Into the Wild, written by Jon Krakauer and the film adaption by Sean Penn tell the story of Chris McCandless, a young man who left his home, family, life savings and all material possessions to travel across the country and live off the land in Alaska.  Along the way, McCandless takes on a new identity under the name Alexander Supertramp, builds relationships with various people and experiences life in a plethora of new locations. Throughout his journey, McCandless writes short journal entries and notes that highlight some aspects of his trip, but most of his experience is undocumented. McCandless eventually succeeds in his mission to escape the norms of modern society and reaches Alaska where he later dies in the wild after surviving over one hundred days in the shelter of an abandoned bus.  Krakauer published Into the Wild in 1996 and the film adaption by Sean Penn was released in 2007.  The film stays true to the book version in terms of the overall story, but both the book and movie have their differences.  These differences can be seen in how the story is conducted and presented to the reader or viewer, the portrayal of McCandless as the main character, the point of view, and how some parts of the book or movie are left out of the other.  Both the book and the movie use these differences to present the story of Chris McCandless's amazing cross-country journey into the wild.  

At the beginning of every chapter in the text version of Into the Wild, there is either a quote or an epigraph which allows for the reader to focus on what is about to happen.  The quotes and epigraphs are provided in order to help the reader better understand McCandless as a person or the choices that he is about to make.  For example, the epigraph in the beginning of chapter 3 came from a highlighted section of a book found with McCandless's remains, it reads, "I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence.  I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love.  I felt in myself a superabundance of energy which found no outlet in our quite life" (Krakauer 15).  By using this highlighted section, Krakauer helps guide the reader to a better understanding of the drastic change that is going to take place in McCandless's life.  By these quotes and epigraphs, along with interviews from people who interacted with McCandless along his journey, Krakauer is able to tell the story while providing resources that allow the reader to go inside the mind of the main character. 

In the film rendition, Sean Penn presents McCandless's same desire to travel and escape everyday life through voiceovers by McCandless's sister, Carine McCandless.  These voiceovers are the primary source of insight in the movie as to why McCandless had left his home and set out on the journey.  There are many scenes in the movie where McCandless's parents are shown being upset and confused while a voiceover by Carine McCandless states that she knows and understands why her brother had left because they were so close growing up.  A scene that stands out is one in which McCandless's parents are standing there, crying and confused, while opening and reading all of the returned letters they had written to their son.  Carine McCandless explains how her brother was confined by his parents and has now taken the opportunity to live the life that he always sought after which is one of total freedom, free of the rules of society and material possessions.  

The portrayal of the main character, Chris McCandless, is different in the book and the movie.  In the book, the reader is given a description of his childhood experience, family life and his attitude towards authority.  The book tends to harp on a more self-centered and arrogant side of McCandless, who is described as a loner by choice, moody and tends to lash out on his parents, calling them "a bunch of imbeciles" (Krakauer 125) for example.  Throughout the book, Krakauer personifies McCandless as a kid against the world who will do what he wants no matter what, where the movie makes him appear as just a kid on a mission to get to Alaska.

If one were to watch the movie without reading the book, the viewer would have a completely different opinion of who McCandless was as a person.  In Sean Penn's movie, McCandless is portrayed as a highly intelligent, adventurous, all around great kid who leaves a wonderful impression on everyone he meets and is out looking to live the life he always wanted. Throughout the entirety of the movie, McCandless is shown as an upbeat, happy kid on a mission to fulfill a dream of living in the Alaskan Wilderness

