Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Title Significance

The title into the wild addresses Chris McCandless enduring expedition into the dense tundra of Alaska , his journey into an uncultivated and unpeopled region: “And what magnificent county I have seen-wild, tremendous wasteland stretches, lost mesas, blue mountains rearing upward from the sands of the desert, canyons five feet wide at the bottom and hundreds of feet deep, cloudburst roaring down unnamed canyons, and hundreds of houses of the cliff dwellers, abandoned thousands of years ago” (92). Chris McCandless describes Alaska’s terrain directly as he witnessed it.  McCandless persistent struggle for survival included the lacking of certain adequate supplies, clothing, hunting tools, and durable boots. Clothing needed for warmth, hunting needed for food availability, and boots needed for protection. These necessities are some fundamental essentials for physical survival. Chris McCandless went into the harsh land of Alaska in attempts to gain, yet in actuality he died due to the conditions.
The implied meaning of the title into the wild concerns the obscure and merciless wilderness. The entering into the unknown wild, although he adores the wilderness, it is that which kills him. Chris McCandless’s struggles have brought him much uncertainty: “Day 100! I made it! But In weakest condition of life, death looms as a serious threat. Too weak to walk out, have literally become trapped in the wild!-No game” (195). Upon entering the wilderness, Chris McCandless was naïve in the sense that he thought he could overcome any obstacle which stumped him, taking risk to an extreme: “I’m absolutely positive I won’t run into anything i can’t deal with on my own.” (6). in doing so, he entered the wild unprepared: “His [Chris McCandless] gear seemed exceedingly minimal for the harsh conditions of the interior” (5). This indicates that Chris McCandless is not prepared nor is the wild accommodating.

1 comment: