A SPATIAL APPROACH TO INTO

THE WILD BY JOHN KRAKAUER

SPACE’S ROLE IN CREATING IDENTITY
 CUPRINS

1. SPACE’S ROLE IN CREATING IDENTITY ........................................................................... 3

2. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE HUMAN BEING AND THE SPACE ..................... 4
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................................... 6

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 1. Space’s role in creating identity

Between space and identity there has always been a tight bond. This bond can influence
social actions and cultural practices. Identity is related to belonging, the place where people feel
at home and this is not necessary the place where they grew up. Chris, the main character in the
book Into the wild feels that something is missing from his life and he wants something totally
opposite. He wants to forget his old life, his old self and in this respect, he changes his name
into Alex Supertramp.

Chris McCandless said about himself that “he is an extremist, an anaesthetic voyager whose
home is the road.” He felt uncomfortable in society and wanted to get out of it. “He was looking
for something, just didn’t know what it was”, said a person who met him. Many people think that
he wanted to find himself, and the only place that gave him a sense of belonging was the nature,
far from the “plastic people” as he called them.

The nature was for him the only means of spiritual renewal. He wanted to find his identity by
looking outward for healing and not inward. The idea that nature can somehow solve one’s
problems is a faulty one. At the end, his last words written were: “Happiness is only real when
shared.”

The author of the book, John Krakauer said: “I thought climbing the Devils Thumb would fix
all that was wrong with my life. In the end, of course, it changed almost nothing. But I came to
appreciate that mountains make poor receptacles for dreams.” In the end, Chris McCandless
probably had the same conclusion, that he has to look inside for healing.

Because Chris didn’t know who he was, in part because of his relationship with his father
which wasn’t very good, he started this adventure with a wrong image of the place he was
heading to. What mattered to McCandless was the "idea" of wilderness, the "idea" of living off
the land, rather than the material reality of Alaska's drastically changing sub-arctic conditions.
Alaska had become his obsession, so he created in his mind a space that can be conquered,
manipulated, controlled and a proper preparation wasn’t necessary. But the space is public,
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unstable and open to change, is dynamic and flowing. In the end, the space controlled and
dominated the man. “I had literally become trapped in the wild” he wrote.

His relationship with space was a strong, emotional one and no other relationship was above
this. He rejected all the other good relationships that he created on his way to Alaska, making
sure that he left before anything was expected of him. He felt that human relationships were a
distraction and not a necessity, being very committed to his adventure.

2. The relationship between the human being and the space

He saw nature as a place of healing, a place of answered questions and he ran into its arms
looking for help and escape. Escape from the society, from family and comfort for his past and
his broken relationship with his father. Probably in the end, as his last words show, he
understood the true meaning of life and made peace with himself.

The place is not used in order to help the reader to better understand the story,
on the contrary, the text is taken as evidence that will help the reader to
understand the place. McCandless was stirred by the austerity of this
landscape, by its saline beauty. The desert sharpened the sweet ache of his
longing, amplified it, gave shape to it in sere geology and clean slant of light.1

The reasons why people embark as lonely travelers are plenty. Why would someone
choose to leave his space, his home and go in adventures without much preparation? Some
categories of people who dare to do this are:

-Young guys who are idealistic, energetic and overestimate themselves and the country;

- People who went into the country expecting to find answers to all their problems;

- People who want to spend the rest of their life “communing with nature”;

- Persons who want to “get away from people”;

1
Cornelia Coșer, Critical Approaches to the Literary Text. Editura Universității ,,Aurel Vlaicu”, 2014.
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-People who believe that what you desire is no less than what you deserve, to assume that if you
want something badly enough, it is your right to have it.

McCandless falls into the category of the seekers, because he had an impractical
fascination with the harsh side of nature and wanted to find himself. In his travels, he brought
along his own background, likes and dislikes, personal attitudes and awareness even if he wanted
to forget everything about his previous life. The wilderness was for him his primal
consciousness, he didn’t think of anything else but getting lost in the wild. He was sick of the
richness he had at home, of the things that didn’t bring him fulfillment, he needed a rebirth and
the only way he could have done that was by leaving everything behind.

Chris McCandless said: “If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, the
possibility of life is destroyed. The freedom and simple beauty is just too good to pass up.” He
wanted to live without rules, without limits, his desire was to try new things, to live the life to the
fullest and by doing this, to find himself, a boy who lost his identity, who thought that everything
was perfect until the lie of his father came to the surface. For him, this was very hard to process
and his only reaction was to escape, to go as far as possible from the people who lied him his
entire life.

Both the author of the book and the character went to Alaska to find themselves and the
similarities between them are: they both had difficulties in their father- son relationship, they
both felt lonely in nature at some point, both came in contact with people on the way and made
friends and they both liked to read in the nature. The difference between them is that the author
lived to tell his tale, whereas Chris McCandless found his ending in the wild, in the place where
he most wanted to be.

Space had a very important role in Chris’ life, the nature was the one who driven him into
the wild and he had his portion of freedom and inspiration in Alaska, but the same nature turned
against him when he needed most and didn’t meet his unreal expectations. The character faces
impossible challenge of surviving the elements while nature is at its most vile and brutal. He
went to conquer the nature, but the nature conquered him and didn’t let him leave.

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 Bibliography

• Coșer, Cornelia. Critical Approaches to the Literary Text. Editura universității ,,Aurel
Vlaicu”, 2014.

• Coșer, Cornelia. Critical Approaches to the Literary Text-Workbook. Editura universității

,,Aurel Vlaicu”, 2014.

• http://peopleplacespace.org/toc/section-3/