Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Hi, I am Sarah. I am fourteen years old and an avid reader; it is one of my favorite things to do. Inspired by authors’ creations of magnificent places and surprising havens built by simple letters, I aspire to be an author and, meanwhile, nurture the love to write.
In 1992, Chris McCandless, a twenty-four-year-old idealistic young adventurer, walked into the Alaskan wilderness with little more than a .22 caliber rifle and a bag of rice, after donating $25,000 in savings and leaving behind all he knew.
Four months later, he was found by a couple of moose hunters, dead, in the back of an old bus.
At first glance, McCandless’s case is one like many others: an arrogant or naïve young man lost to the wilderness. But in Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer looks deeper than the surface story. He looks at the person Chris McCandless was, and the adventures he’d had in the two years leading up to his final journey. He looks at where Chris came from and how he grew up. He compares Chris to others with similar desires, similar integrity, and a similar affinity for wanderlust. Through this meticulous examination of a character who lived in this world, once, it is—at least to me—a bit of a wake-up call. Chris McCandless may have died, but before that, he lived to his very fullest. He had desires and dreams and opinions and thoughts; he was, perhaps, just like you or me. And for me, it’s a reminder that we all have a life we want to lead. Do we have the courage to break from whatever pressure binds us, and do it?
