Into the Wild Quotes

Jack London- White Fang

“Dark spruce forest frowned on either side the frozen waterway.  The trees had been stripped by a recent wind of their white covering of frost, and they seemed to lean toward each other, black and ominous, in the fading light.  A vast silence reigned over the land.  The land itself was a desolation, lifeless, without movement, so lone and cold that the spirit of it was not even that of sadness.  There was a hint in it of laughter, but of a laughter more terrible than any sadness- a laughter that was mirthless as the smile of the Sphinx, a laughter cold as the frost and partaking of the grimness of infallibility.  It was the masterful and incommunicable wisdom of eternity laughing at the futility of life and the effort of life.  It was the Wild, the savage, frozen-hearted Northland Wild.”

This quote connects to Chris because London was his favorite author, and he loved the wild.  I think it is Chris’s favorite description of the wild.

Henry David Thoreau- Walden, or Life in the Woods

“No man ever followed his genius till it misled him.  Though the result were bodily weakness, yet perhaps no one can say that the consequences were to be regretted, for these were a life in conformity to higher principles.”

This quote applies to Chris because some people might say his genius misled him.  I don’t think Chris regrets the consequences; he lived his life to the fullest, followed his dream, and made an impact on people’s lives.

Edward Hoagland, “Up the Black to Chalkyitsik”

“We have in America “The Big Two-Hearted River” tradition: taking your wounds to the wilderness for a cure, a conversion, a rest, or whatever.  And as in the Hemingway story, if your wounds aren’t too bad, it works.  But this isn’t Michigan (or Faulkner’s Big Woods in Mississippi, for that matter).  This is Alaska.

I think Chris connects to this quote a lot.  He was “wounded” by his family, and he went to the wilderness to try to get away from it all.  I think Chris’s wounds were bad because it didn’t really work.  Chris kept running away to the wilderness, and he wouldn’t let anyone he met become attached to him for long.

Tolstoy, “Family Happiness”

“I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness.  A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor- such is my idea of happiness.  And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children perhaps- what more can the heard of a man desire?”

This quote basically sums up Chris’s reasons for leaving the wild.  He wanted to settle down at last, maybe not forever, but long enough to start a family.  Chris was ready to end his adventure and go back to the people who loved him.

Favorite McCandless quotes

"Thus, the story has no picture book for the period May 10, 1991- January 7, 1992.  But this is not important.  It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphant joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found.  God it’s great to be alive!  Thank you.  Thank you."

This quote means a lot to me because, like Chris, there are times where I don’t have my camera when I just want to take a picture to remember something.  I know I will always have my memories of that moment forever, and it makes me happy knowing that I lived life the way I wanted to.

Page 57

“You are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships.  God has placed it all around us.  It is in everything and anything we might experience.  We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living.”

I like this quote because I feel that it is true.  I enjoy time to myself sometimes, and I especially enjoy it while I’m outside.  I love being out in nature as much as I enjoy spending time with my friends in school.