AN ECOLOGICAL SANCTUARY AND SACRILEGE: EXPLORING THE REGIMES OF WILDERNESS IN INTO THE WILD

Abstract

Fed up with the modern materialistic society, Chris McCandless, an American youth goes for a great adventure into the Alaskan wild which ends with his tragic death. This paper attempts to bring out the existential crisis experienced by Chris pursuant to his rejection of the modern American Dream and, his attempt to find his true identity in the wilderness. To Chris, nature was the right place to experience life in all its true essence. Unable to understand the pulse and nature of the wild, Chris gets trapped in the labyrinth of the wild. The life of Chris hands a lesson for all mankind that man is merely a tiny speck in the universe. Using theories of eco-criticism and transcendentalism, this paper also explores the sovereign status of nature with respect to human deficiencies and limitations.