Despite the differences, both the book and the movie stay true to the fact that Chris is an avid reader, especially of authors that write stories similar to his such as Henry David Thoreau and Jack London since they both wrote books about adventures that were similar to what he wanted to do. This was supported by the epigraph of chapter two in which it starts out with "Jack London is King", words that McCandless had carved into a piece of wood that was found around the bus.  This epigraph is drawn from Jack London's White Fang, and describes a cold, quite, empty wilderness much like the wilderness in which McCandless was aiming to explore.  Also, the epigraph of beginning chapter 6 is from Henry David Thoreau's book Walden; or Life in the Woods which is a reflection upon Thoreau's experience of living in a cabin in the wilderness for a little over two years.  Chris McCandless was very opposed to the rules and regulations of modern society and wanted to go out, be free and enjoy the true beauty of nature. McCandless read about life in nature, wanted to be a part of it, and did all in his power to make that happen, starting by taking on a new name.  "No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he is now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny" (Krakauer 23).The epigraphs used by Krakauer suggest that this journey that McCandless had planned out was inspired by his love of books, especially the Thoreau and London wilderness adventure stories.  

One of the major factors that made McCandless want to abandon society and go out into the wild was his troubling relationship with his parents.  Both the book and the movie discuss how the McCandless family came about as a lie.  McCandless's father had been previously married and had another family, and his mother was his father's mistress.  After McCandless and his sister discovered this, the family was never the same.  McCandless's parents tried to buy back his love and respect with material goods which he wanted nothing to do with.  In the book, when discussing McCandless's family issues, Krakauer includes comparisons to his own issues with his father.  Similar to McCandless, Krakauer discovered that his father was living a double life. For this reason, Krakauer talks about how he could relate to McCandless's feelings of loneliness and feeling lost and.

  In the movie, all of the McCandless family issues were seen through flashbacks or discovered through voiceovers, both of which were narrated by McCandless's sister Carine McCandless.  There is a scene in the movie where time flashes back to when McCandless and his sister were younger and living at home.  The scene shows a heated argument between their parents that quickly turns violent.  During the scene, there is a voiceover explaining their family issues and how the arguing and fighting was a normal occurrence and what Carine McCandless believes was a major factor for why her brother had left.  Another example from the movie is the scene where all of the letters that McCandless's parents had sent him had been returned to them.  While this is going on, Carine McCandless narrates saying that because she was so close to her brother, she knows how he thinks and knows why he has decided to leave and go on this journey.  

Both the book and the movie discuss particular events that may not be focused on that much or even mentioned at all in the other work.  The book focuses a lot on interviews with people that McCandless had met along the way and some of those people and conversations are not mentioned at all in the movie.  One observation about the movie is that it may have highlighted certain events more than the book had to create some sort of dramatic effect.  For example, the movie shows a lot about the relationship between Chris McCandless and Tracy Tatro while the book does not.  In the move, McCandless and Tatro are shown singing a duet together in front of a crowd, a scene that is never mentioned in the book.  Also, during the final few scenes of the movie, McCandless was shown franticly flipping through pages of a wild plant life book to discover that the berry he had eaten was in fact poisonous.  In the book, McCandless never actually discovered that the berries he consumed caused him to get sick and eventually die of starvation. Little things like the previous two examples seemed to have been focused on in the film to create ethos and dramatic effect. 

Lastly, the book and the movie both used different techniques to present the various locations and settings throughout the story. The movie holds a tremendous advantage over the book in presenting settings and landscapes because of the cameras and special effects.  The book shows a flat the map at the beginning of every chapter, showing a general idea of where McCandless was at the time.  The film maker had the ability to actually travel to different locations, film clips of the land from both ground and overhead views to show the true vastness and beauty of the land that McCandless had been experiencing.  The film paints a perfect picture and allows the viewer to easily follow the journey, whereas the book provides a picture of a map and it is up to the reader to paint the picture in their head.  

When making comparisons of the non-fiction text by Jon Krakauer and movie adaption directed by Sean Penn of Into the Wild, one would notice various similarities and differences that help enhance the telling of the story in their own distinct ways.  While the movie follows the work of Krakauer, both present Chris McCandless in different ways, present background information differently through the use of epigraphs and voiceovers.  Despite their differences, both the book and the movie do a wonderful job of filling in the missing pieces to the wild life-changing adventure experienced by Chris McCandless.

