Into the Wild, a non-fiction text written by Jon Krakauer and a film later directed by Sean Penn, tells the story of Christopher McCandless's journey into the Alaskan wilderness. After McCandless graduates from Emory University, he leaves for his cross country adventure while telling no one of his desired destination, the Alaskan wilderness. Along the way, McCandless ditches all of his connections to his past his life, going by the name Alexander Supertramp and creates friendships with many people he meets. McCandless's ultimate goal was to reach Alaska and live purely off the land but he fails to do so after eating poisonous wild potatoes, dying of starvation. In their respective mediums, Krakauer uses epigraphs, a two-fold approach and McCandless's hubris while Penn uses voiceovers and camera angles to tell the story of Chris McCandless's journey.

Krakauer uses epigraphs at the beginning of each paragraph that all have a resemblance to Chris McCandless himself and what he was trying to accomplish at this time. Most epigraphs chosen by Krakauer were either highlighted by McCandless in the books, cited from authors he read, or authors that had ideas similar to McCandless. Krakauer begins chapter four with an epigraph from A Man in the Landscape by Paul Shepard that reads, "To the desert goes prophets and hermits; through deserts go pilgrims and exiles. Here the leaders of great religions have sought the therapeutic and spiritual values of retreat, not to escape but to find reality" (Krakauer 25). This epigraph goes with the chapter as McCandless abandons his car and begins hitchhiking through the desert. Also, in contrast, McCandless journey to Alaska is him trying to escape his current life and do what he loves. McCandless is trying to find his new reality or version of himself, but he is escaping his past to do so. At the beginning of chapter seven, Krakauer includes a passage from Mark Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin that reads, "There was some books ...  One was Pilgrim's Progress, about a man that left his family, it didn't say why" (Krakauer 61). McCandless essentially does the same as the man in the book with his family as he left them without a trace of where he was headed. McCandless was frustrated with his life at home and how his parents chose to live, pushing him to want to leave and start alone by himself. One of the more important epigraphs used by Krakauer is chapter twelves which is a quote by Henry David Thoreau in Walden that states, "Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth. I sat at a table where were rich food and wine in abundance, but sincerity and truth were not ... " (Krakauer 117). The description also includes McCandless highlighted this passaged and had written the word 'TRUTH' at the top of the page. From this passage, McCandless shows how he does not care about possessions and the value of the objects. By giving away his life savings and burning his money while ditching his car, McCandless truly starts a life with nothing but the backpack he brought with him. All McCandless wanted was the truth from his father about the double life he was living, which is the one thing his father was not giving him. Krakauer's chosen epigraphs work to help explain the topics of the chapters and McCandless's reasoning for his journey. 

Sean Penn seems to use the voiceovers in his film in similar ways to Krakauer's epigraphs. Most of the voiceovers are said by Chris McCandless's sister Carine, letting her do most of the storytelling aspect of what was happening at home while showing McCandless on screen during his adventure. One particular voiceover that Carine says is, "That two years after Chris was born, dad had had another son with Marcia. Worse yet was that it was Marcia to whom he was still legally married at the time. And it was Chris and I who were the bastard children" (Penn). This narration seems to give reason to McCandless's adventure as he could no longer take his parents lying about the double life his dad was living. McCandless had found out about his dads second family from other family members while on another trip he took before college started, but kept to himself the information. In doing so, McCandless was setting himself up to distance himself from his parents due to the illegitimacy of their situation. Another important voiceover by Carine is when she says, "When we were little, Chris was very to himself. He wasn't anti-social, he always had friends, and everybody liked him - but he could go off and entertain himself for hours, he didn't seem to need toys or friends. He could be alone without being lonely" (Penn). From a young age, McCandless did not seem to fit into normal social roles, as he was ok with being alone. This seems to set the stage for McCandless's eventual adventure as he took to the road not knowing where he was going or who he would. Also, McCandless seemingly never had any trouble making friends as Carine says when he was little, and on his trip every person he met seemed to like him. 

