Into The Wild Sacrifice Analysis

She leaves the care of her children to her grandmother, abandoning them and her husband when she leaves to live in the pigeon-house. To her, leaving her old home with Léonce is very important to her freedom. Almost everything in their house belonged to him, so even if he were to leave, she would still feel surrounded by his possessions. She never fully becomes free of him until she physically leaves the house. That way, Edna has no ties whatsoever to that man. Furthermore, Edna indulges in more humanistic things such as art and music. She listens to Mademoiselle Reisz’s playing of the piano and feels the music resonate throughout her body and soul, and uses it as a form of escapism from the world. Based on these instances, Edna acts almost like a very young child, completely disregarding consequences and thinking only about what they want to do experience most at that moment. However, to the reader this does not necessarily appear “bad”, but rather it is seen from the perspective of a person who has been controlled by others their entire life and wishes to break free from their grasp. In a way, she is enacting a childlike and subconscious form of revenge by disobeying all known social constructs of how a woman should talk, walk, act, and interact with others.

Jon Krakauer had the same experience as McCandless with his family and travel to Alaska, but Krakauer knew more about survival and had company in case of any danger. Krakauer compares, “as a young man, I was unlike Mccandless in many important regard… And I suspect we had a similar intensity, a similar heedlessness, a similar agitation of the soul” (55). Acknowledging McCandless’s background, Chris left society because, in Krakauer’s point of view, of the “agitation of the soul” and the “similar heedless” of society. McCandless didn’t agree with society’s standards that being successful meant having a well paid occupation, especially when McCandless’s parents enforced it onto him. McCandless truly did not want to uphold the wishes of his parents, for Chris to go to college and get high paying career, but it wasn’t what Chris really wanted, so he left all of his conflicts with his parents and his values or “agitation of the soul” to create a new identity as Alex Supertramp and live in the wild. In today’s modern world, humanity lives in an environment where people are controlled and dependent on others. Chris’s father is someone he despises because of his characteristic of being controlling. Walter becomes controlling over Chris, who pressured him into college. As a result, Chris has an “agitation of the soul” to become independent, and a “heedlessness” for society and had an “intensity” for

Edna’s children are different from other children, if one of her boys fell “…he was not apt to rush crying to his mother’s arms for comfort; he would more likely pick himself up, wipe the water out of his eyes and the sand out of his mouth, and go on playing”. Edna is not a typical Creole “mother-woman” who “idolized her children (and) worshipped her husband” (8) and at times that results in her husband’s claims that she neglects her children. Edna’s children leave her attached to her husband, and even if she is somehow able to escape the relationship with her husband she will never be able to escape her children. She realizes this and whether consciously or not, doesn’t care for her children the way this is expected of a woman in her time period. When Adele Ratignolle reminds her to, “Think of the children!…Oh think of the children! Remember them!” Edna finally realizes her decisions affect her and her children. Instead of accepting her responsibility as a mother Edna decides to give up, and does so by committing suicide.

The setting Edna is in directly affects her temperament and awakening: Grand Isle provides her with a sense of freedom; New Orleans, restriction; the “pigeon house”, relief from social constraints. While at Grand Isle, Edna feels more freedom than she does at her conventional home in New Orleans. Instead of “Mrs. Pontellier… remaining in

“Wilderness appealed to those bored or disgusted with man and his works” (Roderick Nash). Chris McCandless, a modern transcendentalist, sent out on an adventure to find his true self in the wilderness of the North American continent. In the two years he was away, he met many individuals he called his friends and explored the extent of the American West. However, Chris was found dead in an abandoned bus on the Stampede Trail in the deep wilderness of Alaska in early September 1992. Chris believed he could live his life without the disruption of others. Henry David Thoreau believed that individuals can strive for themselves without government interruption. Chris McCandless, in Jon Krakauer’s documentary Into the Wild, believes that living off the land and life to its fullest without help from others compares to Henry David Thoreau’s beliefs in his writing “Civil Disobedience.”

The transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau once wrote, “Most men even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the facetious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them.” Thoreau advocated simplifying life and the benefits of living in isolation from society in the wilderness to “suck the marrow out of life”. In the non-fiction book titled Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the young man Chris McCandless’ story is told. McCandless traveled to Alaska to experience the most extreme transcendentalist existence foretold by Thoreau. While in Alaska he meet his end, and many historians contemplate why he took this tremendous undertaking to

in Krakauer 70). The way this epigraph can relate to the theme of the story is that the way Chris wanted to live his life was simple compared to others. All Chris wanted to do was get to Alaska and Into the Wild where he can be alone and enjoy the surroundings which was nature, but as other people who lived “normal lives” would want more than what they already have. For example Chris had his Datsun which was a older car that he enjoyed because it was simple, but his parents wanted to get rid of the car and buy Chris a better car for his graduation, he denied their idea simply because he didn’t want or need a different car. Chris’s insights were a bit different than most people’s because any other kid would have most likely accepted that gift from their parents. This also shows why Chris wanted to simply go away and live such a simple life in Alaska, because he wasn’t crazy he just had a simpler insight on life.

Throughout history, people encounter a stage in their lives where they feel the necessity to assert their independence and challenge their abilities and self-worth. In the book, Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, the author shares his understanding and kinship with the main character, Chris McCandless, a young man who thrusts himself into a life of solitude and a harsh environment during his search for meaning to his life. Krakauer depicts himself and McCandless as modern day transcendentalists with an abundance of competency, resourcefulness and skills as naturalists. Although McCandless chose to experience a life of solitude and face the hazards that nature presents, his lack of preparedness prevented him from completing his endeavor successfully.

