"Into the Wild"

   Every one wants to live a picture perfect life, but what is the life everyone in the pursuit of?  Material or spiritual, freedom or constraint, escape or face, stick or change... , embracing the true meaning of life might be one of the hardest things for most people. For those people who don’t want to have any drama in their life, they will never be able to embrace the true meaning of life unless they push for the things they want in life. I admire someone who strives for their own ideal life and the true identity, but I don’t mean that I am in favor of the behavior of someone who pursue of his dream blindly, regardless of the expense of others. I think Into The Wild is a book which is worthy reading because this book praise the spirit rather than the behavior.

 Into The Wild is a book about a young man named Chris McCandless, who is from a well-to-do background in Washington D.C. Area, Chris McCandless always had privileges that few can claim. In April of 1992 he hitchhiked across the country to Alaska. He gave $25,000 of his savings to charity, left his car and nearly all of his possessions. He burned all the cash he had in his wallet, and created a new life. Four months later, his body was found in an abandoned bus. he did what many people wanted to do but never had the brave to do.  His means are to leave the material lifestyle and become at one with nature. McCandless’s passion for living by his principals, for simplicity and purity, is attractive and admirable.

      Maybe, because of the disappointment or hurt too deep, some people often use relentless, contemptuous tone to describe a so-called see-through thing, and then leave for freedom with the rebellious attitude, in disguise"Escape". But the things never disappear because of "escape". Although you stay away from modern civilization and its accompanying social evils, pressure, hypocrisy, you still need to live the nascent primitive life for surviving in deep Alaska wildness. "Modern" and "primitive", wherever you run, what you need to face is still to survive. From the book, our readers can learn that Chris had a bad relationship with his parents. Chris was privileged and wanted to get away from his privileged and dysfunctional family and an easy life where everything was handed to him. And the reader can also know both Chris and Walt McCandless are strong-willed and independence, Walt McCandless wanted to influence and parent Chris, but Chris craved independence, and Chris specially detested arbitrary authority, when he found his father was not perfect, he rebelled by leaving without saying goodbye. Chris’s sister received a letter from him saying that, “…I’m going to completely knock them out of my life. I’m going to divorce them as my parents once and for all and never speak to either of those idiots again as long as I live. I’ll be through with them once and for all, forever” (Krakauer 64). This quote shows that he was so mad at his parents, that he had once said his parents couldn't buy his respect. He didn't want to go through life having everything given to him from his parents. And then he cut off all communicating with his family and left for Alaska, actually he was escaping the reality and tried to look for the nature in Alaska wildness. But no matter how angry he is, he should not neglect the love from the family, he can’t punish the family in that way.The nature is also savage and cruel though it is beautiful. The nature deprive his life. In the end of his life, he recalled the hug with his parents happily and resumed his name at birth, all these proved that he couldn't still separate from the civilization society .Escaping is not the right way to follow one's passion. If he could realize what the true himself he was a little earlier, if he could learn to forgive, learn to love, it would not cause such great pain to the family who love him. To somewhat extent, McCandless was foolish and selfish.

I like this book, the book focus on the results from the investigation, I think everybody should read it,especially for those who just enter the society and feel unsatisfied by modern life and society or want to emulate the action like Chris. Chris McCandless finally found the true himself, he found what he needed  in his life, but no matter how strongly he wanted to go back to his parents, and he never came out of the Alaska bush. He is wisdom and well-education but eventually his “ignorance killed him”. It is a tragedy.