Into the Wild Literary Analysis Essay Example

Take a dive into the wild. The wilderness is void of nearly all human interaction. The only things that remain are trees, plants, and animals. The wild seems like a relaxing, beautiful getaway from society. But hang on! The reality is much different. In Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, a nonfiction novel based on a true story, the adventurer Chris McCandless makes a trip across the United Statesand into Alaska, to escape his family. Despite the seemingly exotic nature of the wilderness, the wilderness harbors the reality of the hidden dangers that Krakauer portrays through allusions to White Fang and other well-known survival-related novels, comparing and contrasting stories related to other adventurers to Chris’s trip. 

Allusions to White Fang and other survival-based fiction novels point out the deceiving nature of the wild. For example, Krakauer mentions an epigraph from Jack London that describes the wilderness in a dark spruce forest in which the trees had been “stripped by a recent wind of their white covering of frost” (Krakauer 9). London paints an ominous tone on the deceivingly peaceful nature of the wild, emphasizing that the beauty is only an expectation. Moreover, McCandless’s note on Jack London’s White Fang refers to a laughter “mirthless as the smile of the Sphinx” (9), to depict the wild as a savage area. Exposing the wilderness’s nature of uncovered dangers demonstrates that living in the wild requires hard perseverance and honed survival skills. 

The juxtaposition of stories relating to other adventurers prove against the romanticized view of the wilderness. As a close friend Stoppel recalled on Carl McCunn’s trip to Alaska, Stoppel states, “Some people in his situation could have figured out a way to walk out or maybe winter over, but to do that, you’d have to be extremely resourceful…Carl was too laid back. He was a party boy” (84). Both Chris and Carl’s situations stemmed from their unpreparedness: Both adventurers did not bring enough food. Their situations reinforce the wicked reality of nature, and having to always be prepared. Another instance of this expectation versus reality is Gene Rosellini’s experiment with trying to become a Stone Age native, in which he purely tried to live off the land. Eventually, he recast his goals to “walk around the world, living out of [his] backpack” (75). Both Gene and Crhis both had to accept the harsh reality of what it takes to live off the land, except that Chris displayed acceptance with the S.O.S. note. Both cases portray acceptance, revealing the truth of the wilderness. 

Allusions to White Fang and the different stories relating to McCandless’s adventure draw out the expectation versus reality of nature. The allusions depict the true harsh nature of the wild. The stories of other adventurer’s deaths emphasize the true nature of nature by reinforcing the need to be prepared. There is a difference between what seems wild and what is wild.