For my AP Lang class one of our book reads was "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer. Normally I'm not really a fan of the books we have to read for school and never thoroughly end up reading the book anyways. So when my teacher said we had to get "Into the Wild," I decided to check out a copy at the library instead of buying a book I thought I would never really read.
That was a huge mistake. When I got the book from the library, I decided to get ahead in the class and started reading the book since I had finished all my other work. I stayed up till almost 11:30 p.m. reading the book and I immediately connected with it. It was so eyeopening and so amazing how Chris McCandless impacted so many people's lives even with the small interaction he had with them.
For anyone who has never read the book, it's about a young man, Chris McCandless (goes by Alex Supertramp) who gives up his entire lifestyle and any connection to society to live in the wilderness of Alaska. He takes on the dangers of Alaska with barely any of the necessities and even though people he met offered him hiking boots or other useful things, he politely declined and went ahead with his dangerous adventure.
His adventures and his bravery amazed me. The fact that he was fully aware of the fact that he's basically giving up his entire life and could possibly die, yet he still went on with his adventure really fascinated me. He was such a free soul and did whatever he wanted to do with a mindset that's extremely inspiring.
This book made me realize that every single moment in life counts because you never know what could happen and that taking risks is good because that's how you can learn. It also made me realize that even a small interaction with someone you might never see or speak to again can have a huge impact on people so it's important to always be the best version of yourself.
For example, in the book, Chris meets Ron Franz, a man who lost his family when he was overseas. With the small interaction he has with Chris, Chris makes a huge impact on him. Ron is religious and secluded man from society and chooses to isolate himself. But when Chris comes, he encourages Ron to do more with his life and be involved in society to make a difference. This small interaction but big impact makes Ron want to adopt Chris.
When Chris politely declines, Ron continues on with his life, thinking about Chris everyday. When Ron finds out that Chris died from starvation in Alaska, he becomes anti- religious and stops believing in God because of the thought, "How could God do something horrible to a good person?"
Although Chris didn't make it in the Alaska wilderness, he has become a huge representation of unseen bravery. Even though he could've been in an amazing career with his almost perfect grades, he chose to explore the wilderness of Alaska and put himself in a position that so many people wouldn't even ever dare to do.
