Green Group discussion

Post your comments on Chapters 1-9 here.

There were a few things that stood out to me in the first 9 chapters:

One, Chris' attitude to materialism. He gives away almost all of his money to OXFAM ($24,000+!). Even the money he keeps, he ends up burning. He refuses to let his parents buy him a new car, but then abandons even his old car.

Two, his connection to some of the great thinkers, including Tolstoy and Thoreau. Obviously from both he learned the concepts of simple living. Also, Tolstoy had strong views on the ownership of personal property.

Three, his yearning to reconnect with nature in order to find himself.

Four, his change of identity from Chris McCandless to Alexander Supertramp - a simple living hero?

Five, his attitude towards work. He has a Bachelor's degree from an excellent college (Emory), and the intelligence to go on and have a highly paid professional job. Instead, he works at Westerberg's doing manual labor (mucking out grain), and even working at a fast food restaurant.

Six, flaunting of rules. He refuses to be bound by societal rules and expectations.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Chris' letter to Ron Franz:

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take teh initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for advanture. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

Anyone? Anyone at all going to read along?

I think that you will like it. :-) Very motivational.

The environment is the most important issue facing the world today.

Come on ... join in on the discussion!

Lynnm- great job trying to reengage the group. I had read "Into The Wild" ( and everything else by Krakauer) a few years ago.

I highly recommend it to the group - how many people could give up all their material wealth and hit the road for Alaska !

Hi Scott - I agree - most people wouldn't give up their material wealth and search for answers in the "wild." Even people who care about the environment...

But we all need to look at the way we consume and view material wealth because it is harming the planet.

And we are harming ourselves as well. Material goods don't make us happier.

I loved the quotes from the film "Into the Wild":

- “Measure yourself once…in the most ancient of human condition, with nothing to help us but your hand and your own head.”
- “I'm going to paraphrase Thoreau here... rather than love, than money, than faith, than fame, than fairness... give me truth.”
- “If we admit that human life can be ruled by reason, then all possibility of life is destroyed.”
- “The core of mans' spirit comes from new experiences.”
- “I will miss you too, but you are wrong if you think that the joy of life comes principally from the joy of human relationships. God's place is all around us, it is in everything and in anything we can experience. People just need to change the way they look at things.”
- “Happiness only real when shared.”
- “No, man. Alaska, Alaska. I'm gonna be all the way out there, all the way fucking out there. Just on my own. You know, no fucking watch, no map, no axe, no nothing. No nothing. Just be out there. Just be out there in it. You know, big mountains, rivers, sky, game. Just be out there in it, you know? In the wild….You're just living, man. You're just there, in that moment, in that special place and time…get out of this sick society.”
- “Two years he walks the earth. No phone, no pool, no pets, no cigarettes. Ultimate freedom. An extremist. An aesthetic voyager whose home is the road. Escaped from Atlanta. Thou shalt not return, 'cause "the West is the best." And now after two rambling years comes the final and greatest adventure. The climactic battle to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage. Ten days and nights of freight trains and hitchhiking bring him to the Great White North. No longer to be poisoned by civilization he flees, and walks alone upon the land to become lost in the wild. - Alexander Supertramp May 1992”
- “[quoting Leo Tolstoy] I have lived through much, and now I think I have found what is needed for happiness. A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them. And work which one hopes may be of some use. Then rest, nature, books, music, love for one's neighbor. Such is my idea of happiness. And then, on top of all that, you for a mate, and children perhaps. What more can the heart of a man desire?”
- “Careers are a 20th century invention.”
- “Money makes people cautious.”
- “My days were more exciting when I was penniless.”
- “Power is an illusion.”

I just wanted to thank the group or whomever chose "Into The Wild." Ultimately, I may not necessarily be an "active" member of this reading group, but on a lark I did check this book (and film) out of my library and ended up being consumed by it. So thank you for that experience with a book I haven't had in quite some time.

To quote my review:

"It wasn't so much what he did or even the chances (some might say recklessness) that he took in his life. What gripped me the most was that Chris/Alex seemed to be a composite of several people I knew at this time in my young adulthood many years previous. Given the right circumstances and a few choices of chance, any number of them could have done the same thing and I would have been left wondering why they did it. The story of a young person totally in thrall to his passion reminded me of what it was like to be that age."

In another age or era, Chris/Alex might have been a beat follower of Jack Kerouac. That's the kind of consuming energy of which I am reminded.

A friend who lives in Alaska and has put off reading the book because everyone he knows was reading it or has read it (some have been to the bus), is turning 50 later this week. We're having a surprise party for him and a copy of this book is his gift.

Not to pay myself on the back ;) but I'm the one who selected Into the Wild. A couple of years ago, a student recommended the book and film. I started with the film and then read the book.

I know the reason why I find Chris fascinating - he rejects the materialism of modern life. And while I try to live a simple life that doesn't harm the earth too much, I know that I don't go far enough. Chris has the courage that most of us don't have to really live his beliefs.

He is a bit like Kerouac, although Kerouac looks more to music and drugs rather than nature. (Plus I find the sexism in Kerouac to be off putting). I think of Chris more like a reckless Thoreau. But I hesitate to use the word reckless, because sometimes I think that Thoreau was too careful. I hate to say anything bad about Thoreau because I love Thoreau and his writings are so important, but his civil "disobedience" can be a bit tame.

One other thing that I loved about the film: the music. Eddie Vedder's songs and lyrics fit the film. Melancholy, but uplifting at the same time.

My favorite song of the film was Guaranteed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCPh6u...