Into the Wild is the story of Christopher McCandless's adventure across country and into the Alaskan wilderness, which ended fatally.  Jon Krakauer heard about this tragic journey and decided to write a book about it by using old letters, journals, and personal accounts from people who McCandless, who renamed himself Alex Supertramp, had met along the way.  Sean Penn directed a movie adaption based off of Krakauer's writing.  At the beginning of each chapter of the book, Krakauer inserts at least one piece of writing from McCandless's letters, favorite books, journals, or anything else he can find that relates to McCandless's feelings about going into the wild alone.  These epigraphs help to set the tone of the book, demonstrate the seriousness of the wild to the reader, and tell why McCandless felt the need to go on this voyage alone.  Penn uses different filmic techniques to achieve these same points.  Camera movements, music, and voices overs are used to show us these elements of the book.  

Each epigraph at the beginning of the chapters in Krakauer's book gives the reader a feeling of the tone of the story.  While some of the chapters have a more positive feel than others, Krakauer does not want the reader to forget that this book is about a tragic death.  He begins one chapter with an excerpt by Estwick Evans that says "[t]he season of snows was preferred, that I might experience the pleasure of suffering, and the novelty of danger" (Krakauer 157).  Reading this, one might get a sense of how unpleasant McCandless's experience was.  This quote seems to put a positive spin on the darkness of suffering and novelty, which resonates with McCandless's feelings about adventuring into the wild on his own.  He knew that there would be extremely hard times and he might not come out alive, but he thought it was worth it to experience the pleasure of the great outdoors by himself.  Roderick Nash, who said, "[t]he solitude and total freedom of the wilderness created a perfect setting for either melancholy or exultation" (Krakauer 157) also captures McCandless's feelings, which sets the mood of the book.  Because the reader already knows how the story ends, they may focus on the word "melancholy" rather than "exultation."  Another tone Kraukauer wants to put forth is one that lets the reader know McCandless was in fact happy with his experience, despite his ending, because he got to explore and fend for himself for once after being handed things his whole life.  Kraukauer includes an excerpt by Anthony Storr who said, "[it is also true that, in some instances, trauma, ... has steered the potentially creative person toward developing [a] personality which can find fulfillment in comparative isolation" (Krakauer 61).  Reading this explicitly tells the reader that in spite of his shortcomings, McCandless ultimately felt fulfilled from taking on this challenging way of life.

Penn's way of recreating this tone in his movie was using camera movements.  They often mimicked McCandless's feelings throughout the movie which helped to set the mood.  When McCandless went to LA to get an ID and start a job, he seems overwhelmed by society.  There is a part when he is looking through a window at a seemingly successful man and picturing that man as himself, which does not sit well with him.  The camera shows us these feelings by blurring the screen and skipping around.  When the camera is blurred, it causes many viewers to feel disoriented and confused.  These feelings are on par with what McCandless was feeling here as this place was just the opposite of what he was in search for.  He wanted to be alone in the wild, not surrounded by all of those people.  When the camera starts to skip around it conveys an erratic mood.  McCandless is likely feeling this way because of all of the feelings that rush over him when he imagines himself living the life his parents pushed for him to live as it is not his idea of happiness.  Another scene of the movie when the camera movements set the tone is when McCandless is starting to starve and is desperately searching for berries.  The camera switches back and forth between different viewpoints very fast to show how McCandless is acting as if he is going insane.  This insanity is not hard to believe, as he has gone without decent food for a length of time and is starting to fear for his life.  The camera zooms in close on McCandless's face when he is picking berries so that the viewer can see the fear and desperation in his eyes.  The camera movements in this scene help to emphasize the danger of the situation McCandless has gotten himself into, and how dark the overall mood of his demise is.

Krakauer uses the epigraphs during the chapters when he is alone to depict how vast the wild can be and how McCandless really was on his own with no quick way to get help.  A large portion of Into the Wild is set in places that are not the Alaskan wilderness.  McCandless is often traveling with other people or in more populated areas looking for work.  This can cause the reader to forget how alone McCandless was when he went into the wild all by himself. In the chapter that describes McCandless in the desert with his car, Paul Shepard is quoted in the epigraph saying "[the desert] is infinitely vaster than that of rolling countryside and forest lands" (Krakauer 25).  This is a message to the reader to remind them that McCandless had no where to go for help when he was caught in this flood, and if he was in trouble, there would not be anyone close by that would notice.  Another epigraph showing the reader that McCandless was truly on his own quoted John Haines who said, "[l]et the rest of mankind find me if it could" (Krakauer 127).  McCandless went deep into the Alaskan forest without telling anyone exactly where he would be heading towards or how he would survive alone.  This quote is like a taunt because McCandless knows that no one he knows will be finding him out there.  He knows how far from his family and friends he is, but he does not seem to care.  He is responsible for himself and understands that there will be no one to come to his rescue in this grand, and potentially dangerous, forest.

