Into the Wild

Krakauer’s Into the Wild explores an interesting story about a young college educated man, who abandons the idea of conforming to society by working like everybody else. He is greatly against government control and seeks freedom from authority at every turn. To him, the ultimate freedom lies within the laws of nature and runs off to Alaska to attempt to live on his own. Though in doing this, Christopher risks his health and increases his likelihood of losing himself. Christopher spends the next few months hunting small animal, gathering plants, reading, all while living in an abandoned bus. He is successful until he eats poisonous food that he had gathered. He quickly discovers that he won’t have the energy to fight off the infection and be able to gather enough food to survive. Having the epiphany that he will eventually pass, he spends time to write a farewell message to his family and friends. Within a few days hunters discover his body in the bus.

I think this book could be useful to have students spend time expanding on textual evidence and how certain quotes or pages relate to certain ideas in their own lives. Adolescents live in a very authority lifestyle. Parents, teachers, coaches, etc all giving out order to do this and that. This book explores that theme of authority in great detail. Also, how the main character misinterprets advice for authority, ultimately getting himself killed. Another theme that could be explored is the relationships between Christopher and his father. His father is a huge reason Christopher decides to abandon his lifestyle and go in a journey. I think it would be important to high school students to explore these types of themes because it is relent to their age. I also liked how they made a movie about the book as well. I enjoy when I can see a vivid depiction of the story and how the themes unfold in a different setting. I think it could be useful to pair the two in a classroom to keep a good variety of activities.