Into the Wild

Into The Wild is a true story of a young man's journey into the Alaskan wilderness to attempt to 'live off the land' and it is written by Jon Krakauer. He grew up in the Washington D.C. metro area and attended Emory University. When he graduated college, he donated his money to charity and headed out West. Sadly, this is not a story with a happy ending, which is that Chris died in the Alaskan wilderness and his body was discovered by hunters only four months after entering the wilderness, seemingly dying of starvation.
This is a fairly short book of little over 200 pages, really as there is only a limited amount of information available about Chris as a lot of his time was spent alone. So I felt the book possibly did stretch the detail out a little in parts, and depended on unnecessary lengthy quotes, from books found with Chris McCandless' possessions. It was obviously never going to be a comfortable read given the nature of it, but I definitely found the book a moving account of a young man's wasted life. Krakauer's account left me with many differing feelings for Chris McCandless, including admiration and great sorrow.
This book reminds me of my experience in Pennsylvania. About one month ago, my aunty took me to travel around Pennsylvania and especially to visit Amish people. As we know, the Amish are famous of simple living, plain dress, and reluctance to adopt modern convenience. In addition, they have followed their own rules for many generations. These rules cover most aspects of day-to-day living, and include prohibitions or limitations on the use of power-line electricity, telephones and automobiles, as well as regulations on clothing. What’s more, having children, raising them, and socialization with neighbors and relatives are the greatest functions of the Amish family. The Amish traditional family provides much of the education for the child. Although the formal education ends after they finish eighth grade, the boy or girl is trained for their adult tasks. The boys will work with the father in the fields, in the barn, and around the out buildings. The girls work inside the home and garden, alongside the mother. I think that the home and family might become the school for "on the job" training. The Amish people almost make a living by raising animals and planting crops without electricity. I still can remember a situation that when my aunty drove along the road, they even didn’t how to cross the road through the cars because they just knew how to ride their traditional bikes.
At the moment, I felt so sorry to disturb their peaceful life. Maybe it is hard for them to step into the city but it is harder for us to step into their life. I don’t think that I can survive from there because I don’t know how to make clothes, I am not sure how to plant the vegetables or I know little about hunting.
To be honest, the quiet life of the wild field has never appealed to me. City born and city bred, I have always regarded the wild field as something I look at through a train window, or something I occasional visit during my holiday. However a lot of people always go into raptures at the mere mention of the wild field. They still lives under the illusion that wild life is somehow superior to city life. They are forever talking about the clean atmosphere, the closeness to nature and the gentle pace of living. Maybe it is true. But for me, they say nothing about the poor selection of goods in the shops or about those unfortunate people who have to travel from the wild field to the city every day to get to work. I can’t imagine that I live without television or the internet during the night. Why people are prepared to tolerate a four-hour journey each week for the dubious privilege of hiking in the wild field is beyond me. Finally, it is obvious that they eventually chose to come back the city where they rightly belong. If you can do without the few pastoral pleasures of the wild field， you will find the city can provide you with the best that life can offer. In my opinion, if you live in a city, the latest exhibitions，such as films or plays are only a short bus ride away from your home. In addition, Shopping is always a pleasure. There is so much variety that you never have to make do with second best. However, for the people who live in wild field, they may go shopping in the city and stagger home loaded with as many of the exotic items as they can carry. In my thinking, the novelty of such activity would wear thin soon. This is 2010, not 1930. Thanks, but I'll stay in the city.