Forests of the Self: Life Writing and ‘Wild’ Wanderings

ABSTRACT

Studying ecocritical life writing shows how travel into the wilderness can be therapeutic to the self during periods of malaise and alienation. Jon Krakauer's biography, Into the Wild (1996), explores the life, death and psyche of Christopher McCandless who seems to deliberately lose himself in the Alaskan bush, succumbing to a death by starvation that is strangely triumphant. Krakauer as biographer romanticises McCandless's experience in a manner that imagines and projects his life and death in an idealistic light. In her memoir, Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (2012), Cheryl Strayed describes how a deep depression prompts her to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Alone and inexperienced, Strayed struggles to survive, and her feminist narrative records how hiking the PCT helps her to regain her emotional footing and redefine her identity. Emotionally estranged from others and at critical junctures in their respective lives, the two explorers seek meaning on the path less travelled. The concept of the wilderness as a recuperative force is offset by the extent to which it is depicted as life threatening: interpretations of McCandless's and Strayed's respective journeys range from admiration for their independent spirits to condemnation for solipsistic stupidity.

KEYWORDS:

• Chris McCandless
• Cheryl Strayed
• life writing
• ecocritical

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Tanya Y. Kam is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she teaches multicultural literature of the U.S., dystopian literature, and American literature. Her research interests include life writing, mental illness, and multicultural literature. She is currently the book editor of a/b: Auto/Biography Studies, and publications include ‘Velvet Coats and Manicured Nails: the Body Speaks Resistance in Dust Tracks on the Road’ and ‘Traveling Identities: Between Worlds in Karen Tei Yamashita's Circle K Cycles.’

Notes

1. Contrary to what was projected in the book and film adaptation of Into the Wild, Chris McCandless did have identification (birth certificate, social security card) and $300 zipped inside an inner panel of his backpack. In an interview, Carine McCandless mentions this to confirm that her brother wasn't mentally ill and didn't have a death wish. According to her, the money and identification were tucked away, so that McCandless could use it only in emergencies: ‘He wasn't going to pay attention to that and everyday when he was getting stuff out of his pack he could use that discipline to put that aside. I mean Chris could have had money on him and have been starving, but if he had decided there was a certain amount of money he wasn't going to touch he would have found another way to eat’ (Jefferson).

2. The self-portrait of Chris McCandless in front of the Fairbanks bus appears on the first page of Into the Wild and precedes the map of McCandless's travels, the title page, and the author's note. The photograph was retrieved from Chris McCandless's camera after his death and developed posthumously. It can be viewed at the following URL: http://www.christophermccandless.info/memorialfoundation.html.

3. A photograph of Cheryl Strayed with the enormous backpack that other PCT hikers nicknamed ‘Monster’ can be viewed at the following URL: http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/wild-true-story-behind-oscar-tipped-4997775 (Owen).

4. I am reminded how the original Grimm's fairy tales reinforce the idea that women's place is inside the home. Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Sleeping Beauty are passive princesses who are confined to domestic spaces. Little girls, like Little Red Riding Hood, who dare to venture into the woods are punished for their temerity. Strayed's experience represents an alternate narrative for adult women living in civilised spaces: contrary to fairy tale conventions, they can go forth into the wilderness unaccompanied and return to their former worlds with an increased sense of worth and self-sufficiency.