The movie adaption of this book shows the seriousness of the wild and how McCandless is truly alone through music and sound.  The style of music changed from singer/songwriter to instrumentals when McCandless was with people and alone, respectively.  Many times during the film, there was no music at all.  When McCandless is alone in the wild in the bus that he found, there is no music.  The only sounds the viewer hears are the sounds of nature around him or the ones he is making himself while moving around.  This absence of music creates a more intimate setting with McCandless putting emphasis on the fact that he is alone.  There are no sounds of cars or people near by.  McCandless can only hear dripping water or crackling leaves.  This shows the viewer how intense McCandless's situation is, as there is no easy way back to civilization.  When McCandless is dying and lying on his bed, the most prominent sound is that of his heartbeat and then his last breath.  This gives the viewer a feel of how quiet it is, since they can hear his final moments of life.  McCandless does not die a typical movie death in a crowded hospital or a fatal accident, he dies completely alone in silence.  If there was anyone around to hear what the viewer was hearing, McCandless may have been able to be rescued, but he is isolated from anyone capable of that.

Krakauer uses epigraphs to give the reader information on why McCandless decided to go on this journey in the first place.  Krakauer points out many times in Into the Wild that McCandless was an avid reader of adventure books about people going into the wild to find happiness and have a deeper understanding of themselves.  This leads the reader to believe that McCandless left for philosophical reasons rather than personal problems.  One of the epigraphs is a passage highlighted in one of McCandless's books by Leo Tolstoy that reads "I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quiet life" (Krakauer 15).  This quote tells the reader that McCandless wanted to go out on his own because he felt that his energy did not belong in society.  He felt that there were better things to be found out in the wilderness, and he wanted to go find them.  It makes the reader believe that McCandless thought he had a greater purpose than to just live a normal life like his parents wanted him to.  Another passage highlighted in one of McCandless's books that was used as an epigraph is by Boris Pasternak and says "[a]t such a time you felt the need of committing yourself to something absolute-life or truth or beauty-of being ruled by it in place of the man-made rules that had been discarded" (Krakauer 103).  McCandless wanted to get away from his life that had been so closely controlled and monitored by his parents and other authority figures.  He believed that there was more to life than settling down and getting a job and he wanted to find it.  He wanted to break away from the contraints of society.   

While Penn's idea is more focused on family reasons, he still helps the viewer understand why McCandless left his home for the wild by using the filmic element of voice-over.  McCandless's sister Carine, played by Jena Malone, acted as the narrator for scenes that were mostly focused on her brother.  There was a scene when Carine is talking about how her and McCandless's father was verbally and physically abusive to their mother.  While she is telling this story the viewer is watching the siblings watch their father push around their mother as the two scream at each other.  The viewer can see McCandless's anger and his sister describes how he despised the parents' relationship and told them to get a divorce.  This scene leads the viewer to believe that McCandless lets his home because he could not stand his parents and his family life.  He wanted to get away from all the yelling and fighting and he thought that the wilderness was the best place to do that.  If he went out on his own there would be no one to fight with, no negative energy.  Another instance that McCandless's sister lets on why he took off is when she reveals that their father had other children with other women.  She says that this seriously affected McCandless in that after he found out he could no longer tell what was real and what was a lie.  Knowing this, it is easy to understand why McCandless would want to escape his complicated family for a much simpler life in the wild.  McCandless was always searching for truth, so leaving his home was the only way he could find it.

Krakauer's use of epigraphs to help guide the reader through the story is mimicked through Penn's use of different filmic elements.  Camera movements, music, and voice overs allow the director to visually and aurally capture the feeling and emotion that Krakauer created through words.  Each of these things sets the tone of the movie, shows how alone McCandless is in a dangerous place, and allows the audience to begin to understand why this seemingly smart boy would take such drastic measures to escape his home life and find meaning.  

