Grimshaw 1

Megan Grimshaw
Mr. Price
English 11 Period 1
21 March 2016
Theme of Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer: Forgiveness
Forgiveness is a critical step on the path to resolving conflict. The concept of forgiveness
in this book is the fact that Chris wont forgive. The summer before freshman year of college, he
had found something about his family, more so his parents, and it had caused a great strain on the
relationship between them for two years (from his high school graduation to his college
graduation). After an incident where his parents offered to buy him a new car, he had told his
sister, Im going to have to be real careful think they have bought my respect (Krakauer 21).
The author is trying to show Chriss point of view; how he doesnt want his respect bought by his
parents. Based off of this quote, Chris would have no problems forgiving them. Another reason
why forgiveness is a theme of Into the Wild is because it seems like Chris cant forgive himself
for not being able to help starving people more than he possibly can. When he graduated from
Emory University, he had an A in Apartheid and South African Society and History of
Anthropological Thought A minus in Contemporary African Politics and the Food Crisis in
Africa (Krakauer 21). Also, he donated all of his college funds to OXFAM America, a charity
dedicated to fighting hunger (Krakauer 20). Krakauer is trying to say that Chris has a kind heart
but he is also stubborn and he is blaming himself for something he cant control, but he wants to
help as much as he can. An important theme of this book is forgiveness, primarily that Chris
couldnt and thats what killed him.