A second approach Krakauer took to writing the non-fiction text was using a two-fold approach. McCandless did keep a journal while he traveled, but the notes he took were limited and scarce. Due to this, Krakauer was left to fill in the blanks of what actually happened to McCandless. To do so, Krakauer, an adventurer himself, underwent part of McCandless's journey himself, backtracking to get a feel for what the land McCandless traveled. In the author's note, Krakauer says, "Unwilling to let McCandless go, I spent more than a year retracing the convoluted path that to his death in the Alaskan tiaga, chasing down details of his peregrinations with an interest that bordered on obsession" (Krakauer). Krakauer also tracked down the people McCandless had met and had conversations with them about McCandless and the things he did while with them. From the people McCandless met, Krakauer was able to acquire letters and postcards he wrote them over the two years, greatly helping fill in gaps in notes McCandless had. For example, in about chapters four through six, Krakauer had to rely on mostly postcards McCandless sent out during this period due to the very little written in McCandless's notebook. A major part of developing the story of McCandless was his interactions, postcards and memories he left behind with the people he met. 

Penn uses the film elements of on screen writing and extremely zoomed in camera angles together. In doing so, Penn is able to draw attention to specific words McCandless wrote in his journal. One word that Penn keyed on in McCandless's journal was 'disaster', as he wrote it a few times. After the scene when McCandless tries to cross the river to head back to civilization but cannot due to the high water and the current, McCandless writes "DISASTER" in his notebook and also that he is scared. Up until this point, McCandless never seemed genuinely scared of being where he was and had no intention of heading home. However, as soon as he is not able to, McCandless is immediately out of his element and unsure of what to do now. Another word that McCandless writes from the same scene is the word 'lonely'. From what we heard previously, McCandless never found himself truly lonely, even when alone. In the voiceover previously mentioned, Carine said McCandless "could be alone without being lonely" (Penn). This part of the film shows the change in McCandless's character as he is not the same person he was when he started. Being genuinely afraid and lonely, Penn shows McCandless's is now ready to end his adventure and return to civilization. 

Krakauer shows in his novel that McCandless's hubris is something that affects the outcomes of his trip. One point this is prevalent is when McCandless kills a moose and fails at preserving the meat. Instead of air-drying thin strips like Alaskan hunters, McCandless relied on the advice from the hunters he met in South Dakota who told him to smoke his meat (Krakauer 166). These hunters were not as familiar with the land and by taking their advice, McCandless did not bring the necessary tools he needed to survive, again thinking he could make it on his own with out many materials. In this instance of losing a huge quantity of meat, McCandless's arrogance helped lead to his demise. Another place where McCandless shows his hubris is the parts of the story in the desert. McCandless did not like the desert, and believed the desert was only there to further test him and be something he overcomes. A turning point in the story is when McCandless abandons his car in the desert while burning his money and burying anything that tied him to the car (Krakauer 26-28). In the middle of a scorching hot day, McCandless abandons his car and heads out on foot, not knowing how much farther or where he was going in the desert. This act displays McCandless thinks very highly of himself, not putting too much thought into his decisions. 

Long shots and extreme long shots are two different camera angles Penn uses to show McCandless in relation to the wilderness. The wilderness and the Alaskan wilderness usually bring ideas about the vast landscape that stretches on and on for miles. One reason McCandless wanted to retreat to the Alaskan wilderness was so he could, "Finally be free and be out west, just living" (Penn). Once he finally reaches his destination, the widespread landscape can be seen. One such scene is when McCandless is near the river and the camera pans out leaving McCandless as a small figure in the area he is in. Also, the last scene of the movie when McCandless passes, the camera pans out from the bus and shows a majority of the surrounding area of where McCandless was living. By doing extreme long shots, Penn is able to convey that even though McCandless thinks he is doing a lot in the wild, he is actually an insignificant figure in the large wilderness he was in. 

Krakauer had to figure out on his own most of the information of Chris McCandless's journey due to the little information left behind to tell the world of McCandless while Penn bases his work off Krakauer's ideas while adding his own filmic elements. Most of these ideas work together and Penn seems to play of some literary elements used by Krakauer, each has their own way of telling the story. By using epigraphs and a told-fold approach, Krakauer is able to add not only his authorial intent, but is able to add in the emotion and feelings from those McCandless met. Penn is able to use voiceovers and camera angles to help shows McCandless and his family's true emotion.

