The journey taken by Christopher Johnson McCandless into the Alaskan wild enthralled not only Jon Krakauer and Sean Penn, both who proceeded to commemorate the story it in their own respective ways, but also many others who eagerly followed his story through the work of non-fiction by Krakauer and the film adaptation by Penn.  McCandless an intelligent student and recent graduate from Emory University, packed up all his belongings and set off across the country, determined to trek through the Alaskan wilderness on his own.  Along the way, he built many diverse relationships with the various people he met.  Under the pseudonym "Alex Supertramp", McCandless hoped to use these relationships to his benefit in order to help him reach his final destination, the Alaskan wilderness.  It was there that he planned to live off the land, alone, and for several months, he succeeded.  He spent his days exploring the land and taking shelter in a small bus he found abandoned in the middle of the wilderness.  After his death, it was discovered that he used journals to document some of his adventures and experiences, but the notes on his travels were fairly scarce.  Krakauer quickly became fascinated by his story and, by using McCandless' journals, personal possessions found in the bus, and interviews with the people he met him along the way, Krakauer was able to piece together his journey and speculate things that happened to him during his time in the wilderness.  Both Krakauer and Penn take different approaches to McCandless' journey, and while Krakauer uses his book as an exploration of McCandless' life, Penn's film is a passionate celebration of it.  Krakauer employs many journalistic qualities to his writing while Penn uses many filmic elements, such as music and voiceovers, in order to convey McCandless' story.  Both use these various elements in order to achieve their goal of deciphering McCandless' reasons and motives that ultimately lead to his journey.

One of the important filmic elements that Penn uses throughout the movie is music.   Both the soundtrack and the score hold great significance when it comes to analyzing the film.  The songs used, classified as both folk and singer/songwriter, were all written by the lead singer of Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder.  This is the only music played throughout the movie and it consists of only one man and his guitar, a concept that mirror's McCandless' and his life, alone, in the wilderness.  Not only do the lyrics often relate to McCandless' emotions, but they also reflect his solitude.  This is made evident as the lyrics say, "society, you're a crazy breed, hope you're not lonely without me" (Vedder).  These lyrics connect back to McCandless' desire to rebel against the societal norms and survive on his own.  This song is used to do more than just arouse emotions in the viewers of the film; it draws the listener into a world of captivation, desolation, heartache, and musical emotion.  All three of these characteristics of the music in the film relate back to McCandless' and his emotional journey through the Alaskan wilderness. The score of the film connects well with the style of the soundtrack.  Brooks, the composer, matches the music with McCandless' intense story and tale of adventure.  The score aids in the viewers perception of the film by allowing them to feel the moods of triumph during positive situations, sarcastic humor during some of his favorable moments, and heart wrenching sadness in some of McCandless' lowest times.  Both the music and score of the film help to enhance the viewers' experience by connecting some of the emotions and feelings McCandless was experiencing during his journey to the songs and lyrics.  They also help to reveal unspoken things about his character and what drove him to make some of the decisions he did.  

Krakauer's version of McCandless' story varies greatly from Penn's.  While the film appeals to the emotional side of the viewer, the book provides more factual, straightforward information pertaining to McCandless' life.  Krakauer tries to unravel McCandless' story while attempting to convince the reader that the choices he made along the way were logical and that he was not completely insane.  By his use of rhetorical appeals, Krakauer attempts to give some of the characters more validity, in turn, giving his story more legitimacy.  The first situation in which Krakauer appeals to ethos is the very first interaction McCandless has with Jim Gallien.  The means in which Krakauer goes about describing Jim's character makes him seem like a sensible man with an abundance of knowledge about nature and the outside world.  Krakauer writes, "Alex's backpack looked as though it weighed only twenty-five or thirty pounds, which struck Gallien -- an accomplished hunter and woodsman -- as an improbably light load for a stay of several months in the back-country, especially so early in the spring" (Krakauer 4).  Not only does this prove that Gallien was familiar with the outdoors, it makes him seem like a practical man, thus giving Krakauer even more credibility.  Using these literary devices, Krakauer attempted to gain the trust of the reader in order to make them understand McCandless' story a little bit better.

One of the methods that Penn utilizes throughout the span of the film in order to help relay McCandless' motivation to the viewers is voiceover.  Used to fill in the backstory of his life, these voiceovers, given by the actress playing his sister Carine McCandless, serve as a means of conveying what may have driven him to escaping to the wilderness.  The voiceovers reveal a very emotional Carine as she remembers specific memories about her brother and his personality that may have led to him escaping so abruptly, leaving absolutely everything behind.  Not only do the voiceovers reveal things about days in his youth, but they also give viewers an insight as to what may have made McCandless the way he is.  She tells of instances in McCandless' childhood where specific situations may have effected who he had become as an adult.  One moment that was a defining point in the relationship with his parents was his discovery of his father's infidelity.  Carine goes on to say, "These revelations struck at the core of Chris' sense of identity.  They made his entire childhood seem like fiction. McCandless never told them he knew and made me promise silence, as well" (Penn).  By using Carine's voice to narrative part of McCandless' story, viewers get to hear how past experiences in his life have influenced who he had become and how these little details of his history have become a driving force in his decision to break away from every day society and escape to the Alaskan wilderness.

Throughout Krakauer's book, epigraphs are used in the beginning of every new chapter to serve as a sort of introduction to the current circumstance McCandless was facing.  Many of them pertain to the wilderness, society, and things that were relevant to what was happening in McCandless' life at the time.  They also come from authors that are believed to be some of McCandless' favorites.  Most of these authors were famous for their works about the beauty of nature and the dishonesty of society and highlight aspects of life that McCandless found to be important.  McCandless' even went as far as to carve "Jack London is King" into a piece of wood found near the bus (Krakauer 9).  From this, Krakauer assumes that London was one of McCandless' favorite authors and connects his way of viewing society to the fact that London's ideals and views were similar.  Krakauer internalized that through his love of literature and inclination to read things from particular authors who highlighted the glorification of the early, primitive world and who despised capitalistic society, McCandless' personality and perception of the world began to shift.  He started to rebel against many of the common rules of everyday society and wanted to be free from the constraints they constructed.  He began to put more value on nature and the beauty of the world rather than the materialistic things the world had to offer.  These ideas were the driving force that led him to wanting to escape to the Alaskan wilderness where he could live by his own rules and appreciate the beauty of nature just like it had been described as by all the authors he looked up to and strived to be like. 

Throughout both the book and the movie, Into the Wild, Christopher McCandless' story is immortalized.  Both Jon Krakauer and Sean Penn took remarkably different approaches in conveying McCandless' story, but both seemed to attempt to communicate the same general message of McCandless' desire to escape from reality and live his life alone in the wilderness.  Both take into account the people he met along the way and how their stories shaped his personality and views on the world.  McCandless' desire to escape to the wild was ultimately driven his need to break free from society and live off the land.  Krakauer and Penn both explore McCandless' motives in various ways and try to bring insight about his life and his motives for escaping to the wild.

