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Into The Wild : The American Dream

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Into the Wild directly illustrates many ideas related to overall frontier theme, but the undertone of the entire story was finding the American Dream. The American Dream is the ability to find success in totally different paths. In Chris’ sake, success was not a measure of wealth, but happiness and understanding of himself, which is the real definition of being successful. Into the Wild, by John Krakauer, illustrates the American Dream through Chris McCandless’ journey by showing that you can use unconventional ways to seek success, providing Chris’ definition of success, and that everyone has the equal opportunity to be successful in their own way. Chris McCandless’ journey across the country and into the Alaskan wilderness shows his quest for finding himself, and becoming successful. After Chris’ death, his family tried to make sense of Chris’ journey in their own perspective, “Roman, Andrew, and I stay up well past midnight, trying to make sense of McCandless’s life and death, yet his essence remains slippery, vague, elusive” (Krakauer 186). This quote shows how his family and their normal perception on how to achieve success could not understand what Chris’ was thinking. It is evident that the McCandless family believes in traditional education and working hard to get money and become successful through their actions of sending their children through college. Therefore, they could not understand that Chris was not searching for monetary gain, but to understand himself

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