The fact that Chris was unable to recognize a striking difference between the writings of both authors strengthens the paper’s thesis as to the utter ignorance, as such that represents an integral part of this character’s existential mode. Whereas the characters of Jack London used to impose their will upon the nature, while often being able to beat the impossible odds by application of their sheer will-power, Tolstoy’s characters appear to be solely preoccupied with “moralizing” on the subject of “oneness with nature”, in order for other people to think of them as being “intellectually sophisticate”.
The attentive readers will undoubtedly notice the fact that McCandless is being presented as simultaneously the fan of both: Alexander Tolstoy and Jack London, which could not possibly be the case, simply because London used to hate Tolstoy with utter passion, as the promoter of spiritual decadence. Moreover, it also explains why Chris continued to advise 80-year-old man Ron Franz to “get off his ass” and to become a hitchhiker – apparently, “Supertramp” never ceased to exist in the state of perceptional denial, which eventually had brought about his ultimate demise. In its turn, this explains why McCandless remained emotionally cold while pursuing a relationship with Tracy Tatro. This is the reason why, while continuing to complain about “society’s wickedness”, as such that derive out of the process of people growing increasingly “less human”, Chris never even considered giving a call to his emotionally distressed parents, in order to at least partially relieve psychological anxieties, related to their son’s disappearance.Īs history shows, degenerates may even be willing to risk their lives and freedom, in order to prove their love to “humanity” or to distance themselves from “society’s evilness” (as was the case with McCandless) however, the sense of love to a concrete person is virtually unknown for them. One of the most characteristic psychological traits of people as McCandless is that their existential idealism extrapolates itself in the form of love towards vaguely defined concepts of “humanity”, “animal welfare”, etc., even though they appear as being incapable of loving a concrete person or a concrete animal.Īs Eric Hathaway had described his former high school friend: “He’d tell us to think about all the evil in the world, all the hatred, and imagine ourselves running against the forces of darkness, the evil wall that was trying to keep us from running our best” (Krakauer Ch.
Same story: idealistic, energetic young guys who overestimated themselves, underestimated the country, and ended up in trouble… they are almost collective cliché” (Krakauer Ch. In “Into the Wild”, Krakauer quotes from the letter of Nick Jens: “Over the past 15 years, I’ve run into several McCandless types out in the country.
#Into the wild book chris mccandless full
In its turn, this explains why citizens that are not being deprived of their ability to think logically cannot help feeling contempt towards the full spectrum of ideas, for which people like McCandless stand up as spokesman.
Therefore, the fact that Chris had ended up losing his life was not an accident, as many people tend to believe – it was nothing but a logical consequence of this novel character’s unhealthy fascination with essentially self-destructive philosophical ideas. 47).Īs history shows, the practical implementation of every social philosophy or religious worldview, for which the principles of “morality”, “simplicity” and “equality” serve as its metaphysical foundation, always result in ensuing death and destruction (Christianity and Communism). Indeed, one of the books found in the bus with his remains was a collection of stories that included Tolstoy’s “The Kreutzer Sonata”, in which the nobleman-turned-ascetic denounces the “demands of the flesh” (Krakauer Ch.
It is not simply a coincidence that, throughout the novel, the author continuously refers to McCandless’ as someone who is being fascinated by Tolstoy’s ideals of “simplicity”, “non-violence” and “closeness to earth”, thus revealing him to be a typical White Liberal, whose existential inadequateness often sublimates itself into such person’s tendency to whine about “world’s injustices” as his or her full-time preoccupation, while growing to be increasingly concerned with the issues of “morality”: “Chastity and moral purity were qualities McCandless mulled over long and often.
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