Themes from American Literature

The American Frontier

In American literature, the American Frontier is often depicted as a land of opportunity, where people go to create a new beginning. In Into the Wild, McCandless views the wilderness as a purer state, a place free of the evils of modern society, where he can live by his own rules; a place where he can find out what he is really made of. This makes the wilderness very alluring to McCandless, and many others like him.

However, he discovers that living in and off the wilderness is not as romantic as he imagined it to be. McCandless spends so much time searching for food to sustain himself that he has little time to sit back and appreciate his surroundings. This is evident in his journal entries, which almost entirely consist of lists of the food he finds and eats every day.

Individuality

McCandless describes what he is looking for on his adventure as “ultimate freedom.” This exhibits his desire for freedom from other people's rules and authority over him, as he finds authority particularly oppressive. He believes that the only way to combat this is to lead a life of solitude, in a world where the only laws he chooses to abide by are the laws of nature.

Yet this level of freedom is inherently selfish. No matter how principled and deeply-thought, McCandless is ultimately living solely for his own best interests. A prime example of this is his refusal to obtain a hunting license because he doesn’t think what he eats is the government’s business. If everyone acted this way, animal populations would be destroyed, and food supplies threatened. Therefore, McCandless's "ultimate freedom" is limited, for on any larger scale it would be harmful to the environment.

The Father-Son Relationship

The father-son relationship, and the potential for dysfunction within it, is an important theme in Into the Wild and other American literary works. The problem arises in that McCandless's father's ambitions for his son are very different from McCandless's own, and their strong wills and passion cause a schism between father and son. McCandless dies before he has the opportunity to grow out of his anger.

Materialism

McCandless denounces and rejects what he sees as American materialism. He condones the upper middle-class suburban setting in which his parents raised him. He lives by his principle that the only necessities are what you can carry on your back, and upon leaving his Atlanta home he donates all his savings to charity, abandons his car in the desert, and burns his money.

Un-American Dream?

The American Dream–a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for success and prosperity achieved through hard work–does not exist in Into the Wild. McCandless had everything: wealth, looks, athletic ability, and a very high intelligence level. "I have a college education. I’m not destitute. I’m living like this by choice” (51). In this way, McCandless went about the American Dream (or his own dream, rather) on an opposite route. He started with everything, and ended with nothing instead of starting with nothing and ending with everything. He just wanted an easier, simpler life.
McCandless's story is about a young man's journey to find himself in a world full of misdirection. He hoped that by parting ways with his old life, he would stumble across himself somewhere on the North American continent.