Thoughts on Into the Wild

I recently finished reading Jon Krakauer's novel, Into the Wild. Let me just take a quick moment to say that if you have ever been interested in adventuring, then this is a great book to read. It displays the glory of a non-traditional adventure filled lifestyle whilst showing the repercussion that sometimes go along with it. Perspective is the biggest thing that I gained from reading the book, and it's much different than the movie counter part. It doesn't focus just on McCandless's life, but also the lives of other solitary adventurers. Don't just take my word for it thought, read it for yourself!

Despite my lovely PR-ish intro to this post, it is not the purpose of this post. There was a line in the book that I wanted to share on here because I was able to relate very closely in to what he was talking about. 

At that stage of my youth, death remained as abstract a concept as non-Euclidean geometry or marriage. I didn't yet appreciate its terrible finality or the havoc it could wreak on thos who'd entrusted the deceased with their hearts. I was stirred by the dark mystery of mortality. I couldn't resist stealing up to the edge of doom and peering over the edge. The hint of what was concealed in those shadows terrified me, but I caught sight of something in the glimpse, some forbidden and elemental riddle that was no less compelling than the sweet, hidden petals of woman's sex. 

                                                                               -Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild 

This is a beautiful description of the exact stage of life that I am in. I want adventure and intrigue. To "suck from the pap of life and gulp down the milk of incomparable wonder" as Fitzgerald puts it in The Great Gatsby. Krakauer compares it to the mystery of woman's sex, but in my own mind I see it as an infection. An infection that has to be bleed out on the razor peaks of mountains, drip into a glassine lake, splash onto nomadic desert dunes, fall into the Earth fully and unhindered in places where life is thick. 


The discussion of death is interesting. I recognize death. I know it, respect it, and am often fearful of it, but I don't really think it will happen to me. I don't fully understand how detrimental it would be to my family if I never came back from the Woods. I can't mesh the consequence with the action. It just doesn't click. I have not arrived at the end yet, but I've been thinking about this passage lately and am slowly learning what it means to me. It does not take away my Adventurous infection(I'm not sure if there is anything that can do that to me right now), but it has broadened my gaze to see that it is not just in Adventure that I should seek happiness. Happiness can reside with those that love me and that I love in return. One of McCandless's final lines in his journal was "Happiness only real when shared." Some think this is a testament to the futility of a solitary life of Adventure, but I view it as a testament to the necessity a dichotomous life. One must have adventure as well as love. One must know that it is not just on the tops of peaks that life is real, but also in the presence of the ones who receive the letters about the tops of the peaks. I still firmly believe in a life of solitude and self-reliance. I pity those that fear to truly live by them selves. This passage has only adjusted my feelings in a way that I recognize better the value and meaning of true friends and family.


Perhaps this is too much for a simple journal of my adventures, but when I read this passage I was struck by how much it related to me, and how it opened my eyes to the potential consequences of my actions. Not just that death is, of course, real, but what death will kill once I am gone. I write this because, perhaps, you are in the same stage that I am. Perhaps it will save you from an unknown hurt you will cause those who have entrusted you with their hearts, or perhaps it will help you widen your gaze to notice the life you have around you.


I will end with this. Remember that the life on the road is rewarding, and should always be on the mind, for that is what you live for. But do not be blinded by these thoughts and miss the life that flows out of the select loved ones that surround you when the road is cold. I speak as though talking to my self, but perhaps this speaks to you as well. I wish you the best, in all that you do.