Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art Works

Into the Wild.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I want you to read this book. If you want to read about Chris McCandless without doing much work, you can read about him online, easily. But I want you to read the book Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer.

I don't want to do a summation of the book when spoilers and such summaries and critiques of both the book and McCandless are readily available on the Internet. I don't want to weigh the validity of what McCandless did or did not do. What I want is for you to read the book.

I've already written about this book in the past, in a different way.

We are caged, I said.

"...people haven't forgotten how 'forcefully they were once buffeted by the passions and longings of youth,' as Krakuaer said. For some people, the uneasiness that is just below the surface is evidence of just that. These are the people that don't last 4 years at a job, that seem shiftless, unfocused, unable to "buckle down" and be a normal, reliable person in society. They always have one eye on the cage door, always wanting to escape, though few do."

We are prisoners, I said.

"We are prisoners of things. Our minds, our lives, are filled with shallow material things, whether it be the maintenance of them, or how to acquire more. It has almost become our sole purpose in this culture. McCandless is seen as strange because he chucked it all and wanted to see what he was made of. He didn't follow the normal route in life after he graduated from college."

We keep trying, I said.

"I wish I could leave it all and head off into the sunset, but I can't. I'm not there yet, I don't have it in me. I'm not strong enough, and I am too fearful. I still take comfort in my comfort, I'm ashamed to admit. But he did it, and when I read his story, I feel a little better about the small efforts I've made if only for the simple fact that I know someone out there tried, and I will try, too."

I am thankful, McCandless said.

"I have had a happy life and thank the Lord. Goodbye and may God bless all!" McCandless wrote as he was alone and starving, the last thing he said to the world before he died.

Read the book.