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Comparison Of Into The Wild, By Cheryl Strayed And Into The Wild

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At times of strife with oneself and during periods in one’s life, people tend to find answers or peace by disassociating from their immediate surroundings and replacing it with the natural world. Although Wild by Cheryl Strayed and Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer share the same word in their titles, the two are completely different stories with separate narrative purposes. Wild is about the author’s journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance through hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, and Into the Wild is the author’s discovery of Chris Mccandless’s natural journey, which ultimately led him to his death. Even though the ending of Wild leads to Strayed’s renewal of life, and the ending of Into the Wild leads to the insight on the ending of …show more content…

The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual revolution” (163). When Mccandless is living his Alaskan dream of being so immersed in the wild without any human or technological contact, his journal entries become less about his feelings, and more about his survival, yet he seems to relish in this new way of life. Mccandless proclaims, “I am reborn. This is my dawn. Real life has just begun. Deliberate living: conscious attention to the basics of life, and a constant attention to your immediate environment and its concerns” (168). On his hundredth day of being in the wild, he is elated, even though he is straddling the lines of life and the afterlife. Even on his deathbed, when he has accepted that his journey to his great Alaskan adventure and his journey to find his peace, is what will lead him to his untimely fate, Mccandless still writes a positive last message, “I have had a happy life and thank the lord. Goodbye and may God bless us all!” (199). Comparatively, as Cheryl Strayed gets more immersed in the Pacific Crest Trail and spends more time in the wild, she is able to face her issues head on and find peace. Strayed decided to hike this intense wilderness trail in response to the inability to

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