Idealism And Realism In 'Into The Wild'

1. The difference between romanticism and realism is the different focuses within the book. Romanticism focuses more on the emotion and the fantasy aspects of the story. “Into the Wild” made Chris seem to almost have a superman complex, I had suspicions about this throughout the book but I wasn't not completely convinced until Carine said, “Chris didn’t think twice about risking his own life.”(128) This is where I drew the conclusion that Chris seemed to believe he was invincible to the harm of the real world.

In a book of realism the author focuses on the authenticity of the characters and tries to simulate normalcy within the character's lives. Realism is the contrast of idealism, and realism the author attempts to unveil things as they

The woman who is stuck in an empty marriage, the mother who drinks too much because she made a few too many wrong turns in her day, the guy stuck in his dead end job, or the man who is simply bored with his bland life, they are all craving freedom in one way or another but have no idea how to approach their goals. In that sense i admire Chris for attempting to live the life he sought out for, even if it got him

“To write is to exist” you say, I took this with a grain of salt, because my personal “writing” has been lack lately but this metaphor should not be take so strictly. My “writing” may be seen on the green grass with a ball between my feet, and picasso “wrote” with his paintbrush and a canvas. To express yourself is to exist, to leave your mark on the world is to exist, to be someone who people will remember, with passions and dreams is to exist. To write is to exist, merely skims the surface of what is means to truly exist.

I don't believe the story was entirely about Krakauer, although, some underlying bias that krakauer portrayed throughout the novel may lead one to believe so. I would find it hard fro an author not to leave a little piece of themselves leaving small anecdotes from their personal lives with their piece of work. Maybe krakauer was just trying to exist. Maybe this was his defining moment, he was no longer just a columnist, he was writing about something that mattered to him, putting pen to paper and writing down the soul of a lost man, how could he not has poured a little bit of himself onto the page as well?