduating from university guided by his goal of enlightenment and finding himself, outside of the tight and restrictive corners of society that he has lived within for his whole 22 years of life. The “biography/true travel essay” documents the major events that happen along his physical and mental escape from his old life into a new one of little worry or obstacle, including those he met and the desperate things he did to get to his destination. What I’d like to analyze out of this piece are plenty, though I am narrowing my options down. Besides the obvious, who did McCandless leave behind? Why would he go in the manner in which he chose? I believe there is so much weight carried within his story that could be (and probably has been) more deeply analyzed. Being the stubborn-minded, intellectual individual that Christopher seemed to be, I believe every decision he made had a purpose or a reasoning behind it and the journey was not meant for him alone, it was meant for a larger and greater audience. I mean, look how it ended up: a best selling story around the world, translated into various different languages and used in educational reading curriculums.

Emily Weiss

02.25.2016