Edna’s suicide was victory of self-expression. Edna undergoes a gradual awakening process in which portrays not to only her newly established independence from the constraints of her husband, but also her ability to go against the social norms of society in order to individually express herself. Her suicide encompases the question and critique of living life through the perspective of society such as being responsible for taking care of the kids, cleaning the house, and entertaining any guests that the husband may have over anytime. In the first couple of capters, the novel is quick to emphasize the gerneralized roles kthat are placed onto females, making it apparent that fe,ales are expected to successfully fulfil these roles. For example, Leonce enters home after being out and stated one of the kids had a fever. Edna was certain the child had no fever but Leonce belittles her capability as a mother for indifference with him. “If it was not a mother’s place to look after the children, whose on earth was it?” (27capac).

First, they place value in one should learn from living life. Chris was a college graduate and was accepted into Harvard, he left the whole thing behind so that he could learn from living life. In many parts of the movie, Chris learns from living, he is convinced the core of the man’s spirit comes from new experiences (Into the Wild). Chris decides he wants to kayak. He goes into the ranger station to ask about paddling down the river. The ranger informs him he needs a permit, some experience, and unfortunately there is a twelve-year waiting list. Hearing this from the ranger does not stand in his way the next morning he is in a kayak, with no care, no life jacket, no helmet facing the rapids for the first time, learning from the experience. Thoreau supported Chris’s ideas and advocated for individuals to be students of life. In Walden, Thoreau stated, “ I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I

She is moved by music. During that summer Edna sketches to find an artistic side to herself. She needs an outlet to express who she is. Edna feels that art is important and adds meaning to her life. After the summer is over and they are back to the city and Edna is a changed woman. She makes many steps towards independence. She stops holding "Tuesday socials", she sends her children to live in the country with their grandparents, she refuses to travel abroad with her husband, she moves out of the Lebrun house on Esplanade Street, and to earn money, she starts selling her sketches and betting the horses. She also starts a relationship with another man Alcee Arobin. He meant nothing to her emotionally but she used him for sexual pleasure. Edna evolved above her peers she did not believe that sexuality and motherhood had to be linked. The last step of her "awakening" is the realization that she can not fulfill her life in a society that will not allow her to be a person and a mother. Edna commits suicide in the ocean at Grand Isle.

Throughout “The Awakening”, Edna is immersed in a constant clash with society over the significance of the difference between her life and her self. To Edna, the question of whether or not she would die for her children is somewhat simple. Edna attempts to explain this concept to her good friend, Adele Ratignolle, but to no avail, “I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself” (Chopin 62). Not only does Edna consider her life unessential, she categorizes it as equal with material objects such as money. The idea of self, on the other hand, lies on a completely different level in Edna’s mind. The most important goal to Edna in her life is the journey to discover her true character. The idea that her inner self is more essential than life or even her children causes Edna to stray farther from the social constraints of the typical domestic woman. Kathleen M. Streater weighs in on Edna’s situation and placement in

Edna’s choices supplemented her search for self. The awakening, spurred by her experiences at the Grand Isle, had spiked her journey for “personal freedom” (“Themes”). She realizes she wanted more in life than just being what society would prefer her to be, which was a mother-woman. She “rejects the domestic empire of the mother and the sororal world of women’s culture. Seemingly beyond the bonds of womanhood, she has neither mother nor daughter, and even refuses to go to her sister’s wedding” (Showalter 211). She chooses “to own herself by owning her value.” This was “a form of voluntary motherhood: ‘. . . she would never sacrifice herself for her children, or for any one . . . [she] would give [her] life for [her] children, but [she] wouldn’t give [herself]’” (as qtd. in Stange 281). “When she returns to New Orleans, she refuses to sleep with her husband and gradually withdraws from meeting social obligations with people who [were] important only to her husband and his social status” (“Themes”). She discontinues her attendance in the traditional

The beginning of the novel details Edna’s trip with her family in Grand Isle. Her husband, Mr. Pontellier is distant from Edna. However, she becomes attached to a man on the island, Robert, and Mademoiselle Reisz, who is unmarried and dislikes children, which is socially unconventional. Her other companion, Madame Ratignolle, is the pregnant foil to Mademoiselle Reisz as she is considered the socially ideal woman through her doting nature to her family. Mademoiselle Reisz and Robert are the primary reasons why Edna starts expressing her dissatisfaction with her life as a loyal mother and wife. Edna especially finds freedom through swimming in the ocean, even though it is physically exhausting. Towards the end of Edna’s time at the island, Robert makes a decision to pursue a business venture in Mexico which depresses Edna. When the Pontelliers leave the island, Edna begins to actively paint, which she finds brightens her mood. She additionally visits Mademoiselle Reisz often in order to listen to her play piano and read the letters that Robert sent Mademoiselle Reisz. Concurrently, her husband believes that her trips to her companions’ houses and her painting often conflict with her familial duties. However, he attempts to satisfy her displeasure

Chris McCandless was an idealistic young man from Virginia who donated all of his college money savings to charity to then go on an adventure. He held many similar beliefs to the famous philosopher and writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, an essayist who advocated Nature over a century and a half before, particularly in the first chapter, originally published in 1836, and in some of his other literary works. Both people expressed a need for isolation and living independently, becoming one with nature and severing the need of materialistic things and the ability to truly appreciate nature. When Chris McCandless lived in the wild in Alaska, he successfully lived on his own and explored unmarked areas, he became in harmony with nature and learned to truly appreciate it, and defied society's expectations for him, overall living up to Emerson’s transcendentalist and individualist philosophy.