Theme of Journey in Into the Wild, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian, and The Crucible

When it comes to the plot of a story, it seems that someone “taking a journey”, would be a pretty dull choice. It isn’t until you look deeper into the actual meaning of the word that you really begin to understand how truly profound it can be. The word journey can be put into such simple terms as a “passage or progress from one stage to another”, but it so much more than that. Whether physical or metaphorical, it can be anything from a simple event to a life-changing experience. It can describe a trip you took one summer, or your entire life; the possibilities are endless.

It is obvious from the beginning of the story that Chris McCandless (Into the Wild) does not fit into society. From the way he speaks, to the way he acts, to the way he thinks; he is an outsider and he knows it. Chris believed in a very minimalist approach to life, and he thought that people had too much “stuff”. He believed that it was consuming their lives so much, that they were unable to see the beauty around them. This strong animosity towards modern society is mainly what prompted him to leave.

In most cases, when people speak of “life-changing events”, it usually comes with bad tidings. In this case, the event was Chris’s experience on the road; from the people he meets, to the trouble he gets in. This type of adventure was very beneficial to Chris, as it allowed him to be out on his own, with nobody telling him where to go or what to do, things he could not accomplish in our society.

Chris’ journey was both physical and metaphorical. It was physical in the aspect of his hitchhiking and roaming and metaphysical in the aspect of the pain and anger that he was running away from. The trouble with his family is only hinted at in the beginnin...

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...se. His conflicting emotions do not allow him to think clearly in the situation, which is ironic, as he is the only one who does not believe the girls’ witchcraft stories. John’s main conflict is the guilt that he feels towards his affair with Abigail. He knows that he has done Elizabeth wrong, but he is unsure about how to gain her trust back.

Despite its simple definition, a journey has been proven to take many different forms, and affect people in an infinite amount of ways. No matter what kind of journey one is going through, it can not be described in only a few sentences. The amount of time it takes depends on the person going through it. For Chris, it took years, for Arnold and John, only a couple months. The true definition of a journey is ultimately not something that can be explained through words, but can only through experienced.