Into The Wild -Themes

1. McCandless ignored the other's advice to him to not "overestimate [himself] and underestimate the [nature]." (72)

Annotations:

• relate with impportance of society

1. Complex geography location
   1. "Small but dangerous waterfalls litter the canal. / All hopes collapse!" (35)
   2. "[H]igh winds forced him to seek refuge in a cave[, ...] where he remained for another ten days." (36)

1. "[H]e [c]ould have discovered that the river broadened into a maze of braided channels." (170)

1. McCandless left his family and disappeared to do researches on his project while traveling
   1. On his journey, he had never contacted his family to tell them his current status.
      1. McCandless wanted to cut off his tie with his family

         Annotations:

         • To live free (relate with freedom)

1. caused psychological trauma in his youth
   1. His father never visited him and his brother and even refused to see them when they tried to visit him
      1. his mental health issues were the result
         1. "A lot of people didn't know how to handle him" (76)
         2. "Acquaintances remember him as a socially awkward man-child with an outrageous sense of humor and a squirrelly, almost manic-depressive personality." (76)
      2. "Guy[, John's father,] refused to see [John and his brother]." (77)

1. "[McCandless's grandfather] didn't quite fit into society, [...] in many ways he and Chris were a lot alike." (108)

1. Bad leading by fiction books
   1. McCandless loved to examine everything thoroughly
      1. The phrases that he highlighted in his books, might just be encouraging sentences that tried to persuade people to be useful to the society in your own way.
         1. McCandless might have analyzed these phrases as a way to tell people not to be restricted by family bonds and live in the way you like.
            1. "I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love." (15)
               1. A Passage highlighted in one of McCandless's books
      2. Westerberg thought it was a bad idea to do "too much thinking", and this might be why McCandless got into trouble. (18)
   2. Most things in these books are not true compare to reality
      1. There are no super power or constant-good lucks with people in the real world
         1. Carl McCunn went to live in the Alaska wild for a few months to take some photographs with plenty of necessary camping resources
            1. He died, because he believed that somebody would come to save him when he was stuck in the wild, but nobody came.
               1. If McCunn would be more realistic and would try to walk out of the forest on his own, he might survived.
               2. McCunn was certain [... that] the pilot would [...] return for him. But no plane [came back for him, and eventually he died.]" (82)
               3. People who knew Carl McCunn found that he "was a little bit dreamy, a little bit out of touch with reality." (81)
         2. McCandless only brought little possessions with him on his journey, not all of them were necessary goods for survival.
            1. "[I]t wasn't arrogance that had killed him, it was ignorance...," and McCandless believed that he would survive based on what he brought with him. (212)
               1. Because his lack of preparation and arrogance, he could not support himself with enough proper food, so he tried to survive by eating wild food that contains possible hazards.
                  1. Eventually he died of hunger, because the poison in the potato seeds put him to death.
               2. Because he did not have a "region map" of his camp area, he thought that there was no way to cross the fast moving river, so he returned back to the abandoned bus, then eventually starved to death. (163)
                  1. If he was prepared and had a region map, he would found that there was ways to get around the river and return to the highway

1. This shows that people in modern society are very dependent on society for survival.

   Annotations:

   • Also relate with the Carl McCunn

1. If McCandless was not alone, but with a partner, he might be saved.
2. "s.o.s. I need your help. [... I am] too weak to hike out of here [...] alone", McCandless wrote. (12)
   1. McCandless wanted to be saved, so he left S.O.S. notes on the bus to make sure that if he was not back in the bus, anyone passing by would read the note and stay until he came back.